Messenger and GPRS charges

[Guest BanziBarn]

If I log into messenger and just leave it on, if no conversations take place, will there still be any charges? What I'm getting at is, does messenger send and recieve a small amount of data periodically to check if new people are on line etc?

I'd quite like to keep messenger running all day, but don't want to try it to then find I've got no credit left!!

[Guest siliconslave]

If I log into messenger and just leave it on, if no conversations take place, will there still be any charges?  What I'm getting at is, does messenger send and recieve a small amount of data periodically to check if new people are on line etc? 

I'd quite like to keep messenger running all day, but don't want to try it to then find I've got no credit left!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you will defernatly get infomation being passed back and forth, for events such as buddys signing on and off, this will vary every day depending on what your contacts are doing so i can't really say what sort of amount of data that will be exchanged.

I beleave there is also a standard "heartbeat" that occurs all the time, but again i don't have data on the level of infomation being exchanged.

My advice would be get a data logging program and run it for a couple of days keeping an eye on the amount of data sent to and from your phone and make a desicion based on that ;)

[Guest chucky.egg]

Dont forget that there is a bug in WM2003 relating to any app that sends more than 16Kb, and in conjunction with the Always On GPRS tweak it seems that it *can* just spew data out continuously until you power off the phone.

You'll need the Always On tweak to stay connected to MSN.

Monitoring your data is a good idea anyway, and there is a new GPRS traffic counter that is around $10 instead of $20+. I think it's by Efficasoft, you can find it on Handango

[Guest BanziBarn]

Dont forget that there is a bug in WM2003 relating to any app that sends more than 16Kb, and in conjunction with the Always On GPRS tweak it seems that it *can* just spew data out continuously until you power off the phone.

You'll need the Always On tweak to stay connected to MSN.

Monitoring your data is a good idea anyway, and there is a new GPRS traffic counter that is around $10 instead of $20+. I think it's by Efficasoft, you can find it on Handango

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So are you saying that if I use messenger or internet and download more than 16k I could be in for a big bill if I don't turn the phone off? I've not done any tweeking though (whats the always on Tweek about?)

Edited April 22, 2005 by BanziBarn

[Guest chucky.egg]

Er, Yes... and No

It's not quite that simple. I'm not expert on this stuff, but as I understand it...

Any app that transfers data in "chunks" of 16Kb or over is prone to this problem (although the developers may not be aware of it) if the Always On tweak is appled.

In practice it is intermittent, and even unusual, but can happen at any time and to any app that is transferring data. It's not certain to happen, but it's not predicatable either so you can't prevent it easily.

So yes it could apply to downloads through PIE, or emails, or 3rd party apps that are transferring data (I first noticed it when using the BonusPrint Mobile app, and wrongly blamed the app for eating my data).

Put it this way, since coming across it the bug has eaten 10+Mb of my GPRS. I have now removed the Always On tweak and have not experienced it since.

PS: There is a new version of the SmartEase app coming out soon (that's the app with the tweak in it) so maybe it'll be fixed - but I doubt it.

The tweak is applied by ticking a box in the SmartEase app, and removed by unticking it, so it's not hard to do.

You can download the current version through this thread:

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=109918

Edited April 22, 2005 by chucky.egg

[Guest BanziBarn]

Seeing as I've never heard of SmartEase, I take it I won't have this tweak and therefore will not suffer from this?