# Mobile phone/wifi/data and bluetooth question



## Dave7 (24 Nov 2021)

I am on Virgin so have 'free' mobile phone data usage.
I very seldom use the phone outside the house so my monthly allowance is sufficient for me.
However.......
I have been notified that I have used 95% of my data for this month.
The only thing I am doing differently is............. I have been 'bluetoothing' music to my radio, a new thing for me.
Could that be the reason ?
If so, is there a solution ?


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## fossyant (24 Nov 2021)

Have you got the phone connected to your home wifi, if not, it will use it's own data connection and gobble it up.


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## fossyant (24 Nov 2021)

Don't ask @Drago though 👅


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## Bonefish Blues (24 Nov 2021)

Or do you mean you're connecting it to your car radio whilst out & about?


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## cougie uk (24 Nov 2021)

Where is the music coming from on your phone ? Are you streaming from Spotify, or BBC sounds or something and playing that over the car radio ?

On BBC Sounds you can download whole 3 hour shows at home on the wifi and then play that over the bluetooth in the car.


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## Drago (24 Nov 2021)

fossyant said:


> Don't ask @Drago though 👅


If I were on a virgin like Dave then I wouldn't be wasting time on my phone!


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## Dave7 (24 Nov 2021)

fossyant said:


> Have you got the phone connected to your home wifi, if not, it will use it's own data connection and gobble it up.


I 'think' I have. How do I check ?


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## Dave7 (24 Nov 2021)

Bonefish Blues said:


> Or do you mean you're connecting it to your car radio whilst out & about?


No......never do that.
At a guess 95% is at home.


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## dave r (24 Nov 2021)

Dave7 said:


> No......never do that.
> At a guess 95% is at home.



Where are you getting the music from, if it's off the internet and you're using mobile data from the phone it'll soon run through it


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## Dave7 (24 Nov 2021)

cougie uk said:


> Where is the music coming from on your phone ? Are you streaming from Spotify, or BBC sounds or something and playing that over the car radio ?
> 
> On BBC Sounds you can download whole 3 hour shows at home on the wifi and then play that over the bluetooth in the car.


Its a home radio that has bluetooth option.
The only way I know Is that 1) I pair phone and radio up 2) I google a song I want and press play.


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## Dave7 (24 Nov 2021)

I google it so it is normally youtube


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## dave r (24 Nov 2021)

Dave7 said:


> Its a home radio that has bluetooth option.
> The only way I know Is that 1) I pair phone and radio up 2) I google a song I want and press play.



You're getting the songs off the internet thats whats burning through the data.


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## cougie uk (24 Nov 2021)

Is there a Wifi icon at the top of the screen on your phone ? 

And in settings you can disable mobile data so that you don't use up data like this again.


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## vickster (24 Nov 2021)

Don't know what type of phone, but if you're connected to wi-fi there should be a little wi-fi symbol on the home screen when connected


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## vickster (24 Nov 2021)

dave r said:


> You're getting the songs off the internet thats whats burning through the data.


Not if connected to wi-fi


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## Dave7 (24 Nov 2021)

dave r said:


> You're getting the songs off the internet thats whats burning through the data.


Daft question but where else would I get them ie if I want (as yesterday) some classical music ??


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## cougie uk (24 Nov 2021)

This is the icon that will be at the top of your phone screen when you are connected to wifi.


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## Dave7 (24 Nov 2021)

vickster said:


> Don't know what type of phone, but if you're connected to wi-fi there should be a little wi-fi symbol on the home screen when connected


There is and its clearly connected.


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## cougie uk (24 Nov 2021)

Dave7 said:


> Daft question but where else would I get them ie if I want (as yesterday) some classical music ??


Getting them off the internet is fine if you're on Wifi. Otherwise you'll be burning up your mobile phone data allowance as you've just found out. 
BBC Sounds and downloading a show or DJ you like would be an easier bet - unless you enjoy googling a new song every three minutes or so. 
I've not the imagination for that.

There's also itunes and buying music - but that's a saga for another day.


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## vickster (24 Nov 2021)

Dave7 said:


> There is and its clearly connected.


