Windows Phone Phantom Data Glitch Solved – Sort Of

Since the Windows Phone 7 has been out, there’s been a problem, by which the phone uses data when its owners think it’s doing nothing. On top of that, it does not make as much use of WiFi as it could – sometimes using 3G instead.

The phantom data used is reported as being 2-5MB per hour.

Users have reported the data charged coming in hours when they are asleep, however this is not proven – AT&T bills, for one, do not give accurate timing of data usage.
But today some good news!
Microsoft has announced that they have found the culprit – apparently it is a third party app. But no names have been mentioned yet. Hopefully they are removing the app from the app store, or working with the developer to fix the problem and provide an update.

Update

People suspect the app in question is the Facebook app which ships with Windows phone. Not exactly third party. It sounds like it’s constantly updating feeds even when the phone is not active.

It could be any of the built-in apps really, as they all pull feeds down from your Windows Live account.

Apparently, the Windows Phone 7 switches to 3G when the screen’s off, so this could explain why people get crazy bills, especially when they haven’t used the phone much in a given period.

Let’s hope MS fix this one BEFORE the big update they’ve promised.