Is my mobile network EE conning me?

[Misty Avich]

I've been on EE for a while and had an upgrade on my phone about 6 months ago. I'm supposed to pay £45 a month for WiFi, unlimited texts, unlimited phonecalls (except with certain numbers which I don't call anyway), and 5G internet data.
I set up a data cap for £5, and I am not subscribed to anything that costs extra (if I do buy anything, ie an audiobook from Google, I'm charged separately, which I know).
But each month I get a different bill, often over twice the amount I'm supposed to pay for, and it keeps leaving me broke. But I'm not sure why, as whenever I look at my bill it doesn't tell me what it is that I've been doing to make my bill so high. It just says I used things outside my data plan that the data cap doesn't include, but I can't think what, as I only phone my family on their mobiles (which is included in the data plan as unlimited calls and all my family live in the UK, not abroad). The other numbers I call are also included in the data plan because they are local, like doctors, vets, etc.

I've tried phoning EE but I was told that I would be charged for it and the wait to speak to someone is a minimum of 2 hours. No way. So I'm not sure what to do. Does anyone here use EE?
Please take heed of every word in my post, as I don't want to repeat myself.

 

[Forest Cat]

Could it be phone and app updates? So the phone is downloading updates? A £90 bill sounds unusually high.

Most companies have a site with a customer service chat window or email adress or contact form, I usually use that so I don't have to call them. Maybe you can do that too. It shouldn't be a problem to send you a detailed bill with all the info about what your phone was used for, it's a little strange that you don't get that every month.

 

[Outdated]

as whenever I look at my bill it doesn't tell me what it is that I've been doing to make my bill so high.

I don't have this issue, but if I log in to my profile in my service provider's website I can see a lot more information on my usage than will ever show on any bill. Including things like how much data I have used on specific days and statistics on my usage patterns.

Maybe looking at this sort of information can help you narrow down where it's all going.

 

[Misty Avich]

I didn't know it costs so much for app updates? I asked on Google but it didn't mention anything about app updates being so expensive. I've disabled background activity from apps.

After a lot of tapping around on the EE website I can't find how to view all my actual usage. Also I can't find on the help and support bit how to get to the customer chat service website.

I would go in the phone shop and ask in person but I can only do this on weekdays, because at weekends they're always full of waiting customers and I can't wait that long, but I'm working during weekdays so I'll have to wait until my next holiday, which isn't til the end of October.

 

[MildredHubble]

You can usually set data limits on your phone. I'm pretty sure on mine, I can get a warning when I go over a certain amount, or it will shut off data completely and only connect through WiFi. I'm pretty sure EE have to inform you what the extra charges are for. That being said, I cancelled a contract with them as my bill was just ridiculous. Every few months there was some sort of increase.

One other thing I wonder, do you happen to live, or spend any time near the coast? I used to live right on the sea front in the north east and (not joking here!) My phone would go into roaming mode when I was at home and literally connect to a European network. At the time the EU rules on roaming charges hadn't been harmonised. So I hadn't left the country but my phone believed I had! So I got charged extra!

 

[Forest Cat]

I didn't know it costs so much for app updates? I asked on Google but it didn't mention anything about app updates being so expensive.

I don't know how it works where you are, but when my phone tries to download updates, software updates for the phone and app updates, I get a warning message that says I might have to pay extra for the downloads if I'm not connected to wifi. And it will be added to my phone bill. So that's why I mentioned it, in case it's the same where you are.

But anyway, your phone bill seems to be unusually high and it's strange that they don't send you a bill with all the info and details, they usually do that I think. So you should definitely look into it more. Sounds like you are paying extra for something you are not aware of.

 

[Misty Avich]

I have set data limits on my phone, plus data cap. I used to receive a text message from EE whenever I reached 80% of my data, but that stopped about a year ago or more.

I don't live near the coast, and my roaming thing is switched off and can only work if I manually switch it on.

I don't use apps that may eat up my data. I download music from YouTube and put it on to my free music player app using the free YouTube/MP3 converter, which doesn't cost a shilling.
I have audible but I cancelled my subscription ages ago to save money and I buy an audiobook from there every now and then that only costs about £7.
I only watch YouTube videos when I'm on WiFi.
I don't phone or text anybody outside of the UK.
All of the things I've just listed would be outside my data plan if I used/did them but I don't, so I don't understand what I'm getting charged so much for. I don't have the budget to be paying this much for my phone. One month I had to pay over £100. But for what?

 

[Misty Avich]

I don't know how it works where you are, but when my phone tries to download updates, software updates for the phone and app updates, I get a warning message that says I might have to pay extra for the downloads if I'm not connected to wifi. And it will be added to my phone bill. So that's why I mentioned it, in case it's the same where you are.

It doesn't seem to alert me for anything even though I have activated data limits. I even set it so that things can only download or update when using WiFi.

But anyway, your phone bill seems to be unusually high and it's strange that they don't send you a bill with all the info and details, they usually do that I think. So you should definitely look into it more. Sounds like you are paying extra for something you are not aware of.

