Unexplained data usage and charge despite smartcap

[#1]

I have 3 contract SIMS, mine and one each for my 2 daughters.

Today, my eldest said she had run out of data- she got the 80% warning and the 100% use messages at the same time.

Her usual usage at school is between 70 and 350mb a day but today it's 11gb data usage with a charge of £47.46 despite a smartcap of £10.
She hasn't installed any new apps or had any odd phone calls or other messages.

I will phone customer services in the morning, but I'm really confused by this.

Anyone had similar issues?

Thanks

Stuart

[#2]

Hi Stuart

I know this doesn't answer your question, and hopefully someone will be along soon who can, but if she has genuinely used that much data then you'd only be charged the £10 up to the smartcap, and not the extra on top.  

From my understanding Plusnet will receive the data through from their suppliers at intervals, rather than real time.  I wouldn't have thought these intervals would be too far apart, though I wouldn't know.  The update Plusnet would have received would be for that chunk of data, which has trigged the 80% and 100% messages as both thresholds would have passed, and would also be why they wouldn't have been able to restrict it at the £10 mark of the smartcap, though as I say they wouldn't charge you for the bit above the smartcap.

I've never heard of anyone getting any usage on their mobile that hasn't been genuinely used by the device in someway, though maybe others have, or someone might be able to point you in the direction of how to determine what used that amount of data.  Something that might help with that would probably be the make and model of the phone, and which OS (iOS or Android or something else) and the version of it.

[#3]

Hi Pjmarsh.

Thanks for this. I do believe the phone used the data, but I cannot see or understand how there is so much in a short time compared with 2 years of consistent use amounting to less than the 11gb per month, let alone a day.

I spoke to CS today who confirmed the info about the smartcap and how it's applied retrospectively, so that's a relief. They also looked into the data use and said 8.9gb was storage iCloud and Google... I'm unsure if they just mean generically backing up to cloud based services as my daughter doesn't use google on her iPhone. Even so, why yesterday was there so much data transfer and never before in the 2 years prior to this??? She has not knowingly altered any of her settings.

Anyway, we will see how things go in terms of data use over the next few months. I've changed her contract to a 30gb one for only £1.10 a month or so more so will see what happens.

Thanks again

Stuart

[#4]

If it's an iphone, if you go to Settings > Mobile Data, it will show you how much data various apps/services have used.  There is also an option to "Reset Statistics".  It might be worth doing that and keeping an eye on what is using it if she gets any more spikes.  You might be able to refine time periods without resetting it, though its not something I've looked in to.  Knowing/confirming what causes it might help narrow down why its doing it.