Vodacom Blackberry data charge - Whatsapp

[SJvdM]

Hi,

I received a R1800 bill from Vodacom last month for data usage on my Blackberry. On investigation we found the culprit to be Whatsapp. I have logged a dispute with Vodacom, but we will see if they reply. Details as follows:

Dispute details

1. Subscriber history - No previous billing has indicated such excessive internet usage - previous bills either had no additional internet usuage or very little. ( previous 2 year contract also had BIS with no such excessive data usage). Previous 3 year history with Vodacom indicates no tendency to downloading. The phone is used for Facebook and Blackberry apps (BBM). However, due to the nature of business, we understand that Vodacom can not just "take out word" for this - hence the additional motivations below.

2. Signalling not related to streaming - Please see the attached photo of the phone. We found the high data usage to be Whatsapp (I am 100% certain you will find this info consistent with your records). As mentioned in your email, the data was "consistent with audio video streaming or phone as a modem". Your conclusion is incorrect. Furthermore:
- The "messaging/media" part of Whatsapp includes messages and attachments thereof. As can be seen in the attached screenshot, the messaging part of Whatsapp is a mere ~125mb (which we will be more than willing to pay for). However, the bulk of the data usage seems to be used by Whatsapp signalling. The CDR's that you sent us indicates no relation to the handling of the PDP contexts and the signalling involved. It is more than probable that the high data usage was caused by the Vodacom IN initiating a PDP terminate whilst Whatsapp was performing some action. The repeated PDP termination would have caused the signalling to effectively repeat and send the same data mutliple times. The high number of connections can also be an indication of the number of possible retries from the software due to insufficient release or resources by the Vodacom IN. There is no indication however, that these possible termination messages was initiated by the user handset - of which the user would have no visibility. Therefore, there is no way to place the blame on the subscriber or the subscriber handset.

3. T&C's - Your T&C's mention "Most applications developed by Research In Motion (RIM), will operate across the blackberry.net APN and therefore will not incur additional data charges." Whatsapp is listed as the 2nd top free app on Blackberry App world and is used extensively by BB users worldwide. It is difficult to believe than an app this popular will be excluded from the fair BIS usage policy - which the client at hand has always abided to. I am sure Vodacom can see the argument here that is in line with the CPA's "The right to fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions".

What do you guys think? Is this unreasonable?

[jannievanzyl]

Hi,

I received a R1800 bill from Vodacom last month for data usage on my Blackberry. On investigation we found the culprit to be Whatsapp. I have logged a dispute with Vodacom, but we will see if they reply. Details as follows:

Dispute details

1. Subscriber history - No previous billing has indicated such excessive internet usage - previous bills either had no additional internet usuage or very little. ( previous 2 year contract also had BIS with no such excessive data usage). Previous 3 year history with Vodacom indicates no tendency to downloading. The phone is used for Facebook and Blackberry apps (BBM). However, due to the nature of business, we understand that Vodacom can not just "take out word" for this - hence the additional motivations below.

2. Signalling not related to streaming - Please see the attached photo of the phone. We found the high data usage to be Whatsapp (I am 100% certain you will find this info consistent with your records). As mentioned in your email, the data was "consistent with audio video streaming or phone as a modem". Your conclusion is incorrect. Furthermore:
- The "messaging/media" part of Whatsapp includes messages and attachments thereof. As can be seen in the attached screenshot, the messaging part of Whatsapp is a mere ~125mb (which we will be more than willing to pay for). However, the bulk of the data usage seems to be used by Whatsapp signalling. The CDR's that you sent us indicates no relation to the handling of the PDP contexts and the signalling involved. It is more than probable that the high data usage was caused by the Vodacom IN initiating a PDP terminate whilst Whatsapp was performing some action. The repeated PDP termination would have caused the signalling to effectively repeat and send the same data mutliple times. The high number of connections can also be an indication of the number of possible retries from the software due to insufficient release or resources by the Vodacom IN. There is no indication however, that these possible termination messages was initiated by the user handset - of which the user would have no visibility. Therefore, there is no way to place the blame on the subscriber or the subscriber handset.

