Windows Phone 7 from Microsoft (MSFT) may be haunted.
At least some customers of WP7, which was introduced in October, are complaining about “phantom” data leaks that are resulting in their phones using up data—while idling.
“I received an e-mail from AT&T (T) saying that I was close to my 2GB data limit which truly shocked me as I feel I do not use data that much,” one phone owner told Winsupersite.
She noted: “With this phone I do not stream, I hardly surf the Internet, I mostly have the location services turned off. I do have Facebook connected with Windows Live so I do get the updates on the people hub and pictures hub and I do play Bejeweled quite a lot as I am addicted. I do have my Yahoo! mail and Outlook mail synced to the phone. Beyond those few things, I do not do much else with the phone.”
Some users have complained that the phones are gobbling up to 50MB per day, which with a 1GB cap would result in the users reaching their limit in 20 days.
The ghostly data leaks appear to mainly affect U.S. customers.
BBC reports that Microsoft is checking out the hauntings. “We are investigating this issue to determine the root cause and will update with information and guidance as it becomes available,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.
Meanwhile, in the face of phantoms, who you gonna call to bust those data ghosts? Will Ghostbuster Dr. Peter Venkman and a proton pack fix the problem? Will the Ghostbuster app help?
The solution may be much easier and not require a positron collider.
Blogger Bill Simser suggests the source of the haunting and a solution to bust costly data ghosts.
He said he checked data logs and concluded the ghosts in the machine relate to the Feedback feature to “help improve Windows Phone.” “With no other apps running under lock, what else could it be?” he asked.
He notes that users have three options:
— Send feedback and use my cellular data connection.
— Send feedback and (presumably) use my Wi-Fi connection.
— Don’t send feedback.
After looking at logs with Feedback on and off, Simser suggested that users switch off Feedback—until Microsoft finishes its investigation and provides direction.