Then you must be using data when out and about somehow. As above, switch off mobile data if want to avoid


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## newts (24 Nov 2021)

Just check that it's not a setting/app meter that gives you a warning that you've used x amount of data that's been through the phone. My Samsung galaxy does this, the default setting is 2gb & runs from the 1rst of each month. It can be reset to match your contracted data limit & dates.


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## dave r (24 Nov 2021)

vickster said:


> Not if connected to wi-fi



Dave7 only confirmed it was connected to wi fi on page 2, up till then it sounded like he was using mobile data and getting songs off the internet would soon burn through that


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## jowwy (24 Nov 2021)

Dave7 said:


> Daft question but where else would I get them ie if I want (as yesterday) some classical music ??


sky tv has radio built in and you can search for music there, so you wouldnt need to stream it then or if you have a spotify account, again you can link it sky q box and play it through too


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## dave r (24 Nov 2021)

Dave7 said:


> Daft question but where else would I get them ie if I want (as yesterday) some classical music ??



I've got a folder full of songs on my phone, the same folder is on my tablet and desktop. Now are you sure the wifi is connected properly, the connection isn't dropping out is it? If you are definitely using wi fi for the music you need to look elsewhere for your data use, have you checked the phone for malware?


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## jowwy (24 Nov 2021)

i would check the phones data and wifi usage within the settings tab....it will actually tell you what you have been using the data on


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## Electric_Andy (24 Nov 2021)

It's possible that you've got your wifi and mobile data switched on? Whenever I go out, I swipe down to access the quick menu and turn wifi off and connect to mobile data. When I return to the house, I turn on wifi and switch off mobile data. Depending on the phone, it can sometimes switch to mobile data or wifi whichever is the strongest signal. 

What phone do you have?


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## CanucksTraveller (24 Nov 2021)

1: Check you're properly connected to WiFi. Go to "settings" then "connectivity (or connections)" then "wifi". Ensure it's (a) switched on and (b) is connected to your home WiFi network. Ensure it isn't displaying the message "no Internet" or "connected but no Internet". (If that's the case, you might want to try resetting your router). 





2: Just to be sure you're definitely on wifi, disable the roaming data to check. In "Settings / connections" look for data roaming and switch it off. It might be under "mobile networks"











3: Now try streaming your music again. If all is well you can switch roaming data back on. 

I suspect your phone is connected to the WiFi router but the latter isn't connected reliably to the Internet, and mobile data is taking over. Do you get a tiny question mark next to the wifi symbol? 

Let us know how you get on after those steps.


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## Arrowfoot (24 Nov 2021)

All bluetooth does is suck battery power. Data consumed means that it was not connected to wifi and data was inadvertently transferred via 4G/5G. Had this happened to me before and I am sure others as well.


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## cougie uk (24 Nov 2021)

I think you're missing the point about Bluetooth there a bit.


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## jowwy (24 Nov 2021)

CanucksTraveller said:


> 1: Check you're properly connected to WiFi. Go to "settings" then "connectivity (or connections)" then "wifi". Ensure it's (a) switched on and (b) is connected to your home WiFi network. Ensure it isn't displaying the message "no Internet" or "connected but no Internet". (If that's the case, you might want to try resetting your router).
> View attachment 619116
> 
> 
> ...


he could just click on the data usage tab in point 2 of your post and it will tell him what he's using the data on.....


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## rualexander (24 Nov 2021)

Do we know what the OP's monthly data allowance is?


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## vickster (24 Nov 2021)

rualexander said:


> Do we know what the OP's monthly data allowance is?


We don’t, he should though!!


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## ColinJ (24 Nov 2021)

As people above have probably already suggested, turn off mobile data and only switch it back on if outdoors and no WiFi is available. 

I used to have a 0.1 GB/month data allowance. Even now it is only 1.0, but I have never got close to the limit. The phone probably does 10+ GB/month but 99.x% of that is on WiFi.


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## jowwy (24 Nov 2021)

i used 47gb last month - all on wifi.....not an ounce of my 20gb data allowance used at all


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## Jody (24 Nov 2021)

Put a usage app on your phone and it will monitor how much trafic goes through your router and via 3/4g. Daily/Weekly/Monthly tallies.

