[Q] Data roaming setting ignored(?!) - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Two days ago I got a nasty surprise call from my mobile provider asking me to make a payment 120 EUR to cover the costs of my unusually high data usage abroad that morning?! My Nexus 4 has allegedly downloaded 19Mb of data while in roaming - even though setting "Data roaming" was set to off. I was abroad 2 weeks ago, for 2 weeks and yet that time phone behaved as expected and no data was transferred while in roaming.
Is it possible that the phone has all of a sudden decided to ignore the "Data roaming" setting and use the internet?
Or could it be an error made by mobile provider?
How do I prove this is not my fault?! Is there a detailed data usage log on the phone?
Thanks
BTW Phone is Nexus 4, Android 4.3, build JWR66Y (so pretty much the latest software)

I've seen the same behavior
I've seen the same with my LG Nexus 4 running Android 4.4
When I got over the border, regular internet stopped, because roaming was turned off.
I've turned it on for five mintes and then turned roaming off again. Now when I look at my location history from Google, every waypoint in the 'roaming'-area is there!? Did the device buffer the trackpoints and sent them later on, OR does KitKat not honor the setting?

Related

[Q] Huge internet usage

Hey everyone,
I have a dell venue pro and I live in the UK and am on the O2 network. I am on the £10 tarriff with a £3 bolt on which gives me 100 Mb of internet to use per month, I thought this would be enough for casual Facebook updates and using Bing maps, however when the bolt on was activated I turned my WiFi on because I was at home and watched a 40 minute video off the internet, when I checked my allowance it said I had used 70mb! First of all my WiFi was on so my cellular connection shouldn't have been used anyway so I phone o2 who said sorry we only charge for what you use. So I disabled my WiFi enabled 3g and went on google and Facebook and it cost me 9mb! When I turned off 3g the usage was sensible again, so is there something going on in the background that I should turn off? My email is synced at every half an hour but that's the only background thing going on that I am aware of, all my friends use 3g and there internet usage is nowhere as near as wild as mine is, can anyone please help me?
Cheers,
Syed
techrack said:
Hey everyone,
I have a dell venue pro and I live in the UK and am on the O2 network. I am on the £10 tarriff with a £3 bolt on which gives me 100 Mb of internet to use per month, I thought this would be enough for casual Facebook updates and using Bing maps, however when the bolt on was activated I turned my WiFi on because I was at home and watched a 40 minute video off the internet, when I checked my allowance it said I had used 70mb! First of all my WiFi was on so my cellular connection shouldn't have been used anyway so I phone o2 who said sorry we only charge for what you use. So I disabled my WiFi enabled 3g and went on google and Facebook and it cost me 9mb! When I turned off 3g the usage was sensible again, so is there something going on in the background that I should turn off? My email is synced at every half an hour but that's the only background thing going on that I am aware of, all my friends use 3g and there internet usage is nowhere as near as wild as mine is, can anyone please help me?
Cheers,
Syed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a similar experience a while back. Since my mobile provider offers automatic text messages when I'm about to reach my 3G limit along with full history log of usage, I had a look and noticed my DVP stayed connected for over an hour somehow even though I was not using the phone at that time. E-mail checks were setup like yours. The weird thing is that it didn't happen in the beginning when I used 3G and left it on without using it.
By any chance did you update to the 8107 version of Mango? Because it only happened to me after that, perhaps it's related? I forced the update on my phone...
Ascario said:
I had a similar experience a while back. Since my mobile provider offers automatic text messages when I'm about to reach my 3G limit along with full history log of usage, I had a look and noticed my DVP stayed connected for over an hour somehow even though I was not using the phone at that time. E-mail checks were setup like yours. The weird thing is that it didn't happen in the beginning when I used 3G and left it on without using it.
By any chance did you update to the 8107 version of Mango? Because it only happened to me after that, perhaps it's related? I forced the update on my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. My phone came pre-loaded with Mango so I've never experienced pre-Mango. The OS version on my phone is 7.10.7720.68. After you forced the update 8107, is the internet usage back down to normal with 3g? Thanks.

