Microsoft Explains Windows Phone 7 'Phantom Data'

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Microsoft Explains Windows Phone 7 'Phantom Data'

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday January 20, 2011 @01:48AM from the it-was-the-other-guy dept.

Fuzzy Eric writes "Microsoft has confirmed that some handsets running its Windows Phone 7 software are sending and receiving 'phantom data.' The problem surfaced in early January with some owners of phones running Windows Phone 7, claiming that their phone was sending 'between 30 and 50MB of data' every day; an amount that would eat into a 1GB allowance in 20 days. Microsoft said its investigation found that most problems were caused by a unnamed 'third party' service. It said that the problem seemed to only affect 'a small (low single-digit) percentage of Windows Phone customers.'"

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NSA by qbast · 2011-01-20 01:51 · Score: 4, Funny

No wonder that this third-party service remains unnamed. After all NSA stands for 'no such agency'.
1. Re:NSA by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-20 01:56 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  No wonder that this third-party service remains unnamed. After all NSA stands for 'no such agency'.
  Ahem: "No Such Application"
MS Fault Playbook: Two Answers by blunte · 2011-01-20 01:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

1. No Answer
or
2. We found the problem. It wasn't our fault, and it doesn't matter because it's not happening to anyone. (lie)

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1. Re:MS Fault Playbook: Two Answers by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-20 02:23 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  1. No Answer
  or
  2. We found the problem. It wasn't our fault, and it doesn't matter because it's not happening to anyone. (lie)
  I can believe it's not happening to anyone - has anyone got one??
  This is Slashdot. If they do have one, they won't admit it out of shame.
  Poster: "I'm a drug addled pervert."
  Slashdot: "Whatever"
  Poster: "I love Windows 7 and Microsoft products!"
  Slashdot: "You sick fuck! How could you be so STUPID! Get the fuck outta here you godforsaken creep!"
2. Re:MS Fault Playbook: Two Answers by Gadget_Guy · 2011-01-20 02:27 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  We found the problem. It wasn't our fault, and it doesn't matter because it's not happening to anyone. (lie)
  Until Microsoft say which service causes this (so it can be independently verified by users) then you just have to assume that it is a lie. Normally I like to give the benefit of the doubt (and it does seem feasible that a 3rd party app is responsible, but like you said, this follows the standard style of PR spin that most companies employ.
  This would not be a problem if the mobile OS actually valued the customer over the developers and phone companies. My last Symbian phone prompted the user to give permission to any app that wanted to access the Internet. No spyware under the guise of a game here, no 3rd party services chewing up quota, no apps being just thin layers over websites.
  I hate seeing that circle animation that says data access is happening on my iPhone for something that shouldn't need it. Even worse, I hate the fact that on the iPhone the developer can turn off that display so you don't know if any connection has occured. Evil. I presume that the Windows Phone does the same thing.
"a small (low single-digit) percentage" by John+Hasler · 2011-01-20 02:01 · Score: 4, Funny

That can't be true. There are more than two reports.

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1. Re:"a small (low single-digit) percentage" by UnknowingFool · 2011-01-20 02:57 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  This is how typically MS depicts success when it isn't. 1.5 million Windows phones have been sold to retailers and carriers, not to consumers. Considering that Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP , LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm all made phones and they were launched on the networks: AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Telus, Bell Canada and SingTel, 1.5 million is abysmal. That's on average 100,000 per carrier and 160,000 per manufacturer. Remember that number also represents units that were given to MS employees. If I understand the process, MS employees could buy a phone and the company would reimburse them.
  In this history of MS, they launched the Zune the same way. They showed great sales figures for the 2006 holiday season but what they didn't make clear was those were units shipped to retailers not sold to consumers. They also didn't disclose that for several months after that they shipped virtually no Zunes because the retailers were fully stocked. In the end, retailers had to get rid of the Zunes mostly at huge discounts.
  
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Re:Good job, Microsoft by orphiuchus · 2011-01-20 02:02 · Score: 4, Insightful

If it was the FBI or CIA or NSA I would still mind, but it wouldn't be THAT huge a deal, mainly because:
A. They will track me anyway if they have any reason to.
B. They aint got shit on me.
C. The chances of them actually bugging me are about .001%
I'm more worried about it being someone who is going to try to sell me shit. Because the likelihood of them actually bugging me is almost 100%.
Explains? by bgarcia · 2011-01-20 02:05 · Score: 4, Insightful

So, Microsoft saying "it wasn't us, it was them" counts as an explanation?

