There has been speculation for quite some time that WP7 devices had a data usage bug. WP7 owners were puzzled by the tremendous amount of idle data usage. Questions arose in regards to how much data WP7 actually used on a day to day basis. Since no official response was given by Microsoft, some assumed WP7 was a data hungry OS, considering all the Live tiles and cloud services. Today, there was confirmation from Microsoft that the culprit was Yahoo Mail and Exchange ActiveSync [EAS] email synchronization protocol . Apparently, Microsoft is aware of the problem and is working on a fix.
According to Paul Thurrott, Microsoft admitted yesterday with this response, “it has determined that an inefficiency exists in the synchronization of E-Mail between the Windows Phone Mail client and Yahoo! Mail; this inefficiency can result in larger than expected data usage for a very small percentage of users”. Microsoft confirmed, “Microsoft and Yahoo, have worked together to identify a fix, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks” (Could this be the NoDo update?)
As a temporary solution, Microsoft recommends you adjust the Yahoo Mail settings to manually download emails, changing the preselected settings. Microsoft also recommends adjusting to “the last 7 days” changing the default setting of ”the last 2 weeks.” You can change the Email settings by choosing “Settings” located in the app list, select “email & accounts”, choose “Yahoo Mail” and then select “settings” under “Download new content”
Here’s the note from Microsoft:
We have determined that an inefficiency exists in the synchronization of email between the Windows Phone Mail client and Yahoo! Mail.
This inefficiency can result in larger than expected data usage for a very small percentage of users.
· Microsoft and Yahoo! have worked together to identify a fix, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
· In the meantime, customers can mitigate this issue by following these steps:
1. On the Start screen of Windows Phone 7, click on the arrow at the top right
2. Choose “Settings” from the app list
3. Choose “email & accounts”
4. Choose “Yahoo! Mail”
5. Click on the setting under “Download new content”
6. Select a less frequent setting. If you are using the default setting (every 2 hours), change this setting to ‘manually’
7. Click on the setting under “Download email from”
8. Select a shorter time range. If you are using the default setting (the last 2 weeks), change this setting to ‘the last 7 days’
Microsoft has also identified an issue with our Exchange ActiveSync [EAS] email synchronization protocol that may affect a very small percentage of users
· This issue can be caused by email that exceeds the mail server email size setting or is sent to an invalid email address
· This issue can potentially affect email services that utilize the EAS protocol – Outlook and Gmail for example
· The immediate mitigation is for users to delete mail that appears “stuck” in the outbox
· This is currently scheduled to be fixed in a near-term end user update from Microsoft
Luckily I won't be taking any steps as this doesn't really affect me, I've truly unlimited internet with a no fair usage policy otherwise I'd be in a panic and have to resolve this quickly. I don't know of any other mobile network provider that doesn't have in it's Terms and conditions a fair usage policy of above 1-3GB, so it's those who'll be panicing about extra charges, but I do feel for them being in a similar position not so long ago, take a look at http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/kelvinlewis and get truly unlimited mobile internet on your phone with no hassle or conditions.