This is what I'm afraid of. What if someone has somehow hacked into my phone account and is using the extra data? Although I wouldn't see how, as it only has my number and details on my phone plan information.

 

[Forest Cat]

I don't have the budget to be paying this much for my phone. One month I had to pay over £100. But for what?

I think your only option is to get a hold of a detailed phone bill, to see what is going on. It's difficult to figure this out, we'll just be guessing. You need the details on the bill.

Have you seen this?:

Viewing Your Monthly EE Bill | Billing Help | EE

Find out how to see your monthly EE bill online, including how to download and print your bill as well as order printed bills or bills in other formats.

ee.co.uk

 

[Misty Avich]

^ Thanks, I'll have a look at that.

This has been set like this for months so I'm not sure how my phone is still using so much extra data.

Yes I'm using 5G at the moment because I'm not at home. But I only really go on this forum, Facebook and email when using my phone outside of home. With a lot of data it shouldn't use all that.

 

[Misty Avich]

It seems my data goes over the limit more or less at the beginning of each monthly plan, like the data soars just by searching the web on my phone, like a phone would in 2003. I'm not on pay as you go, I'm on a contract, and I pay enough for a high data limit + unlimited calls and texts each month. £45 a month is already a fair amount for what I get so I don't see why just googling, checking emails and going on an internet forum should eat up all my data in a couple of days after restarting, plus with having data saver switched on as shown in the image above, and a £5 data cap.

Does Bluetooth charge by the way? I use Bluetooth for my wireless headphones, mostly at home on WiFi though.

 

[MildredHubble]

No Bluetooth doesn't cost anything, and WiFi shouldn't really cost anything either unless you have access to premium networks, say on the London underground etc. However, even then you won't or at least as far as I know, be on a "metered" connection.

Something certainly sounds fishy! Just out of interest, what is your data allowance? 5G is very high bandwidth, you may have an allowance that might be super huge for 4G but 5G might chomp through it quicker. The only issue with this theory is that I'm stunned that you've somehow managed to go beyond your allowance considering the usage you described and the fact you've taken all of the precautions that I normally would and I never use more than a fraction of my puny 3Gb data allowance.

I would suggest contacting OFCOM if EE can't explain what's using up all that data! To be honest, I'm pretty darned sure that they are legally obligated to tell you if you somehow many to rack up charges more than 200% of your expected bill!

What type of phone do you have? You don't need to be specific, just is it android or iPhone?

 

[Misty Avich]

Something certainly sounds fishy! Just out of interest, what is your data allowance? 5G is very high bandwidth, you may have an allowance that might be super huge for 4G but 5G might chomp through it quicker. The only issue with this theory is that I'm stunned that you've somehow managed to go beyond your allowance considering the usage you described and the fact you've taken all of the precautions that I normally would and I never use more than a fraction of my puny 3Gb data allowance.

I thought that having a plan with a certain amount of data to use (which is a lot) it wouldn't keep doubling and tripling each month just because I'm on 5G. My phone is an upgraded phone (had it upgraded in April).

What type of phone do you have? You don't need to be specific, just is it android or iPhone?

To be honest, I'm not really sure. What is the difference?
I do find technology so complicated.

 

[MildredHubble]

To be honest, I'm not really sure. What is the difference?
I do find technology so complicated.

If you look at the back of the phone, out of any case you might have, do you see any logos? If you see a logo that has an apple with a bite out of it, that would of course be an Apple iPhone. They are the only ones that make the iPhone. If you still aren't sure, power down your phone and then power it up. If it's an iPhone, you'll see an Apple logo on the screen. If it's Android it should show the manufacturer logo and a "Powered by Android" blurb as it starts up

 

[Misty Avich]

There's a G on the back of my phone.

 

[MildredHubble]

There's a G on the back of my phone.

Ok I think that makes it a Google Pixel It's an android phone, quite a posh one too! Let me just check some things on my phone and see if we can figure out a way to shed some light on what's going on

 

[Misty Avich]

Ok I think that makes it a Google Pixel It's an android phone, quite a posh one too! Let me just check some things on my phone and see if we can figure out a way to shed some light on what's going on

OK lol. Thanks for helping (and thanks to everyone else in this thread too).

 

[MildredHubble]

Ok can you go to Settings on your phone, then tap on Network and Internet, then tap on Data Usage, then Tap on App Data Usage. If you scroll through the list of apps, you will be able to see any that are using an unusually large amount of Data.

There's also some other settings in these menus that you can use to restrict data and shut off mobile data well in advance of exceeding your limit But let's see what the apps are using first

 

[Luca]

You are so helpful, @MildredHubble !
I’m clueless with phones so I wouldn’t be of much use here. But you’re always so quick to solve tech problems! Thank you for helping everyone.

 

[Misty Avich]

I went on to what Mildredhubble said and it said non-operator data usage so I tapped on that and all the apps have their background data usage activated. I thought they were all deactivated, as what it says in the image I posted a few posts up. But I'm not sure what non-operator data usage means.