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1. Re:Explains? by Aerynvala · 2011-01-20 02:09 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The politicians use it, why wouldn't their corporate masters?
  
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3rd Party? by Stenchwarrior · 2011-01-20 02:05 · Score: 5, Interesting

Can it still be considered 3rd party if the company that generated the "phantom data" was contracted by either the carrier or Microsoft to develop the app to intentionally run up the quota, hopefully going unnoticed and generating overage charges? My ex-bank, 5th3rd has a class-action lawsuit against them for doing something similar.

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1. Re:3rd Party? by RMH101 · 2011-01-20 02:15 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Well, yes. My Windows 7 work phone, for example, runs on the UK Orange network. It came in an Orange-branded box, it has Orange-branding within the phone software, and Orange apps bundled with it that can't be removed. Annoying, yes, but standard practice in the phone world. It also has HTC-specific apps built into it such as the HTC hub.
  If it turns out that a network is bundling crapware with the handset that uses too much data in some conditions, or a vendor such as HTC has a bug in their app, then I wouldn't blame MS for it.
  It's a big "if", but it's a definite possibility and until we know the reason I suggest we stop getting so hysterical about it.
It gets better by qmaqdk · 2011-01-20 02:07 · Score: 5, Interesting

Apparently* it's an external problem and there will be "no need for a system software update.".
Makes you wonder about who can do what with your Windows Phone 7...
*As I noted in my submission. Which was earlier. WTF editors!?

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Re:"Unnamed third party service" being by RMH101 · 2011-01-20 02:11 · Score: 4, Insightful

I will put money on it not being anything like that interesting.
It'll probably turn out to be either a crucial app vendor or a launch partner that they don't want to annoy - e.g. if it turned out that one of the HTC apps or the Facebook app was doing it. Until they know for sure, and work out how to fix it they probably want to be a little coy about what's causing it.
Anyway, it's not affecting that many users as far as I can tell. I've got an HTC Mozart for work that's not doing it, after checking my data usage.
That's an "explanation"? by 1u3hr · 2011-01-20 02:21 · Score: 4, Insightful

An "unnamed third party service" is an explanation? As much as "a dog ate my homework".
Re:Good job, Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · 2011-01-20 02:24 · Score: 5, Informative

Look, I own a Windows phone (not 7 it's 6.1 then flashed it to 6.5) . I hate Windows for many reasons. I think it's slow (granted, the hardware is not top of the line), it's cumbersome, and there are next to no apps for it.
But the claim that a windows phone has to be rebooted every other day or that one gets BSODs on a windows phone -- that's pure crap. The phone is not rock solid, but it easily runs for months on end with no problem. The few times i've actually had to reboot my windows phone was either because i was flashing an updated ROM or because I was trying to see if the signal issues were caused by the OS (they weren't).
So given that winmo 6.5 is decently stable, why would you FUD about phone 7?
For me the biggest issues with windows mobile 6.5 are: slow startup, slow GUI, poor app market. Each of these is a huge minus for winmo compared to the competition. But I would not complain about the phone's stability.
Re:Who gets the 1GB plan? by L4t3r4lu5 · 2011-01-20 02:34 · Score: 4, Funny

I'd reply, but he won't be able to read it until next month.

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Re:Who gets the 1GB plan? by L4t3r4lu5 · 2011-01-20 02:36 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm not saying the phantom data isn't bad, I think every kind of phantom is bad
The Ghost who Walks would be extremely unhappy to hear you say this.

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Re:"Unnamed third party service" being M$ by hAckz0r · 2011-01-20 03:19 · Score: 4, Interesting

My bet is the "Windows Live" service. Why? The one complaint I saw with anything significant to say was a person complaining that they had everything turned off *except* for their Facebook sync through 'Windows live'. My bet, chances are that the Sync is pulling over all the images and bitmaps along with the web updates, and not pulling over just the delta changes to them. Perhaps its a re-download service, not a true sync.
If At&T is the primary service then Windows Live is a third party to that service. Since Microsoft did not name themselves as the culprit, they are in fact an Unnamed service. And of course why would Microsoft want to piss off their own their own management, or worse, to let potential buyers know what the real problem is?