[ginz088]

Apparently, my device has been using network time on its own, because right from the first day I turned it on, my cell has been eating up network time, and I just got a massive phone bill, despite never noticing any active connections and checking it multiple times.

[mpierce]

Are you running the active widgets such as, Weather, Facebook, AP News, etc?

If so, they would be constantly using data to refresh.

I have a plan that allows for 3Gb of data a month and in the 3 months that I have owned my phone, I've never come close despite downloading hundreds of emails, weekly, surfing the web, constantly using A-GPS.

[ginz088]

Thank you for your quick reply. No, no active items on my widgets. I noticed ealry on that the weather widget kept wanting to access the net to update, and so I first disallowed auto updates, and then removed this kind of thing from my widgets altogether. My widgets are all things like favorite contacts, and easy access to thins like messaging, photos, calendar, etc.

Any other thoughts?? Tomorrow I'll contact my service provider to see if there's a way out.

Larry

[alexeiw123]

Larry, it is odd that your phone would be using internet when no widgets that connect are running. there must be some applicationt hat is doing it, perhaps the software update program? try long pressing your menu key to get a list of programs that are running at the time, and closing any that may be accessing the internet.

Does yoru bill say how much data was used? was it alot of data, or a small amount at a jacked price?

a handy thing to note is that any active packet data connection can be ended at any time from the home screen by long pressing the red (hang up) key. it will then prompt to end the connection. and you will see the two arrows underneath your reception indicator disappear.

also on the main screen, press options, and change content to offlin mode, just to be doubly sure.

in anycase, a data plan (even small) is a good idea for one of these phones, as the are very much designed with internet use in mind. That way you can avoid this again.

Good luck getting out of that, I think you should have some chance if you hassle.

Alexei.

[2bad]

I can heartily recommend "Best Taskman" from the Ovi Store, cost £1.50 GBP. This app shows what's running in the background.

 Do you ever wonder why, when you try to install an app, it says "Not enough memory, do you want to close some programs..." you can't understand, because you didn't think you had anything running? Try and buy Best Taskman, and see what's running in the background.

If you do try it, open the app,check the memoryremaining, click "close all", then close the app. Re-open Best Taskman and see what memory you have left now.

Here's the link:-

http://store.ovi.com/search?q=taskman 

HTH

[meak]

Make sure that your cell info is turned off, that's in the Network setting.

[shawnc]

Do you use Nokia Messaging?

[el_loco]

An N97 without a reasonable data plan is a crippled device IMHO.

You can check which applications are using data by going to the Connection Manager.

If the 3G symbol has a box around it or you see the solid double arrows below the signal bar, that means that a data connection is active and you can check that.

There are a number of applications that can be using data:

MAPS

Widgets

Themes

Any installed App

Browsers

Music Player/Music Shop

Photos

Messaging (MMS, email, push email, MfE, nokia messaging, etc.)

Share online (flickr, facebook, ovi share, etc)

App updater

SW updater

etc. etc.

Some apps (like Opera Mini) don't have a setting within the App to select the access point or to ask when going online. You need to go to the App Mgr to set the connection method.

[ginz088]

I am unfamiliar with Nokia messenger, and so problably do not use it.

[ginz088]

I have this as my setting, so not a culprit

[synth_fg]

Might help if you could let us know how much data was used and what your plan alows

[ginz088]

Thank you much, Alexei. The amount of data I was alleged to have used was 43226 KB/MB. I don't have a sense of how  much this is, but other than downloaded and surfing a bit on two days early in my billing cycle. I suspect it was a jacked up price intended to prompt me to obtain a new monthly unlimited internet plan. The good news is they likely see this a lot, and for 15US$/month they will forgive the huge bill I racked up.

I don't have any known active widgets or open programs. I frequently check for open programs as well as active internet connections, and keep it at zero.

Also, I was not entirely without a plan since I need it for the texting and MMS messages I use.

Thanks again,

Larry

[synth_fg]

I presume it's in KB since 43Gby would be excessive for any personal use on a home PC unless you were contasntly streaming movies and music

43 Mby on the other hand would be accounted for by a couple of photo's and a few large web pages not sure about the Netherlands but in the UK a standard data plan with a monthly fair usage of 500meg - 1Gby would be around £5

[ginz088]

Plan allowed 5120KB/MB and I some how used 43226! They charge US$2/MB, and I think the day I turned on my phone, I somehow used 15777KB resulting in a charge of $157.00. On other days I did some mindless surfing, which resulted in some other huge charges Apparently my existing plan wasn't nearly enough, and it seems that by agreeing to a 15/month unlimited data plan, the will forgive my monster bill.

[synth_fg]

Right Kb = Kilobyte or 1000 bytes,

Mb = Megabyte or 1,000,000 Bytes

Gb = Giga Byte or 1,000,000,000 Bytes

if your existing plan is for 5 Mb then it is not enough for anything

Non mobile optimised web pages can run upto a couple of Mb each 

Pictures can be .5 -1 Mb 

Maps too can be heavy usage if you are downloading maps through the 3G

If you got the phone and the plan at the same time through the operator then you may have a case that you were undersold and you may have a case that you should have been warned about the charges you were racking up before you got the bill

Also the maths dont add up, 15 Mby Extra = $30 at $2/Mb mot $157 

However your best bet is to accept their offer, 15 Mby would be considered light monthly usage for an N97 TBH

[ginz088 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I agree it doesn't add up, but since they're willing to cancel the big bill, we can agree 15US$/month is reasonable for unlimited data.

The phone is unbranded. No carrier provides it in the US. No carrier provided my last N95, which I seldom surfed on. As such, no plan came with it-I purchased direct from Nokia, popped in my SIM card, and started racking up charges inadvertently.

 I've learned my lesson and now consider this issue solved.

Larry

[alexeiw123]

good of them to clear it for you, glad you have a solution and can now make use of the internet on your phone.