Verizon and data over-limit charges: Is this 'Here we go again?': Money Matters

Who is having a problem with data over-limit charges from Verizon? Raise your hand, please.

I have a feeling this may be some deja vu all over again.

Seven years ago, my reporting about Verizon Communications and its $1.99 mystery fees for phantom internet access led an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission. The nearly year-long investigation ended with Verizon paying out about $80 million -- a $25 million settlement to the FCC and the rest in refunds to at least 15 million customers who were improperly charged $1.99 a month. But not every month. Just when Verizon thought it could slip those charges past us.

After Verizon was

, the FCC said: "Today's settlement requires Verizon Wireless to make meaningful business reforms, prevent future overcharges and provide consumers clear, easy-to-understand information about their choices."

Fast-forward to spring/summer 2016.

________________________If Verizon isn't helping you:

If you're not getting resolution from Verizon, you should contact the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates wireless carriers. The more complaints the FCC gets, the more likely the FCC will take action on your case.

To file a complaint:
By phone: 1-888-225-5322 (888-CALL-FCC)

Online: https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

By phone: 1-888-225-5322 (888-CALL-FCC)

_______________________________

My family's data usage has mysteriously increased significantly every month since February, except for one month. My family of four pays for 15 GB a month and gets 1 bonus GB. We're grandfathered in the old More Everything family share plan. We typically were using no more than 10 GB a month. But for the last six months, that has increased steadily -- and inexplicably. 8.2. Then 9.7. Then 10.6. Then 12.7. Then 13.7. In July, despite our efforts to conserve data, we hit 16.057, going over our 15-plus-1-bonus limit were charged an extra $30. Last month, we got alerts that we were nearing our allotment and managed to take care to avoid going over, ending the month at 15.6 (out of 16).

We do what you do. We blame the kids. We blame Facebook and Twitter videos. Maybe we blame apps.

Then I started looking really closely at the time stamps for our data usage. All of us are getting pinged many, many times in the middle of the night when we're sleeping and not using our phones. Even if we were on our phones in the middle of the night or if the phones were doing something automatically, we're at home connected to our wi-fi. Hmm.

The data on my son's phone gets pinged at predictable increments some days, but not every day. Verizon says it's not caused by an app.

Then I noticed that my adult son's line was getting pinged for data four times a day at curious intervals: 1:47 a.m. 7:47 a.m. 1:47 p.m. 7:47 p.m. Different intervals on different days, but the same every-12-hour pattern. And not every day. Just some days. In some cases, his phone is turned off at 1:47 a.m.

My son went into Verizon. They told him it could be caused by a special feature --  somewhat new -- called "Wi-Fi Assist." The default on iPhones, at least, is to have this feature toggled on. If it's on, then your phone "automatically uses cellular data when Wi-Fi connectivity is poor." So what's the definition of poor? I guess Verizon and our iPhones decide that. (You can find this on your iPhone by going to Settings, then Cellular, then Wi-Fi Assist is at the very bottom of that.)

Here's what the wi-fi assist button looks like on an iPhone.

But why do our phones reach into the data bucket so often when we're home and on Wi-Fi? And why are our phones hitting data in the middle of the night when they're not being used and we're home (and still on our Wi-Fi)? I don't know.

In my unscientific survey, every person I've mentioned this in the last week has turned up a new Verizon customer who's ticked off about the same thing.

In the case of my friend Karen, her son's data usage has gone up for the last several months. They don't know why. She's been having her son -- an adult -- turn off his data as soon as he gets an alert that he's used all of his data. He still ends up going over by .0001 GB a month and then she gets charged an extra $10.

Whenever she calls, Verizon tells her the usage notifications they get are "just estimates" and that her son may actually be over his limit by the time he turns his data off. Funny, she says, that the inaccurate estimates are always in Verizon's favor, not hers. Verizon encourages her every time to buy this special "family" coverage for $5 a month per line that allows her to better monitor or control their data usage. She she says no thanks.

I mentioned this in passing to the mother of my younger son's roommate last week. Her friend is having the same problem with huge increases in data usage for no apparent reason. Shocker.

I mentioned this to my hairdresser this week. She uses Sprint, but the hairdresser next to us tells me she is having the same data usage problem with Verizon.

I mentioned this to my sister. Same story. Unexplained increases in data usage the last several months.

Verizon's $80 million screw-up in 2009-2010

I haven't personally asked Verizon about this. The last time I walked down this road of data charges -- in 2009 -- every Verizon worker I talked with tried to guilt me into thinking those mysterious $1.99 fees were somehow my fault.

During 2009 and most of 2010, Verizon publicly denied complaints from thousands of customers about data charges, even on phones that weren't internet-capable (the old flip phones) or weren't working at the time of the supposed charges.

The FCC said the erroneous fees back then were caused by data connections initiated by an application built into the phone; or were initiated by third parties without the customer's consent, even when customers had content filters installed on their phones; or by accessing links that were supposed to be free, such as links to Verizon's own "mobile web" page.

What's causing the data usage this time? I want to find out. Here we go again.

Please let me know what you're experiencing or what Verizon has told you. My email is

(preferred) or text me at

.

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