The other thing is you have "free" data, but do you know how much "free" data you receive?


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## jowwy (24 Nov 2021)

Jody said:


> Put a usage app on your phone and it will monitor how much trafic goes through your router and via 3/4g. Daily/Weekly/Monthly tallies.
> 
> The other thing is you have "free" data, but do you know how much "free" data you receive?


his phone will already have that built in, as already stated above - its within the settings of the phone


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## rualexander (24 Nov 2021)

Before I had unlimited data on my mobile, I was on a monthly allowance of 5gb or something, and despite not using it much away from home I would sometimes find myself approaching my limit, investigating the usage found that some apps were using large amounts of data in the background without me knowing, Google Play Services or something like that was the main culprit.


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## ColinJ (24 Nov 2021)

I can't be bothered to check if anybody else has mentioned it... Make sure that the phone is set to update itself only via wifi.


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## postman (24 Nov 2021)

I got the very same text.It seems I used 2 bites of whatever while visiting the fil,and browsing YouTube and cc.,It's the very first time,I have no idea how I managed it.So can't browse till next week.Luckily we have a limit and then it stops so we don't build-up a whopping bill.


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## Low Gear Guy (26 Nov 2021)

Our home wifi dropped out earlier this year without our knowledge due to a network fault. As we were watching a film at the time the phone changed over from wifi to mobile data and blew my monthly allowance. 

We have since changed internet provider as this happened on multiple occasions.


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## chrisleuty (28 Nov 2021)

Electric_Andy said:


> Whenever I go out, I swipe down to access the quick menu and turn wifi off and connect to mobile data. When I return to the house, I turn on wifi and switch off mobile data.



What‘s the reason for turning off wifi when you go out?


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## burntoutbanger (28 Nov 2021)

jowwy said:


> i used 47gb last month - all on wifi.....not an ounce of my 20gb data allowance used at all



You need to get out more... 😉


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## burntoutbanger (28 Nov 2021)

chrisleuty said:


> What‘s the reason for turning off wifi when you go out?



It will save a small amount of battery as the phone won't constantly be searching for a WiFi source.


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## Trickedem (28 Nov 2021)

If you log in to your virgin account it will show the exact times you have been using mobile data, this should enable you to see what is going on.


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## Trickedem (28 Nov 2021)

Trickedem said:


> If you log in to your virgin account it will show the exact times you have been using mobile data, this should enable you to see what is going on.
> View attachment 619733


And now I am wondering why my phone was using data at 1am and 2am this morning, when is definitely connected to wifi???


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## jowwy (28 Nov 2021)

burntoutbanger said:


> You need to get out more... 😉


I work from home……..


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## ColinJ (28 Nov 2021)

jowwy said:


> i used 47gb last month - all on wifi.....not an ounce of my 20gb data allowance used at all


I was trying to find out how much I was using but Plusnet don't tell me these days.

Windows said that I used about 30 GB on my laptop. There must be several more GB on my phone and tablet.

The big guzzler will be the smart TV though. I stream about 2 hours worth of HD a night which is probably about 180 GB in a month.

So my guesstimate for my usage would be 210+ GB a month!


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## jowwy (28 Nov 2021)

ColinJ said:


> I was trying to find out how much I was using but Plusnet don't tell me these days.
> 
> Windows said that I used about 30 GB on my laptop. There must be several more GB on my phone and tablet.
> 
> ...


That 47gb was just my phone…..i work from home so use internet 7 hrs a day for work, i stream via skyQ, amazon and netflix, my mrs is also a keen online gamer. So i dread to think what my full GB usage is per month.


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## ColinJ (28 Nov 2021)

jowwy said:


> That 47gb was just my phone…..i work from home so use internet 7 hrs a day for work, i stream via skyQ, amazon and netflix, my mrs is also a keen online gamer. So i dread to think what my full GB usage is per month.


It's amazing how cheap (and fast!) internet access is now. 20 years ago I spent £100 in one week on painfully slow internet downloads (~1/30 Mb/s!). Now, I spend about £20 a month for unlimited downloads at ~17 Mb/s.


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