Vodafone and HTC Sensation Phones / Problems

[Gary_C]

Back around Christmas, I got my son an HTC Sensation on Vodafone's $29 plan.

I set everything up on automatic payments, so I really didn't pay too much attention to the telephone bill until the 2nd month when there was an additional $190 in data charges I had to pay . I then went back to the previous month's bill and had an absolute freak out; needless to say he no longer had a telephone by the time we were through.

I then set aside the phone until about a month ago when I decided to start using it because I needed a new contact number.

Last week, I got a text from vodafone saying that I had an additional $90 in data charges I killed the internet from the phone then checked today and it had charged me another $30 over the past few days.

What appears to have happened is that the HTC comes preloaded with apps that bounces out and pull information every 30 seconds or so, 24 hours per day. Something very similar to this was done in the US by Sprint and it led to a class-action lawsuit that Sprint lost.

Now that it is all said and done, we have had the internet / data option completely disabled and a $200 credit.

Curious to see if anybody else has had this kind of a problem and to warn you to keep an eye open for this kind of thing if picking up a phone on a promotion.

Cheers,

Gary

[aussie123]

Hey Gary

I had the same thing with my iPhone when I got it.

Its prepaid to I put the $30 on it which gave me $150 all up in credit and 2 days later it was all gone.

Apps were the problem so I turned everything off including push notifications and wireless and that solved the problem.

Now I only turn on the wireless when I am out and want to use the phone on the net.

[jeff f]

yeah its not just the htc phones they all do it. you need to disable the gprs as well as the internet to stop it, i keep it all disabled now net,gprs,bluetooth and wifi, just activate them when needed,

im on the same plan and haven't gone over since that first time

[billythakid]

anyone witha iphone should double push the home button and it will bring up all the apps that keep running in the background , hold one as if deleting the apps and then shut them all down everytime

[Eug]

for android phones i use:

3G watchdog, it will put a little counter on your home page to tell you how much used and how much remaining.

a toggle app (i used widgetsoid) which will handle data, bluetooth, gps, wifi, etc. so you can have full control of when certain functions are turned on/off. saves data problems and helps with battery life.

[Bi_polar]

You can also use an App called App Killer. But if you ring Voda and complain they should wipe the charges.

I ditched Vodafone a while ago and joined up with Amaysim, they are unreal...$39.90 for unlimited talk and text and 4 gig of data. Plus everytime you refer a new customer to them they give you $10 credit each.

Good luck

[Damien2Rad]

My Galaxy SII has performed flawlessly, with no hidden charges from Telstra. When there was a small misunderstanding, it was sorted in 20 mins and my money refunded.

[Gary_C]

You can also use an App called App Killer. But if you ring Voda and complain they should wipe the charges.

I ditched Vodafone a while ago and joined up with Amaysim, they are unreal...$39.90 for unlimited talk and text and 4 gig of data. Plus everytime you refer a new customer to them they give you $10 credit each.

Good luck

Thanks Stu. They ended up wiping the charges, but I also wanted back pay from them and to have the 24 month contract requirement killed. After making them escalate it to their supervisor 3 times I ended up with the credit and released from any obligations going forward if I want to kill the phone.