Mysterious 15kB data usage

I'm having a problem with mysterious 15kB data usage. My mobile service is showing random 15kB data usage at random times, over the last week there have been 48 session.
I've disabled data and I am still getting these 15kB sessions, then I changed the APN to a dummy APN, and yet I am still getting this 15kB sessions. From my understanding this should be impossible for my phone to connect to the data network?(I have wifi on)
My phone is currently running slim bean, but I have swapped rom(PARANOIDANDROID) the other day and I was getting the same issue with that rom too.
Any suggestions?
Sounds like your mobile provider is ripping you off man. Does this happen in another phone? If not then it's most likely your phone, but I highly doubt it as I haven't seen reports of this and this doesn't happen to me.
Those bits of data are typically location services. You may have something on your phone that is using GPS to report back location.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
fernandezhjr said:
Those bits of data are typically location services. You may have something on your phone that is using GPS to report back location.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the informaiton, and that is what I thought too, but how can my phone connect to data network if the data is turn off and I've changed the APN to a dummy APN
fatall said:
Thanks for the informaiton, and that is what I thought too, but how can my phone connect to data network if the data is turn off and I've changed the APN to a dummy APN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Renaming an apn as dummy won't stop it from functioning. What you are likely seeing is carrier related. It's purpose is for phone location for 911 services. In an apn it is referenced as supl. It has the ability to call on data, meaning it can turn data on and off at it's own discretion. If it was not showing on your carrier log before, it could be a change with how your current rom is handling it or a change with your apn. Not sure, other than I always see it in my data log and I have supl referenced in one of my apns. I run a two apn setup. One for data and one for MMS and supl. This keeps them functioning without the worry of them failing when calling data when it is off.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
fernandezhjr said:
Renaming an apn as dummy won't stop it from functioning. What you are likely seeing is carrier related. It's purpose is for phone location for 911 services. In an apn it is referenced as supl. It has the ability to call on data, meaning it can turn data on and off at it's own discretion. If it was not showing on your carrier log before, it could be a change with how your current rom is handling it or a change with your apn. Not sure, other than I always see it in my data log and I have supl referenced in one of my apns. I run a two apn setup. One for data and one for MMS and supl. This keeps them functioning without the worry of them failing when calling data when it is off.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the information, the reason I am tracking this is because my service provider charges $0.05 per MB, so each 15kB is counted as 1MB(rounded up to MB billing) and I am on pre paid plan. I don't make a lot of call or SMS. My reasoning was I could recharge with $30 and it takes 12 months till it expires, but the 15kB=1MB is killing this idea. I have also tried leaving data on full-time, but all this does is give me 5-10 data session an hour, killing my pre paid plan.
I have also tried 10 or so different roms over the last 3-4 months and the same thing is happening on all the rom's I've tried.
fatall said:
Thanks for the information, the reason I am tracking this is because my service provider charges $0.05 per MB, so each 15kB is counted as 1MB(rounded up to MB billing) and I am on pre paid plan. I don't make a lot of call or SMS. My reasoning was I could recharge with $30 and it takes 12 months till it expires, but the 15kB=1MB is killing this idea. I have also tried leaving data on full-time, but all this does is give me 5-10 data session an hour, killing my pre paid plan.
I have also tried 10 or so different roms over the last 3-4 months and the same thing is happening on all the rom's I've tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem with the Nexus 5 and finally figured it out. It's related to AGPS, assisted GPS.
To disable it, Goto Settings - Location - Mode
Use Device Only. Getting a GPS signal will take longer, a minute.
High accuracy or Battery Saving uses mobile networks to speed up getting GPS signal, which some providers register as a 15kb data usage.
Did you say 15kb?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Q] Little data roaming despite disabled

