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Microsoft Explains Windows Phone 7 'Phantom Data'

Posted by CmdrTaco on 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.'"

7 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. MS Fault Playbook: Two Answers by blunte · · 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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    .sigs are for post^Hers.
  2. Re:NSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    No wonder that this third-party service remains unnamed. After all NSA stands for 'no such agency'.

    Ahem: "No Such Application"

  3. 3rd Party? by Stenchwarrior · · 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 · · 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.

  4. It gets better by qmaqdk · · 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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    My UID is prime. Hah!
  5. Re:Explains? by Aerynvala · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The politicians use it, why wouldn't their corporate masters?

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    http://transformativeworks.org/
  6. Re:Good job, Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · 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.