Stopping inadvertent ' Data Usage' within 'Tesco Mobile' Provider.

[john west]

Our provider is Tesco Mobile and we are on PAYG. We are not big users of any data-transfer, using it only for phone calls and the occasional receiving of a photo; when we at home using the wifi connection.

Both the wife and I recently had all the credit wiped off our Tesco mobile accounts and the only thing we think of that can have happened is that we recently joined the Tesco International calling App, which has the settings option of allowing calls on 'mobile data'. Could this setting have overridden the 'Mobile Data' setting 'Off' in the main settings menu of our Sony Xperia E1 phone?

We can use the Tesco International App at home with the wi-fi connection, but if we are away from home; which of these settings within the Tesco Int App, do we need to have switched 'on', to connect to the App 'Access number' please?

The settings within the Tesco Int App are:

1. Travel Mode. (when roaming restricts calls to wi fi only,.. it says).

1. prefer wi-fi

2. Allow calls on mobile data (if available calls will be connected via

3G/4G, it says). This is the one i'm scared of which might be wiping off the credit from our Tesco Mobile PAYG ?

1. Receive incoming notifications when messages are received.

So would it be No for 1, yes for 2, yes for 3, and yes for 4 ?

Sorry if i'm being very dense here, but all this is new for me. I want to be able to use the Tesco Int App whilst away from wifi, but need to prevent our credit again vanishing from Tesco Mobile PAYG.

Many Thanks for any advice.

[Rob Morley]

"Allow calls on mobile data" should definitely /not/ be ticked.

[Roger Mills]

I'm not familiar with the International Calling App - but it sounds like a good thing to use at home on WiFi if you have an unlimited internet contract.

However, if you're using it on PAYG mobile data, it could well be costing you a lot more for the data than it would cost just to dial the number and use the phone in the normal way. I suggest that you find out the cost of dialled international calls and compare that with the data costs of using the App.

My instinct says don't use the App unless you're on WiFi, but I would need to see the figures to verify that.

[RJH]

Yes, agreed. And close the app fully after using it.

The Tesco Mobile app works well on an iphone. I think the data usage figures are updated in pretty much real time. Taking a look might help you isolate what's going on. For example, if you're allowing updates over cellular data.

I use cellular data a lot, but only for things like email and reading the paper. Never come close to my 500Mb/month.

[Someone Somewhere]

Given these people are using Tesco PAYG and don't use data services, what makes you think they have an iPhone, particularly as they mention the Sony Xperia E1?

To the OP - how much credit are we talking here? 10p or £50?

[Martin Brown]

You probably want no for both 1 & 3.

Your requirements are contradictory.

If you permit the phone to use data for international calls over 3G/4G mobile networks it will hammer your data allowance. Doesn't the Tesco billing system allow you to see when and what you used or your phone provide a nice graph of cumulative data usage over the past month?

[Roger Mills]

It's PAYG, so there's unlikely to be a visible billing system. All you know is that your balance has gone down.

However, the phone itself should tell you how much data each App has used - by going to Settings/Data usage. This may not exactly align with Tesco's data measurements - used for charging - but it should give a good indication.