I have now for the second time the problem that I have many little data roaming connections while abroad, despite data roaming is deactivated in Android. They are so small (always exactly 30 kB, which seems to be the smallest quantity my provider is billing) that it's virtually impossible to produce them with normal traffic. I always have much larger data connections, even without using my phone (at least 100kB up to 1MB and even more if I use it, of course). In this case I had 9 of those connections while little more than 24h. Last time when I had this problem half a year ago, I had those connections for an entire week with the same frequency (~10 per day).
In both incidents there was an OTA update available for the Nexus 4. This time I received the update notification at some point during my stay abroad. I had wifi connection most of the time, so I assume the update was downloaded using the wifi connection (the roaming traffic is too small for the update by far). I did not install the update until I returned back home. Last time my phone wasn't able to download the OTA update, since I had a custom rom installed at that time. It is possible that it tried downloading the OTA update for the entire stay back then (and even before and after - I noticed increased traffic over normal mobile internet at home). I switched back to the stock rom a while ago and thus was now able again to receive official OTA updates.
This time I was staying for 8 days in Chile, last time was around one week of Italy. My provider is Orange Switzerland.
What can be the cause of this? I am absolutely certain that data roaming was disabled in Android both times. Could it be that Android somehow bypasses the disabled roaming when checking for OTA updates? But it would have to do it when already knowing there is an update, so what's the point of doing this? Or could it be a provider initiated connection to notify the phone of the update? What can I do to prevent this from happening in future?
Thanks for any input!
Martin
Are you disabling mobile data and roaming or just roaming?
You could also try deleting or changing your default apn to prevent this from happening.
When I travel outside of Canada, I do not incurr any roaming charges when I turn off mobile data and roaming,
Thanks for the reply. I just disabled data roaming. I am abroad quite a lot, apart from these two incidents I never had any unexpected roaming charges. It must be somehow connected to the OTA update.
I will try disabling mobile data next time, maybe also disabling updates. But I also would like to understand how this can happen. Would it actually be possible that my provider initiates data connections to push the update notification? On the other hand my phone doesn't make those connections all the time, so it cannot just be the regular checking for updates. If it just received the notification via wifi, it would have downloaded the update via wifi immediately. So there must be some kind of mechanism I do not understand.
I also noticed that some of those roaming data connections occurred during the night, when I actually had wifi in the hotel for sure. This doesn't make any sense to me at all...
I don't want to take a chance so I disable all data connections, including roaming, as well as sync, software and app updates, and anything else I can think of that might try to access the data network.
Disabling sync etc. is not an option, since I want to use it via wifi. Besides, this must be either a bug in the Android update mechanism (which is persistent over some versions apparently) or my provider is doing something stupid. In the first case I would like to inform the devs, in the second case I won't pay for the data roaming, since I wouldn't be responsible for it.
Any ideas how to find out which one is true? Is here by chance anyone who either
a) has received a bill with many very small data roaming connections despite roaming was disabled while an OTA update was rolled out, or
b) was on the contrary abroad while the OTA update was rolled out and received the update notification via wifi, and has not seen any such roaming connections on the bill?
Thank you very much!
Wow, I can't even imagine worrying about overages and roaming charges... T-Mobile FTW!
Which custom ROM are you running? If it's not stock, there shouldn't be anything that has to do with an OTA, unless that functionality is not removed for some odd reason. Does the data usage utility show any useful information?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
korockinout13 said:
Which custom ROM are you running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on stock right now. During the first incident I ran some stock ROM, but I no longer remember which one. The data usage shows me Android OS would have transferred a 15.65 KB.
Edit: T-Mobile has no roaming charges if you are outside the US?
Have the same problem. Just one week ago I was on holiday. They also charged me twice for a 30 KB connection on different days (Orange Swizerland). I first thought it's maybe because I installed a custom rom but it also happened to my brother whose phone is 100% stock.
Did you found a solution?
Regards
Interesting. So it is an Orange problem after all...
7ORO said:
Did you found a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really. I now disabled the OTA update service (using the disable service app), so this cannot happen any more (I believe). Also I will switch to another provider at the end of this month, so if Orange is doing something strange, I will no longer be affected.
Same thing happened to me this month on my Nexus 6P on android 7.1
It used between 0.00mb and 0.04 mb (according to my data usage logs from the telephone company) (Telus)
Any other person figured out how this could happen and what's the solution?
had this last month. On Oreo 8.1 Stock + root Essential Phone (see here for details) https://forum.xda-developers.com/essential-phone/help/data-roaming-charges-despite-disabled-t3796715
Anybody has an idea?

