back to article EE coughs to BROKEN data usage metrics BLUNDER that short-changes customers

Outraged EE customers who have reported flawed data usage spikes on their accounts are being told not to panic by the mobile operator. The glitch in the company's "My EE" app has led to some confused subscribers paying for more data, it has been claimed. Register reader Andy told us that his account had first been hit with …

  1. WonkoTheSane
    FAIL

    Why bother?

    Android (Don't know about Apple) has a data counter built into the settings.

    I suspect it'll be more accurate than anything vendor supplied.

    The same applies to "Orange Mail" - Android phones have to be tied to a GMail account anyway, so why bother with that either?

    1. Cliff

      Re: Why bother?

      The point is that the vendor-supplied one is the one you have to take seriously if you don't want to be royally rogered for going over your data package

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why bother?

      Why bother? because if you hit your data limit early then you get charged extra or have to buy a "top up".

    3. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: Why bother?

      The same applies to "Orange Mail" - Android phones have to be tied to a GMail account anyway, so why bother with that either?

      The wife has a Gmail account for her android phone, never, ever used it for email (and nor does she use orange mail). It's this crazy thing called choice.

  2. Ol'Peculier
    FAIL

    Nott a new problem

    This happened to me last October. Was in a UK airport trying to find the email with my inbound flight reservation and EE said I'd used all of it up. Same thing around April, and for two weeks of that period I'd been on the other side of the world.

    I knew there was no way I could have used that data, and they eventually admitted there had been a cock-up and reset my months usage to 0kb

    Pretty crap, however you look at it.

    1. MrT

      Yup, random figures...

      ...got my "out of data" message 3 days after putting in a brand new EE SIM (previously T-Mobile), but before the number had ported properly so the phone was basically used in emergencies only...

      Currently the phone says 202MB used, DroidStats says 201, My EE say 364MB since the month began. Mind you, I note that they say WiFi should be off for accuracy... but it makes no difference. The app is way out, so it seems a good job that I looked at average monthly figures and doubled it to be safe...

      It's not all bad news, however: since going from a 3G TM SIM to a 4G EE one the phone has had better signal in more places, and the battery lasts longer. It's only a 3G SGS3 - I went SIM-only because the handsets are fine enough for now.

      1. MrT

        Re: Yup, random figures...

        ... today, the My EE app now says 195MB used (compared to 207MB in DroidStats), with 2 days left until the month resets. They now more or less agree, with the benefit slightly to me instead of comparatively hugely to them.

        Anyone else suddenly have the My EE app roughly halve the previous day's total in the past day or so?

  3. styven

    Yep had this twice now, with a sim card that I barely use that is sat in a chromebook. I must use 3g on it no more than 3 times a month, but got the text telling me I had used up all my data. The biggest issue is not the error but trying to talk to someone at tmobile.

  4. AdamK

    WP 8.1 to the rescue

    Thankfully Windows Phone 8.1 has an app called Data Sense. Its really useful because it will reset your chosen data allowance on any date in the months up to and including the 28th! Mine with Virgin resets on the 30th.

    With WP8.1 its a perpetual February in a non-leap year. Genius

  5. heyrick Silver badge

    Well, they agree...

    107MB according to Orange France, and the same according to the UsageActivity app. I installed it last month after hitting my limit which was quite unexpected. Between the 23rd and today, "System Traffic" has consumed 50MB and sent 14MB. What the hell? That is more than any other use.

    I want to kill the bastard at Google who decided "Google Play Services" was so damned important that updating it could do it as and when it felt like it and on mobile comms too. At 9:40am on the 25th, 6.1.09 installed itself, all 13MB of it. Again (I guess the last update didn't hide the troublesome app permissions enough?). That would be when I was at work. And that would be off mobile comms. Bastards. Funny how you can force update that (at my expense) but can't update more important parts of Android. Bastards.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Well, they agree...

      Why don't you just turn off updating over mobile comms for Play Services (and any other services)?

      The idea of Google Play Services is that it does allow Google to update the 'important' parts of Android without requiring Manufacturers or carriers to modify/approve it. It is the only thing Google can update themselves out side of Nexus/One/GPE devices and their apps..

  6. Timbo

    Another good Android app...

    is Joiku Phone Usage, which is free from Google Play.

