[Wh0mpu5]

So about a 2 months ago i got my Mother a Blackberry bold 9900 , Her first real smart phone. Rest of the family is on a blackberry device so BBM was a huge thing. Anyway She went abroad with my Dad , while he works. The location is in latin america. Now i know data roaming costs and i understand that entirely. However The amount of data being used is a mystery. SO let me give you the background here.

Her Bold 9900 has Mobile networks turned off. I repeat TURNED OFF. Now She only uses it while abroad for BBM , She is only connected to a wifi in the house she and my dad are staying in. However here is the weird part , Currently we have a bill saying she used 85 MB , Plausable , but not probably , she is a 65 year old woman , and the only thing she knows how to use is BBM . In the current usage of unbilled time , she is sitting at 201MB . Just so you know the rate per KB is 0.03 Cents per KB . So basic math shows a HUGE bill coming our way. Not trying to get out of it. But trying to understand how it came to be. How is Data calculated from point of origin to end point, with Mobile networks off?

Also Is there a way to track/trace the data back to the source to make sure it is in fact a single device useing the data? Making sure there isn't some way her phone was cloned and used for data .

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also in case anyone really wants to know , BBM really is the only way to communicate to us from where they are at. Phones don't really work very well from there.

So i am asking anyones help to understand how the data is collected and measured.

Greg

[howarmat]

really odd. is she still getting emails also or doing any webbrowsing because that amount of data is HUGE for a couple days and a BB device

are you sure that its 3 cents a kb and not MB?

[Wh0mpu5]

Its 3 cents a KB and emails she may be receiveing emails but not replying to them , not confirmed as of yet , But ZERO web browseing. I know emails come in in text form and then you have to manually download images , which she does not know how to do. Now 201 mb is so far over 3/4 of a month , the billing cycle ends in 3 days. But 201 mb is as much data as i use in 6 month and i have two devices shareing my gb on my line , i use maybe 20 mb a month between the two and thats browsing , emails , email images , texting , BBMs, sending pictures and so on. SO that is why i am confused.

[howarmat]

i hope you find out because that is like a $2500 phone bill for the 85 MBs used!

[IAmAuthority]

Thats a lot of money!

[Wh0mpu5]

The current bill isn't he biggest problem , is the bill with the 201 mb that worries me. Rogers added a 225$ plan to cover 75 MB so current bill wasn't that bad , again the next bill even with the 225$ plan , is almost 6000.00 So i need to figure this out. I smell something fishy in this whole thing , the shear amount of data daily is weird. My Mother maybe used BBM once maybe twice a week. so 40mb in one day is not a BBM message or two .

[richardat]

i hope you find out because that is like a $2500 phone bill for the 85 MBs used!

WHOA. Don't BBM! Fly down and talk to her. So that's 3 cents a kb? Not 1/3 cents per kb?

[Wh0mpu5]

it is 3 cents a KB

[Wh0mpu5]

it would be cheaper for me to fly down at the cost i am looking at , but really , does this even make any sense to anyone? a 65 ish year old women first real smart phone , only BBMs and occasionally checks email but not replying. It makes no sense to me

[otacon]

But her mobile network is switched off... so all data should be going through the wifi... Unless she has accidentally switched on mobile networks while activating BBM, and then there is a background program (like Facebook or weather) updating every hour or so...

[richardat]

it is 3 cents a KB

Brutal. Hope you find the problem.

[howarmat]

But her mobile network is switched off... so all data should be going through the wifi... Unless she has accidentally switched on mobile networks while activating BBM, and then there is a background program (like Facebook or weather) updating every hour or so...

this is my only thought too, otherwise this cant happen in theory

[sputneek]

it would be cheaper for me to fly down at the cost i am looking at , but really , does this even make any sense to anyone? a 65 ish year old women first real smart phone , only BBMs and occasionally checks email but not replying. It makes no sense to me

No sense at all obviously, been googling for like half an hour now, forget it. Is it possible that someone ELSE is using her device and switching the settings back and forth? Dunno, shot in the dark.