Unexpected data roaming charges when all data is off

Hi there!
I was just charged again for data roaming while absolutely all data in my G2 was disabled (both checkboxes roaming and data were off). This is very frustrating, as this time it was a long trip and I was charged more than 50 USD equiv of roaming charges . What I can detect is that it is billed twice separately each time it connects i.e. while roaming I can see two separate 50kB packets charged in one minute and in my home network I can see two 512kB packets billed separately in one minute. It happens randomly, around 5 to 10 times a day. I am suspecting it has to do do something with location or location history because previously it stopped when I disabled location in the top bar during roaming (or roamed to another country). I think it started happening when I've upgraded to Lollipop earlier this year. My model is LG-D802 and software is V30b-260-01. Wonder if it could be malicious software, bug in Lollipop, or something else? Did anyone experienced such problem before? I will eventually call the hotline (Lg or operator) but I need cold facts as otherwise they will start blaming everyone including their mothers just to get rid of me (yes, this is how it works in some European countries... ).
So, Dear XDA users, do you have time for small investigation?
Cheers,
Marcin
Are you the one turning off the data? Why not use Airplane mode? I'd call your service provider first then go from there.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
Yep, roaming was always off but data is the thing I turn off. I cannot use airplane mode all the time because wifi does not work and you actually cannot receive any calls. I think better idea would be to intentionally provide false APN data. But that is not the answer to rhe question, I need to find what is the root cause of those connections? I can factory reset the phone and try again if it will happen again it would be definitely software/bb related...