    Allows you to monitor phone/SMS and data usage over days/weeks/months and with user-selectable start dates so you can tie it in with your monthly contract. I've found it very useful to get a idea of how much data I've used over any period.

    (PS I'm not associated with this app - just a happy user).

  7. FordPrefect

    I did wonder last month how I jumped from upto 1GB used given that I live in an area with GPRS/Edge and at home I'm always on Wifi!

  8. localzuk Silver badge

    Refund?

    I wonder if that means those of us who needed to use data urgently, and were prompted that we had to buy a top-up in our phone browser, will get a refund for that pack?

  9. auburnman

    Nothing new here, overcharging for data has been going on for yonkers. I can't find the link now but I'm pretty sure at least one older Orange plan had the data costs jacked up sky high (as in at least treble the average of other providers) rather than fix their broken billing.This is why I ditched Orange months ago.

  10. ukgnome

    >He added SMS alerts tell customers when their data allowance has hit 80 per cent usage. A second text is then sent once all that data has been gobbled.

    This happened to me, well the massive missing data available did, no text or anything. Although the nice chap at EE added a wedge of free data when I phoned up and asked him where my allowance had gone. The weird thing is he didn't acknowledge an issue, and confirmed that according to his system the allowance was indeed missing.

  11. Chizo Ejindu

    I knew it!

    I bloody well knew it! The "My EE" app has been displaying usage which is double that of the 2 separate mobile data tracking apps i have intatalled as well as my phones own internal measurements, but the call centre droid on the end of the phone relentlessly insisted that the usage was correct so i've been serverely rationing my mobile data just to make it to the end of the month! Gah bloody useless network!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Data 'limit'?

    What's that?

    Idiots get what they pay for.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Data 'limit'?

      Most operators are backtracking on "unlimited" offers or bumping up costs.

      It is smart alec people like you have ruined unlimited deals by taking the p*ss.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Probably using GiB instead of GB.

  14. Kubla Cant

    How do they do that?

    I've been with EE for a few years, and I've never found a data connection fast enough to enable me to use more than about 60% of my allowance.

    Example: I commute into London on the East Coast Main Line, and I try to read the news online. Most of the time my phone screen blanks before the page loads. Frequently I get "No data connection" messages when I can see houses, offices, and mobile phone masts out of the window.

    Meanwhile, I see people on the train apparently watching movies on tablets. Are they streaming the data over the net?

  15. cambsukguy

    Just leaving Orange

    Because I have had trouble even getting a decent data connection. Sometimes I have to switch from one EE to another EE network, where offered. This sometimes works and gives me a decent connection.

    Other times I get pings of 10-20 sec (yes seconds) and data DL speeds of 0.00 mbps or sometimes all the way up to 200 kbps. This is when having a 4-bar H+ signal, in any one of several cells.

    Putting the same SIM in my trusty N900 doesn't fix it (try explaining that to Orange).

    Since another phone I also pay for has the same issue and has had the data counting issue too, I will be terminating that contract too.

    To top it all, Orange have had three weeks to unlock my phone and have failed miserably so I can't use my new SIM in my phone just yet.

    All their miserable efforts to fix it have failed and all their apologies and so-called repayments have failed to materialised.

    Today, just to rub it in, they said they were taking £10 pounds off the unlocking charge, fat lot of good that does since they haven't managed to unlock it.

    PS. They also asked me if I had an iPhone at least 5 times. Apparently, if I did, they would not only unlock my phone but presumably come along and suck my dick too, bastards.

  16. ecofeco Silver badge

    Let me get this right (famous last words, right?)

    So if you steal data and minutes from them, it's a crime, but if they steal data and minutes from you AND charge you for it, it's just mea culpa?

    Have American companies completely taken over Europe?

  17. Adam, Kent

    Been down this road before!

    Many years ago I was with a carrier (I can't be 100% sure which one as it was at work and don't want to name names incorrectly) who sent me a bill for ~650MB of data used in a day.

    The device was a 2G (No, not even edge) device (M2M device) connected via GPRS which had a theoretical maximum of 48Kbps (yeah, like we ever saw that).

    I tried to make clear that the theoretical maximum even if the device had been transferring data at 48Kbps all day long was ~520MB of data but they refused to budge and threatened to disconnect the entire businesses mobile comms if the bill wasn't paid.

    The beancounters just paid the bill to keep the rest of the company running :-(

    From my own experience, I've not yet found a telecoms company I can trust...

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