Massive, unexplainable data usage
On 4/30/19 between 8:15pm and 8:35pm, when I was not using my phone, I received notices from Verizon that I was almost out of data, then out of data, and finally that I was being charged $30 for data overages.
When I checked to see what app had used this data, Android indicated it had been Firefox. In the time listed above it seems Firefox somehow used something in the range of 5 - 8GB of data. Being that my phone screen was off, no videos were streaming, and no downloads or uploads were happening how is this possible??
Verizon has refused to provide answers as to how that level of data was utilized in such a short period of time. They indicate they are only able to tell me it was Firefox that was using it.
I am deeply concerned as to how this occurred when my phone screen was off and I wasn't using it.
This is not to mention the $30 in overage charges I am now being charged as a result.
I would like to know a) what was the content of this huge data spike that occurred via Firefox on 4/30/19 between 8:00pm and 8:40pm b) how did it happen while my phone screen was off? c) what kind of resolutions can Firefox provide regarding my data overage charges.
All Replies (9)
It's hard to see how so much data could be transmitted in such a short time through normal browsing. If you check your history, do you see any unusual activity from April 30th?
Do you have any Add-ons in Firefox that might be using your connection for high-bandwidth activities like downloading or converting videos?
These might not be related, but you could go into your Firefox settings and limit some things to wi-fi and block media autoplay:
If you use Sync:
menu button > Settings > Firefox Account > "Sync only over Wi-Fi"
General:
menu button > Settings > General > Home > Content Updates > "Only over Wi-Fi"
Advanced:
menu button > Settings > Advanced > Allow autoplay > "Block autoplay"
There's no unusual history for this time. I wasn't even browsing. My browse history directly before that was a couple of news sites. My phone screen was off, I don't have any add-ons, and I don't have sync set up. Auto-play was already turned off.
What sites? I have seen video content sites that consume several gigabytes an hour on mobile.
There were no sites. As stated I wasn't browsing at the time.
You wasn't browsing, but some malicious app or trojan could trigger downloading of 100s video ads.
See for instance: https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/288223-rogue-ads-are-draining-android-phone-batteries-with-hidden-videos https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/200032-android-trojan-hidden-pop-up-ads/ https://www.2-spyware.com/remove-android-virus.html
I have Norton installed and it ran only a few hours before this. No signs of malware. Additionally how would I even be able to tell if that is what happened? I've tried and Verizon will not tell me what the content if that huge data usage was.
I saw the same issue twice now.
First time Firefox Background activity ate like 600 MB of my data while I was browsing.
I suspected some service workers updating their caches for shit I wouldn't even look at.
Now I had reset my phone, and re-setup everything. I forgot to restrict background data usage for Firefox on metered connections.
The very same day, I stayed online when leaving the WiFi. After an hour or so, I recived the text that 75 % of my data were used.
It happened before, so I checked Firefox background usage, and it was at 1,15 GB in one or two hours.
In Firefox, no service worker was registered, and not a single tab was open! I had just reset the phone, so I can quite certainly rule malware out.
Is there a way to analyse what exactly happened in Firefox?
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On 4G network with the full downstream bandwidth of 100 Mbit/s, you would download 8 GB in 11 minutes.
It's plausible that this actually happened.
Unfortunately it's these situations when we actually notice how fast 4G is o:
@rsamchaney it seems there are several other reports of this data usage, being tracked in a bug report: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1565475
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