Norton Mobile Utilities Public Beta

[Rik55 Regular Contributor Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

NMU 1.0.2.64
Samsung GT-I5800
Android 2.1 (Eclair)

Over the last few months I've been using Norton Mobile Utilities to monitor my data usage because after 250Mb/month has been used my carrier starts deducting my voice credit.

The last few month I've used up all my data allowance and any other remaining credit. But according to Norton, I should still have over 50Mb. I decided to download Data Counter Widget from the Market. This app gives detailed info of both uploaded and downloaded data, WiFi & cellular.

I had thought maybe it was the conversion from Kilobytes to Megabytes, ie 1Mb=1000Kb or 1Mb=1024Kb. However, comparing the data usage from Data Counter Widget and Norton, it looks like Norton is only counting download data, whereas my carrier charges for both upload & download data. It maybe neither reason, but whatever bug has creeped in, Norton is under stating my data usage.

Many thanks for a great product.

[erik_carlstrom]

A couple questions.  Does your carrier start on the 1st of the month?  Check to make sure that you've configured the usage settings to start on the same day your carrier uses. 

What is the total data NMU lists?  How much does your carrier note you used for that same time period? 

For the widget settings (I assume you are noting the widget and not what's in the usage section in NMU) do you have it set to "Current month's data usage"? 

Does the widget match what is displayed in the Usage module when you open NMU? 

[Rik55 Regular Contributor Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

My data start date changes because I cancan pre-pay for 250mb of data at any time during the month. Once purchased, I set the Norton billing start date to match. I also Clear Usage data. The Home Screen Widget matches Usage Module-Data, byte for byte.

My last pre-paid 250Mb, when my carrier (Orange UK) stated 0 bytes left, Norton said 194Mb used & Data Counter Widget had 251Mb used. My last phone, the very similar Samsung GT-I5500 also under stated data usage.

Another issue to report is in the Device Module-Network. When entering the Network screen you are greeted with 'can not get network usage'. Although, since last update, mobile & WiFi data for the current session is now displayed at the top of the screen. I've not checked if this is being calculated correctly. It never used to work at all.

[erik_carlstrom]

Interesting.  I'll pass this along to the team to see what they think the problem is. 

[Rik55 Regular Contributor Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

Thanks Eric.

[Rik55 Regular Contributor Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

Sorry I spelt your name wrong. Lol.

Thanks Erik. :-)

[PeteFinn]

Just to add: I've been following my mobile data usage since the beginning of my current billing period. My monthly quota is 300MB. At the moment NMU reports 42.7MB of used data and my network operator (TeliaSonera Finland) reports I have 257MB left (usage is rounded to nearest MB), so I'm quite happy with the accuracy of NMU.

Pete

[erik_carlstrom]

Rik,

The team was able to find a problem in our testing.  Out of curiosity, do you reboot your device often? 

Pete,

Do you not reboot your device often? 

Just trying to validate our assumptions of the problem. 

[PeteFinn]

Erik, I do not reboot my phone often. In fact I do it only if there's a problem that might be resolved with a reboot. I believe I haven't rebooted it in about 6-8 weeks, which is an eternity in Android world, haha.

The data usage calculator is still showing very accurate numbers.

Pete

[Rik55 Regular Contributor Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

Hi Erik,
I was thinking the same myself. I do actually reboot, at least once a day. Sometimes more.

I did a 100Mb test over the last few days. Norton got to 74.9Mb. Other network counters reported correctly. I tried to refrain from rebooting wherever possible. Tested over 3 days. 4 reboots. Can't be enough to cause this difference surely.

Although its been like this over my last 2 phones, it can't happen to most else you would have heard about it by now. I waited many months thinking someone else would have reported similar. Has the team thought about providing a means to report bugs from within the program like Norton Mobile Security has.

Thanks Erik.