billed for data transfer usage even when service was not used

for the last 2 billing cycles, my ATT bill shows usage for data transfer (pay per use)on both my phone (800+ kb) and my wife (900+kb) but we never use our phones for e-mail or browsing. if ever, i may have accidental connections because i have an LG VU touch screen phone, but usage shouldn't be that much. i have contested this issue with ATT for the last 2 months and getting annoyed. has anybody experienced same problem?

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› See More: billed for data transfer usage even when service was not used

Could this be an attempted Video Share connection?

no. bill shows data transfers even at the wee hours of the morning when we are asleep and no one definitely using or in physical contact with the phone. and bill shows small number of kb for each data transfer (2- 10 kb). so there are multiple data transfers throughout the day. att says i should just get a data plan. why would i when i don't intend to use the phone for such purpose. i would have gotten an iphone if i wanted to use my phone to browse/surf the net.

no. bill shows data transfers even at the wee hours of the morning when we are asleep and no one definitely using or in physical contact with the phone. and bill shows small number of kb for each data transfer (2- 10 kb). so there are multiple data transfers throughout the day. att says i should just get a data plan. why would i when i don't intend to use the phone for such purpose. i would have gotten an iphone if i wanted to use my phone to browse/surf the net.

If you have Video Share Pay Per Use turned on, go into OLAM and turn it off. Apparently several LG phones with Video Share capability connect to the Internet using the ims.cingular APN. Your data details in OLAM should show that APN instead of wap.cingular, if that is the problem. You have to check the data details for each line individually.

thanks for the help. however, ATT OLAM and paper bill does not show details. bill just says data transfer without much description. how else can i check that this might be the source of my problem. be that as it may that this might be the cause, why do the phones connect to the internet by themselves?

my bad, i saw the tab for data details. data shows ims.cingular with data sent. what does this mean? i'm positive that i'm not trying to connect to the internet and am not even using the phone at the time the OLAM said i sent data.

Originally Posted by vegasbaby

thanks for the help. however, ATT OLAM and paper bill does not show details. bill just says data transfer without much description. how else can i check that this might be the source of my problem. be that as it may that this might be the cause, why do the phones connect to the internet by themselves?

my bad, i saw the tab for data details. data shows ims.cingular with data sent. what does this mean? i'm positive that i'm not trying to connect to the internet and am not even using the phone at the time the OLAM said i sent data.

Have you setup the individual users On OLAM? You click on the user on the first screen of OLAM and then Data. Then View Details. On the next screen should be a line by line description of each data connection and each message sent or received. If you do not have detailed bills sent to your home, you can view your detailed bill online.

These are the column headings:

DATE TIME TO/FROM TYPE DIRECTION MSG/KB/MIN

Then you would see lines for each transaction. This is a line for an iPhone. The To/From on your phone should be wap.cingular or ims.cingular;

09/04 01:41 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8KB

If you have Video Sharing turned on, each time you make or receive a call, your phone has to report to the network that it is available for a Video Share call. It also makes periodic reports when the phone is available for incoming Video Share calls. This only occurs if you are in a 3G area.

Are you sending/receiving picture mail? Also be sure your friends aren't texting you from a computer because these charges appear as data transfer as well...though they can be sub-identified as mobile to web and vice-versa. I would recommend getting a data plan.

Of course you can always get the Smart Limits feature for $4.99. This would allow you to restrict data services + more. I guarantee AT&T will not credit you every month you call in.

i haven't sent/received mail pictures. i use data primarily with the mobile tv feature and text messages only. plus the time stamp on the OLAM for the data transfers indicate times when data is supposedly being sent during wee hours in the morning (1-4 AM) while i'm asleep. unless their time stamps are inaccurate. but even then, like i said from the beginning of this thread, i've never used the phone for receiving or sending data thru the web. i decided to switch my sim card to an old cellphone to see if the charges will continue, it has been a day and a half now since i switched and so far i don't see anycharges. of course it's holiday and maybe they haven't hadthe chance to update yet. if it still occurs, i'm taking the phone to an ATT store and have them keep it for at least two days and see if the charges still occur while phone is in their possession. mightbe the only way to prove to them that i don't use the phone for data transfers and yet get charged for it.

Originally Posted by vegasbaby

i haven't sent/received mail pictures. i use data primarily with the mobile tv feature and text messages only. plus the time stamp on the OLAM for the data transfers indicate times when data is supposedly being sent during wee hours in the morning (1-4 AM) while i'm asleep. unless their time stamps are inaccurate. but even then, like i said from the beginning of this thread, i've never used the phone for receiving or sending data thru the web. i decided to switch my sim card to an old cellphone to see if the charges will continue, it has been a day and a half now since i switched and so far i don't see anycharges. of course it's holiday and maybe they haven't hadthe chance to update yet. if it still occurs, i'm taking the phone to an ATT store and have them keep it for at least two days and see if the charges still occur while phone is in their possession. mightbe the only way to prove to them that i don't use the phone for data transfers and yet get charged for it.

