Is ~256MB of data usage when idle, per day, normal?

[mantispid]

I've noticed that when I have my account sync setting turned off, and the background data turned off, that my Droid still downloads approximately 250mb per day in data.

The only connections according to OS Monitor are to the 1e100 (google) servers, and to some server called 'red.bizratepro.net'. I haven't been able to find any info at all on that last one.

Latitude of *off*, btw. I'm running AdamZ's Smoked Glass v6.01.

 

[bravid]

I'm having the same problem. I've uninstalled just about all of my apps and I'm still using over 200 MB per day. In May I used 9 GB!!

I was thinking this morning that perhaps my phone keeps trying to download the 2.1 update, even though I'm running 2.1 on Smoked Glass.

My usage in March and April was both around 1 GB, but I installed Smoked Glass in May and my usage shot up. No change in usage patterns otherwise...

 

[Backnblack]

bizratrepro sounds like ads that appear in free apps.

Droid does have unlimited data....

 

[bravid]

Droid does have unlimited data....

Not really the point though. Downloading constantly uses battery life and if I'm not asking for it then it's just wasted.

 

[Backnblack]

Droid does have unlimited data....

Not really the point though. Downloading constantly uses battery life and if I'm not asking for it then it's just wasted.

Then you need to look at all the apps you have installed. The Droid is data heavy by nature....

 

[bravid]

These are the only apps I have left:

ASTRO
Engadget
Gmail Notifier
MythDroid
NetCounter
Swype
Twitter

With these apps installed, I used 60 MB overnight while I was sleeping.

 

[Backnblack]

60 seems minor.

 

[bravid]

60 seems minor.

Read through the comments on this article: iPhone data usage: we show you ours, please show us yours

There are very few people who use more than 1GB per month. Given that usage patterns between Android and iPhone are pretty similar I think it's a fair point of comparison.

60MB in 7 hrs while I'm sleeping seems pretty high. I would expect maybe a few incoming emails, etc, no more than 3 or 4 MB. It's not like I was streaming radio while I was sleeping...

 

[Backnblack]

60 seems minor.

Read through the comments on this article: iPhone data usage: we show you ours, please show us yours

There are very few people who use more than 1GB per month. Given that usage patterns between Android and iPhone are pretty similar I think it's a fair point of comparison.

60MB in 7 hrs while I'm sleeping seems pretty high. I would expect maybe a few incoming emails, etc, no more than 3 or 4 MB. It's not like I was streaming radio while I was sleeping...

Not sure what to tell you, personally I don't worry about it since I avg 6 to 9gb/mo

 

[LtKen]

If it really bothers you, then do a factory reset, figure out what your "normal" is, and then do a comparison. You're comparing apples to nothing, and apples to oranges right now.....

I'm like backnblack, I really dont care what my phone decides to do while it's asleep.

 

[krpiper]

Well just hope Verizon doesnt pull an AT&T then

 

[bravid]

Well just hope Verizon doesnt pull an AT&T then

That's what I'm concerned about actually.

Regarding flashing back to stock: I don't need to do that to get a benchmark. I was running DroidMod from around January/February till May when I switched to SmokedGlass. It was an upgrade from 2.0 to 2.1 when I switched. Prior to switching to Smoked Glass/Uprgrading to 2.1 I was using around 1GB/Month.

I know it's an unlimited plan, but if enough people are wasting bandwidth then it gives VZW all the more incentive to punish high data users, of which I would be considered, even though I'm not doing anything intentional (tethering, radio 24/7, streaming video all day, etc) to use that much.

 

[Metalunna]

It may not apply to your situation, but I'll share an experience:

One day, when I checked my usage it said I had used 2.5GB from approx 6am to 10am.

I went through my apps and removed them all (after backing them up) and only kept a few that I needed. I few days goes by and I noticed the same thing..but at different times. I could not figure what it was.

Turns out..one of my apps (androidVNC) was the culprit..I would log in to my PC and instead of hitting MENU then Disconnect, I would just hit home and it would keep the connection active. I was able to go though my PC's logs and match the time frames in my high data usage.

So while you only have a few apps installedyou may want to make sure they are all NOT RUNNING/LOADED. The few apps you have may not be data hogs, but if they are all loaded and running, they may add up to 60MB.

Just a long rambling thought.

 

[bravid]

So last night I turned off background data and installed an app that would track data per hour. I've attached the screencap to this post, but it looks like every other hour my phone downloaded 15MB of data.

15 MB just happens to be the size of the 2.1 OTA update. This morning around 7 or so I renamed the OTA security certificate file in /system/etc/security. Supposedly that will stop OTA updates. I don't know if the update is only set to download overnight or every other hour throughout the day.

I'm going to turn off background data again tonight and if I'm right and renaming the certs stops the OTA updates, then I should have zero data overnight and my mystery data problem will be solved.

 

[tonydelite]

That seems pretty high... I used less than 256MB all month. That's with daily web browsing, some streaming audio from Slacker, and Google Maps.