Mobile phone question

[seun]

This is probably going to be the stupidest question I've asked in a while but here goes...

Is it possible for my mobile to connect to the net by itself? I ask because I recently upgraded my phone and my first bill is about £25 more than I expected it to be. I have checked my email on it a few times but I didn't think it was as often as the bill suggests. The details on the bill aren't much help. It lists dates I went online but the time on each one is midnight. Some are charged, a few aren't.

Obviously I'm staying off the net through my phone from now on. My contract gives me free minutes and texts but no (as far as I know) internet usage. So, is my phone haunted and connecting by itself or have I just been an idiot and used it more than I thought?

[kuwisdelu]

Is it a smartphone? What's the specific phone? What operating system does it run? Do you pay for a regular data plan?

If it's not a smartphone, and has no data plan, I'd talk to your carrier directly and demand to know what the charges are.

Which is not to say that strange, unexpected data charges are any more acceptable with a smartphone with a data plan, but there are a lot more possibilities as to why it might happen. If that doesn't apply, however... something is probably wrong.

[Torgo]

My iPhone, for example, polls all kinds of things constantly - email, Twitter, a bunch of apps that send me push notifications - so it's entirely possible if you have a smartphone that it's configured to check your mail every few minutes. That's a setting you can easily change to less often, or just when you ask it to check.

It's also possible they just messed your bill up.

[seun]

Thanks for the advice. It's not a smartphone or an iphone. I think it's a Samsung Galaxy.

I think I'll have to call the company and check if something's gone wrong.

[Torgo]

Thanks for the advice. It's not a smartphone or an iphone. I think it's a Samsung Galaxy.

I think I'll have to call the company and check if something's gone wrong.

Google image search suggests a Samsung Galaxy - just going by looks - is an Android smartphone; so it might well be regularly checking the internet for things.

[seun]

Google image search suggests a Samsung Galaxy - just going by looks - is an Android smartphone; so it might well be regularly checking the internet for things.

:D Does anyone here ever get the idea I know sod all about techy things? Anyway, I spoke to my provider and it turns out you were right. It was connecting by itself. They've refunded me half the charges for that. Another issue came from my starting this contract halfway through a month so they charged me a couple of weeks extra. The next bill will be normal. I got them to turn off the connection to the net. Don't really need it and I'm not having the damn thing connecting when I don't want it to.

Thanks for the help, people.

[amyashley]

It SOOOOO can! Samsungs have spooky twitchy gnomes in them.

Actually, most of them don't have properly working locking mechanisms and end up butt-dialing, or pocket dialing, or whatever the net or other people.

If it's a touch screen, this is likely worse. It may have bumped something and gone shopping on e-bay.

Get a case that covers the front, or stick it in a sock.

And be glad you don't have small kids who steal it and get online to check the stock market.

[seun]

I'm blaming my cats. I bet they stepped on it in the middle of the night and went online.

[amyashley]

Sounds completely reasonable. You know how they are with electronics. Give them a dozen soft things to sleep on, and they lay on your printer/e-reader/keyboard.