Why did you not check OLAM as I suggested or state whether you have Video Share Pay Per Use?

Originally Posted by efparri

Why did you not check OLAM as I suggested or state whether you have Video Share Pay Per Use?

I would suggest checking on this. You can always ask them to opt-out the data feature.

sorry about not clarifying with you about video share pay per use and checking the OLAM. I do have video share pay per use and had it since i've had the phone in February and i've never had any billing problems until now. OLAM data details showed internet data details including time stamp of occurence, but again, we've never used the phones to connect to the internet in anyway be it a game, weather etc. i'm baffled with the fact that my phone is apparently connecting to the internet by itself.

I spoke with ATT agent today and was told that the phone is performing automatic update/connection to the internet. why it's doing that i don't know. even they don't know. they think that possibly when i unlocked the phones when we used them abroad that something triggered the phones to do what they are doing now. they recommended resetting the phones which i did today and i'm hoping that resolves the auto connection that they are saying.

Originally Posted by efparri

Why did you not check OLAM as I suggested or state whether you have Video Share Pay Per Use?

you were right. even after performing a master reset on the phone, phone still kept connecting to internet by itself. it finally stopped when video share pay per use was cancelled. ridiculous though why it would do that and also why it only started doing that 4 months after i initially subscribed to video share. it seems like a scam that you subscribe to a feature on a pay per use basis but get charged anyway by automatic connection.

My at&t phone service is doing the same thing-- showing small charges for ims.cingular, internet/media net, "sent", at strange hours that the phone isn't being touched, held, or used in any way. Several calls to the company proved unhelpful-- I was challenged on all counts and questioned as to how I knew I didn't actually use the phone-- very frustrating. I am following through with the advice re: Video Share feature. Just FYI, they initially told me that I don't have video share option, and that there is also no way to "turn it off." After about an hour of debate, I managed to talk to a higher up manager who told me I could "opt out" of video share, so I'm trying that. In the next couple weeks I'll check my bill and see if it works.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, it is really frustrating that AT&T's only suggestion over the course of several patient phone calls on my part was to suggest I turn off the internet access feature altogether. I argued that I didn't want to limit the capacity of my service just because of a mistake made by the service, and then they said I could cancel my service but I would be penalized for breaking the contract. All the while, I was being challenged by (probably frustrated and underpaid) customer service workers who for some reason felt compelled to make it personal. Frustrating!

Originally Posted by jess.o

My at&t phone service is doing the same thing-- showing small charges for ims.cingular, internet/media net, "sent", at strange hours that the phone isn't being touched, held, or used in any way. Several calls to the company proved unhelpful-- I was challenged on all counts and questioned as to how I knew I didn't actually use the phone-- very frustrating. I am following through with the advice re: Video Share feature. Just FYI, they initially told me that I don't have video share option, and that there is also no way to "turn it off." After about an hour of debate, I managed to talk to a higher up manager who told me I could "opt out" of video share, so I'm trying that. In the next couple weeks I'll check my bill and see if it works.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, it is really frustrating that AT&T's only suggestion over the course of several patient phone calls on my part was to suggest I turn off the internet access feature altogether. I argued that I didn't want to limit the capacity of my service just because of a mistake made by the service, and then they said I could cancel my service but I would be penalized for breaking the contract. All the while, I was being challenged by (probably frustrated and underpaid) customer service workers who for some reason felt compelled to make it personal. Frustrating!

Your phone may be checking email hourly... check those settings. GET UNLIMITED DATA

I called AT&T just today to dispute charges and the 2 ladies replied that it could take up to 5 days to be charged for services. Meaning if you are billed on Jan 19, 2011 @ 1:45 pm it possible actually occurred apx 5 days prior to what you are being charged for on your bill so you accessed the internet on Jan 14, 2011 at anytime of the day this is when they (AT&T) actually received the info. Like I believe that, how stupid are we. I contacted the FCC.
Since, I disputed some of the charges, because of the dates and times I claim were impossible, and yet with their theory 5 days prior and my flip phone from 2009 just magically accesses the internet by itself (without touching buttons according to AT&T is physically possible), you would never beable to dispute anything from them, scam, fraud shame on AT&T.
I to have gone round and round with these people. Believing we are all stupid they would beable to keep this up.