3. T&C's - Your T&C's mention "Most applications developed by Research In Motion (RIM), will operate across the blackberry.net APN and therefore will not incur additional data charges." Whatsapp is listed as the 2nd top free app on Blackberry App world and is used extensively by BB users worldwide. It is difficult to believe than an app this popular will be excluded from the fair BIS usage policy - which the client at hand has always abided to. I am sure Vodacom can see the argument here that is in line with the CPA's "The right to fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions".

What do you guys think? Is this unreasonable?

Not unreasonable:

I've just sent you this PM:

Hi,

We need to investigate what happened here. Please mail me ALL your details to xxxxxx, phone number, etc.

I've got people standing by to analyse your log files to check why this happened.

Jannie

[Dean]

^^This is why I love myBB

[SJvdM]

Thanks for the quick reply Jannie. I have sent you all the details....

Regards

[AirWolf]

How do you generate a R1.8k bill just from Whatsapp?

[Haldex]

How do you generate a R1.8k bill just from Whatsapp?

prolly pics, videos and music transfers?

[DA-LION-619]

30 megs a day OOB rate

[Maya_the_Bee]

Hi,

I too was told I should uninstall Whatsapp as it is the cause of the intermittently high data usage on my Galaxy SII ?! This was after I had to be patronised by various "data specialists" from the Advanced (?) Data Support department at Vodacom, who assumed I was a naive user who did not understand her smartphone.

I only use WhatsApp for messaging (no photo's or videos), do not activate background data, syncing or locations, do not use it for FB, Twitter or email. And the only surfing I do is Absa mobi or to check what time a movie is playing on sterkinekor - at most 5 times a month.

So once the advanced data support "specialists" had exhausted their default replies to my three queries (two of the queries whom I asked to be escalated), their response was that I am welcome to take it further ?!

Problem:
1) I have used an average of 60 MB per month since January.
2) Once a month I have an exhorbitantly high data usage - eg 268MB in 4 hours on a Sunday, 12MB on 12 May, 25MB on 14 June.
3) I never picked up any of these isolated high usages before as I was on a 100MB promo for January to March. Having to pay R351 for data made me check my usage.
4) Nobody has access to my phone without my knowledge (my nephew is 4 so only plays games while I am with him).
5) Advanced data Support acknowledged that there was a discrepancy in the usage but said that their "systems" are 100% correct and I am liable for the costs.

I don't know where else to turn ? Any ideas would be welcome, short of me refusing to pay and then ending up in court - I think this is a bit harsh and totally unnecessary.

Vodacom has to be aware of the latest scams / hacking and I'm sure that were they to just properly investigate, this problem could be resolved. I am sure I am not the only user having this issue . . .

[dheshenp]

Postpaid n data never mix.......

[ScottulusMaximus]

If they telling you it's Whatsapp doing this just go into Whatsapp Options>About>Network Usage.... I've had Whatsapp for a year and a half now, sent and received over 9000 messages and used a grand total of 11.8MB up and 24.9MB down. How you could possibly use 125MB in a month is beyond me!!!!!

[isie]

If they telling you it's Whatsapp doing this just go into Whatsapp Options>About>Network Usage.... I've had Whatsapp for a year and a half now, sent and received over 9000 messages and used a grand total of 11.8MB up and 24.9MB down. How you could possibly use 125MB in a month is beyond me!!!!!

Unless OP reset usage, but i concure unless you sending a ****load of mp3 or videos dont think whats app can rac up that kind of data usage.

[DTBA]

I have been using whatsapp for about a year have over 25 000 messages sent and used about 40 megs

[jannievanzyl]

Don't take this as gospel but I'm getting reports of very high WhatsApp usage the last few weeks and have heard rumours of a new release of WhatsApp to fix this.

Can you guys all check your WhatsApp usage and post here? Also version numbers and when you installed upgraded?

Maybe the mods can move this to a more generic thread related to the app and not the carrier?

[4cer]

whatsapp using an app that tracks my data usage has me using 5 megs a month on average ( about 1 meg above what the app says ). I think RIM is trying to get some clients back :P

[spikry]

Version: 2.7.9660
Phone: Blackberry 9650 prepaid
Messages: 958 sent 1375 received
Media data: 244KB sent 150KB received
Message data: 1.4MB sent 1.3MB
Total data: 2.7MB sent 6.0MB


Hope this helps.