No data after having WiFi enabled for a while

Hello,
I've had this issue across more than 1 device and more than 1 carrier.
Here's what happens:
I enable WiFi, and for a while everything works as expected. I can send and receive MMS messages. I can disable WiFi and go back to my 4G connection.
The problem is, after an unknown amount of time, the phone drops the 4G connection in the background. I only know when I can't receive/send MMS messages anymore. At that point, if I disable WiFI there's no 4G data connection, and I have to turn Airplane mode off and turn it back on.
This is really annoying. It happened to me using Sprint and a Galaxy S4 (both stock and custom ROMs) and it's happening to me with a Galaxy S5 from MetroPCS. (I've used the stock Metro ROMs, Stock T-mobile ROMs, and Custom T-mobile ROMs).
Right now I'm using a Stock T-mobile ROM with the latest firmware, carrier is MetroPCS.
What can I do so this doesn't happen? It's really frustrating.
Thank you for your time.
Disabled "Smart Network Switch" in WiFi Settings?
*Detection* said:
Disabled "Smart Network Switch" in WiFi Settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello.
That's already disabled.
Should I enable it?
I tried with "smart network switch" enabled and disabled and problem still happened.
My S5 G900F Android 5.00 (Smart Network Switch disabled, Power Save disabled) on EE UK has had this problem for 9 months after phone upgraded itself to Lollipop (EE win the accolade to being the SLOWEST ON THE PLANET to provide Android updates.....). Since Jan 3, my wife's G901, a couple of weeks after it upgraded from 5.0 to 5.02, has developed the same problem. Neither phone has ever been rooted or other.
I have fruitlessly searched everywhere for a solution without success. EE Customer Services Tier 2 & Samsung's own service centre have failed to fix it. EE & Samsung blame each other for 5.1 or 5.1.1 not being available for download. Neither is prepared to resolve the issue despite hours on the phone. Have tried Safe Mode, Factory Reset, clearing everything, reloading APNs & Samsung even reloaded Android. All a waste of time: Many many days of it!
After approx half an hour connected to Wi-Fi, only way to get the mobile data to connect, is either reboot, enter & exit Air-plane mode or flip the 4G > 3G > 4G connection under More Networks. Have tested the fault in different cell areas countries and continents; fault is same everywhere.
It seems there are quite a few sufferers of this problem.
Samsung S5 keeps losing data connection
I have the same problem. My new Samsung phone loses the data connection (even though data is turned on) and I can only re-connect by restarting the phone. The first EE shop I took it to couldn't help at all. The second gave me a new SIM - that didn't work. Then I tried online support and after 3.5 hours of my life, in which I was passed on from one person to another, they completed a factory re-set - which didn't work (and additionally lost all the personalisation of my screen and some of my contacts). So I now have a not-very-smart phone which I have to re-start every time I want to use data. This is a business contract and the phone is less than two months old, but I'm not getting any effective support from EE. Android version is 5.0.2
me too, since last update. and app 'phono' shows "mobile data off" not got a time on it, but when i leave wifi coverage, it wont reconnect to cell data 2g/3g/4g. flightmode toggle to restore.
Abandon hope if you have this intermittent mobile data problem!
...at least until there is a software update, though I have no idea if that will help.
I have now tried a new sim card, a factory reset, and a replacement phone - which was provided only because I'm a business customer and I found a sympathetic member of staff. *By the way, I was told that if you are personal customer they won't consider replacing your phone if it is more than a month old - even if you started complaining about the phone as soon as you got it, the chances are a month will have elapsed by the time they put you through the hoops of a new sim, reset etc - and then it is too late to insist on a replacement phone.
In any case the replacement phone didn't resolve the issue so I have reached* a dead end. My phone fails to connect to data after having been connected to wifi - you have to do it manually each time you move away from a wifi connnection. At first I was doing it by restarting the phone, but am now following the advice of someone else who has the same problem and am going into flight mode and out again. *
This is not satisfactory, and it seems from reading forums that EE are to blame for the problem rather than Samsung, but I'm not 100% sure about that.*
Possible solution that works, for me, at the moment!
Having suffered this issue of my S5 (SM-G901F) not connecting to mobile data after being on Wi-Fi for a while unless switching airplane mode on/off for a few weeks; although it has probably been happening since the update I received late December; I have tried all of the turn this switch off, factory resets (x2), etc, etc, etc. and Googled the issue without success.
I have found this thread interesting, and I even tried calling EE support only to be told "you have tried everything that we would tell you to do" and "it wouldn't be a sim card, or handset issue, sounds like software". The reply was basically that like-it or lump it until the 5.1 update is released "by Samsung not EE because EE do not release Android updates". [Perhaps EE don't release the updates, but the stock rom is tested by them and their bloatware added before they eventually release it!!!]
Following my last reset I tried selectively re-installing the apps I used incase that was causing the issue. No Luck!
One last thing I tried was to look at every system 'thing' that I could find which used/switched any part of the mobile/mobile data/wifi - in addition to the settings I had already tried (all of which were mentioned in this thread previously). One thing I could not find not mentioned here, or anywhere, was the VoWi-Fi call on/off which I had always set to on as I do not live in a great reception area. Calling over Wi-Fi is great when you don't have a strong mobile signal.
Having 'played' with this setting for the last 24 hours I have found that the VoWi-Fi on/off appears to be a possible cure - for me anyway.:fingers-crossed:
When VoWi-Fi was set to off and leaving the phone connected to Wi-Fi overnight, the S5 immediately switched to mobile data this morning when I turned the Wi-Fi off . It continued to switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data all morning whilst out and about in and out of Wi-Fi connections - Woop Woop!!!
I then tried switching VoWi-Fi on (with Wi-Fi on and at home), leaving the phone for a number of hours, only to find that when I turned Wi-Fi off the phone refused to connect to mobile data even with a 'decent' mobile signal. The only way to get it to connect was to go back to switching Airplane mode on/off.
Switched VoWi-Fi off again, left Wi-Fi connected, left the phone for a couple of hours, etc. and hey-presto immediately switched to mobile data when I turned the Wi-Fi off. [Dances around the room because he's got the S5 automatically switching to mobile data again. Even though I'm at home with a great fibre internet and strong Wi-Fi connection!!!]
I do not know if this could be a solution for the others who are suffering from this issue, but it appears to be a solution for me at the moment. I thought I would share as your previous posts have helped me and you all seem to be pulling your hair out; like I have been; trying to find a solution.
Try it, it may work, but don't shoot me if it doesn't!
It's encouraging to know that I'm not crazy. I've had this issue across two devices and carries.
John,
Thank for your suggestion about WiFi calling. Unfortunately, I always have it off! I never used it, so maybe I should try turning it on? We'll see lol.
At this point, I think this is going to be my last Galaxy line phone.
Is it wi-fi calling that's causing the problem?
I have wondered if there is a link with wi-fi calling, but haven't tested it properly. I signed up with ee and bought the Galaxy phone specifically so that I could use wifi calling, as the town where I live (in the Scottish Borders) doesn't get a mobile signal strong to work reliably indoors from any of the networks. I'll try turning off wi-fi calling to see if that sorts the data thing (though I see that for one person above it did not). That would mean I wouldn't get calls or texts when I'm at home so it would not be a permanent solution for me. But in fact the wi-fi calling is not reliable anyway....
Brian_svc said:
It's encouraging to know that I'm not crazy. I've had this issue across two devices and carries.
John,
Thank for your suggestion about WiFi calling. Unfortunately, I always have it off! I never used it, so maybe I should try turning it on? We'll see lol.
At this point, I think this is going to be my last Galaxy line phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brian,
You never know the way things are going with this issue; given that nobody seems to be able to pinpoint the fault; turning it on may just sort it!!!
still no change and its a pita.....

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