Airtime disappearing

Flanders

Flanders

Honorary Master
Joined
Nov 20, 2003
Messages
19,039
Reaction score
15,727
I use prepaid and for a while now I've been a little suspicious as to where my airtime goes because it seems as though it trickles away on its own. I decided to go check out my mini statement on the vodacom website and here's the trend:

ministatement_abbr.jpg


I don't understand what these small transactions are attributed to since at the times in question I was not using my phone. If I have airtime loaded, these transactions continue 24/7 every half hour or so. I have only just recently switched to a smartphone (samsung galaxy pocket) from my nokia brick and even on the old phone I'm sure this was happening so I'm going to test whether this is the case - it's back on charge as from 20 minutes ago. I'm almost always on wifi anyway with the new phone through my ADSL router and definitely was during the time the above transactions were recorded. Should wifi not override GPRS where data is concerned anyway? I'm not aware of any apps trying to access the internet and I've done everything to make sure nothing is running that could be causing this.

Small amounts, yes, but it does add up and I'll be damned if I'm going to part with my money unnecessarily - especially to this lot.

Can anyone explain what's going on here?
 
I'm on MTN and have recently observed a similar thing.

I have a Smartphone, but only use it for calls and SMSing. Recently, someone convinced me to try WhatsApp, so I downloaded it on the PC, transferred and installed it over the USB cable and then set it up. I started noticing that my airtime was dropping without reason and decided, yesterday, to deregister and uninstall the app'.

It's a little too early to tell if it has made a difference though. :/
 
OMG...meant to post in the vodacom section. Mods, please move. Sorry about that.
 
I rather turn off the wifi, whenever I'm near a wifi network, I trust and can connect too.

I do not like surprises like that and do not trust them in that regard.
 
Merlin said:
I'm on MTN and have recently observed a similar thing.

I have a Smartphone, but only use it for calls and SMSing. Recently, someone convinced me to try WhatsApp, so I downloaded it on the PC, transferred and installed it over the USB cable and then set it up. I started noticing that my airtime was dropping without reason and decided, yesterday, to deregister and uninstall the app'.

It's a little too early to tell if it has made a difference though. :/
Click to expand...
What's the point of having a smartphone then?!
 
mmmig said:
What's the point of having a smartphone then?!
Click to expand...

My old phone was giving out and a relative chose to keep her old phone over this one, so...

I have a rather well-developed dislike for technology, to be kind. ;) I'm not interested in it and will soon be leaving this job sector too.
 
Smartphones are meant to be connected to the internet. If you do not have a data bundle, the connection is going to cost you a few sents (not more than R1 or R2) a day. So basically those small GPRS transactions are perfectly normal. Embrace the year 2012, get a data bundle, install whatsapp, and in the end you should save money on your communication.

Obviously it's cheaper using a data bundle than paying out of bundle prices as you currently do.

Flanders said:
Should wifi not override GPRS where data is concerned anyway? I'm not aware of any apps trying to access the internet and I've done everything to make sure nothing is running that could be causing this.
Click to expand...

Yes. Most likely, you were not connected to wifi ALL the time. You can however force your mobile data connection off, and only use Wifi, and those small GPRS transactions will stop showing up. Even if there are no apps using the internet, the OS itself synchronizes dome data - it is going to use some data from time to time.
 
Last edited:
I spend very little on my phone. It's just not a priority in my life.

Except for the very off occasion when an SMS is called for, I use a land-line, email or visit in person.

...born in the wrong time. ;)
 
Viva said:
Smartphones are meant to be connected to the internet. If you do not have a data bundle, the connection is going to cost you a few sents (not more than R1 or R2) a day. So basically those small GPRS transactions are perfectly normal. Embrace the year 2012, get a data bundle, install whatsapp, and in the end you should save money on your communication.

Obviously it's cheaper using a data bundle than paying out of bundle prices as you currently do.
Click to expand...

My phone is connected to the internet and I do use WhatsApp but what I don't understand though is why GPRS is accessing the net when I'm on my wifi 99% of the time. What data is being transferred on these GPRS transactions and why am I paying for it? Also, according to vodacom, you get 20mb of data (per day) for every R12 you top up with. Apparently not...according to the statement.

edit: okay, only saw your edit now.
 
Flanders said:
My phone is connected to the internet and I do use WhatsApp but what I don't understand though is why GPRS is accessing the net when I'm on my wifi 99% of the time. What data is being transferred on these GPRS transactions and why am I paying for it? Also, according to vodacom, you get 20mb of data (per day) for every R12 you top up with. Apparently not...according to the statement.

edit: okay, only saw your edit now.
Click to expand...

Whatapp uses data point. So that would be my first suspect, then depending on your phone and other apps there are lots of little things that could be running - say a weather update for example.

I would be highly suspect of VC giving you 20MB for every R12 topup, suggest you check your data bundle balance once you topup to see if this is really happening.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X