WTF - Problem with You Tube - Used 2GB of My Data

Lpaulinspace on 02/11/2016 - 13:10

Had the most annoying incident on the weekend. My 5yo got hold of my mobile and was on You Tube. We headed off to Bright Saturday and by the time we got there 4 hours later, You Tube had consumed 2gb of data (per my data usage records on the phone). It was obviously doing something in the background. When I looked at the viewed history it shows a couple of short videos that my daughter had watched in the morning.

A nice $20 donation to Optus shareholders.

Apart from checking if anyone is interested in adopting a 5yo, has anyone experienced something like this, or know what it was?

Not worth crying over $20, but just curious as to what she could have done.

Mobile

Comments

  • CyberMurning on 02/11/2016 - 13:14
    +4

    you lucky did not get slaughter by $1000 bills. youtube eats data like no tomorrow.

  • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2016 - 13:15
    +3

    Most likely streamed in FHD or maybe 1440p depending on what phone you have. Or you may also have had apps in the background still running which also contributed to this.

    Apart from checking if anyone is interested in adopting a 5yo

    Well that escalated quickly…

  • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2016 - 13:21
    +5

    In android I set a data usage limit to stop thinks like this.

  • ozhunter on 02/11/2016 - 13:25
    +1

    Set your phone to restrict data usage when getting to a certain limit. 2GB doesn't sound much for streaming for 4 hours.

    Netflix is up to 3GB/hr for full HD streaming.

  • John on 02/11/2016 - 13:25
    +3

    Normal. My son chew on my data whenever he jumped on my phone. Most likely she repeat the video over and over?

  • bob smith on 02/11/2016 - 13:43

    Lesson learnt
    Do what others have said by setting your phone to restrict data usage at a certain limit.
    Or you can use an app such as Netguard, which allows you to block individual apps on using cellular data. (e.g youtube).

  • fruit on 02/11/2016 - 13:44
    +4

    Prepaid ftw

    • Zaenille on 02/11/2016 - 14:56

      Telstra freedom plus ftw. Get $30/40 google play credit a month!

      • Jebediah_Kerman on 03/11/2016 - 16:29

        Don't tease people I don't think this is available to new customers anymore.

        • Zaenille on 03/11/2016 - 17:01

          Oh yeah, I think it was cut off.

  • amkssg on 02/11/2016 - 15:09

    As mentioned above:
    1) Youtube uses a lot of data (Especially if your child watched the videos in HD, which I think is the default).
    2) Set a daily data limit on your phone (somewhere in the settings).

  • squashedfrog on 02/11/2016 - 15:14

    not uncommon… kids replay the same video on youtube via the slide bar and the download starts again. i think it works the same way with abc kids iview app.

    my kid managed to use up the 10GB monthly optus limit and exceed it about 3 hrs before the end of the month. instant $10 extra to optus.

  • chazfg on 02/11/2016 - 15:23

    Pretty normal even for short videos. I only allow my kid to use YouTubeKids app, that way I can setup YouTubeKids so it does not use mobile data. It has pretty good kids filter as well, so no adult content videos or ads.

  • fossilfuel on 02/11/2016 - 15:24

    It was obviously doing something in the background.

    Not worth crying over $20, but just curious as to what she could have done.

    It's obvious that your daughter watched a bunch of videos on YouTube. Check your data usage settings, it should show ~2GB under the foreground section.

    When I looked at the viewed history it shows a couple of short videos that my daughter had watched in the morning.

    Are you omitting details? A few short videos should not chew up 2GB of data, but that depends on your definition of short.

  • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2016 - 16:37

    And that is why byo plans are the best.

    I let my daughter chew through my byo plan and i still have room to swing a didtal cat around.

    50 bucks for 11gb data per month isnt bad i know the recent one for 15gb but yeah ill see if i cantalk them into upgrading my current byo for extra data.

  • Savas on 02/11/2016 - 17:18
    +3

    Next time don't entertain your bored child with your phone

  • Woodyg22 on 03/11/2016 - 11:17

    YouTube Red now allows videos to be played in the background so you can keep listening while doing other things. Have you got that and background Play enabled?

  • [Deactivated] on 03/11/2016 - 11:56

    I should demand a refund from the person who taught your child to access YouTube.

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