[Wh0mpu5]

Well i can't answer whether someone else has changed her device settings , but i can say not willingly or knowingly. she doesn't use facebook or twitter or anything like that , purely emails and BBM and in the case currently BBM only over wifi . Tomorrow i plan on going to one of the rogers stores and see if by chance someone has any insight , step after that is suspend the phone and have rogers investigate the data to get some answers. Other than that i have no clue , If anyone on here has any insight on how data is collected and measured , or if it can be tracked to a single device let me know.

[sputneek]

Tomorrow i plan on going to one of the rogers stores and see if by chance someone has any insight

Tread softly

step after that is suspend the phone and have rogers investigate the data to get some answers. Other than that i have no clue ,.

Again, tread softly and good luck to you Hope someone with some experience in this sort of thing chimes in

Maybe a hotel situation, staff, chambermaids, etc,? Just hope it won't cost you that kind of change to resolve this.

]

[Wh0mpu5]

oh i know to tread softly.... but carry a big stick.

In the end it makes no sense that a new Bold 9900 user who is a senior citizen , and has mobile networks turned off will manage to achieve a large daily amount of Data. Sounds fishy to me.

[belfastdispatcher]

Ask for an itemised bill, that should clear it up.

[Dapper37]

Dude thats crazy, Im sure their going to say she was roaming, even then OMG, an international data plan should be a few hundred!
Myself and my brother used BIS services over wifi while traveling and thus far have had no extra costs. That I know of..
I'll be interested if you figure this out?

[kill_9]

Dude thats crazy, Im sure their going to say she was roaming, even then OMG, an international data plan should be a few hundred!
Myself and my brother used BIS services over wifi while traveling and thus far have had no extra costs. That I know of..
I'll be interested if you figure this out?

If she is only using WiFi and no mobile network, there is no reason for such high data usage for a few BBMs each day and a few inbound emails each day. Again if WiFi is the ONLY data connection enabled there is something seriously wrong with your relative's BlackBerry Bold 9900.

[ichat]

Whoa! I survive every month. With 100 MB with unlimited data. Even if I try hard, it won't exactly pass. Dude, hope it works out. Carriers love to scam -.-

Sent from my BlackBerry 9860 on 7.1.0.714 with Tapatalk and my fingers

[MobileMadness002]

Pictures being sent or received through BBM is transferred via Data. Is she actually connected through the WiFI, is it bright in color or dark gray? Also is Data Off while Roaming? The mobile network setting has no affect on data connectivity.

[NFLPLAYBOOK]

I don't have a 9900 so this is in the form of a question for others that do to answer. If the phone was turned off or ran out of battery and was rebooted would the phone turn back on all setting automatically? If so this could be the case and she would have had data on for her whole trip.

[NFLPLAYBOOK]

Two other points. She should have received a warning that data was being transfer and that costs would occur. Your cell phone plan should have a maximun amount allowed before the carrier would shut it down. Accounts aren't unlimitted. In other words you can't just walk into one of their stores and pick-up a 100 phones and tell them to put it on your bill.

[dic]

just want to make sure, does the phone have the "while roaming" turn off?
you can download an app called "mobile data alerter". this app keep tracks of all data from roaming, home, wifi in a calendar month. all data will be reset in the next calendar month. it's free. worth a try. google it and it appears in the 1st search. good luck.

[jasonvan9]

I am on Rogers network in Canada, i travel abroad frequently... it is true, the data rate for international roaming is $0.03/ kB... so 1MB of data is $30.72
Once i had to download my flight itinerary over the mobile network while i was in mexico (they dont have readily available wifi like we do in Canada)... that was an $80 price tag just so i could get the information to fly home.. ouch!

secondly, something has to of happened, someone may have switched on the mobile network to make a phone call lets say, and once it connected maybe there were some pictures on BBM waiting to pass to the device, etc... turning off the mobile network connection is not exactly a good failsafe... going into the settings and also turning off data while roaming is a MUST as someone else has said.

Maybe a good question for her would be "did you bring your device with you everywhere you went? were you able to BBM/ receive messages the whole time?" that would be a good place to start considering she is probably not a techie.

I know in order for her to even be using BBM over wifi that the data setting in mobile connections would have to of been left on, maybe someone overlooked the "data while roaming" setting underneath it? Live and learn... hope rogers will work with you a bit more than just allowing you to pay 225$ to cover 75MB of it...