ATT Mobley Usage Tracking

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Dreamsend

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Posts
614
Kinda frustrated here.  Just spent an hour on the phone with ATT Mobile Cust. Support/Tech Support to try and understand HOW my Mobley data usage is being reported on my online (internet) ATT account (not an ATT app access).  No love!

Maybe some one of you or more can help.  So when I log in to my account, and go to USAGE, it reports 14.72 GB; then underneath that is the statement "this is usage since May 30, 2017."  I think that is ridiculously low.  The cust. rep. said the 14.72 is my usage to date in this billing period.

When I've checked off and on over the months, it has reported my usage as 4GB, 6 GB and similar. 

Next if you click on REPORTS at the bottom of the "more usage info" page, you get a bar graph of your usage month by month.  You can select from a drop down what time period you wish to see on the bar graph - every month, 1 month, 3 months etc.

THIS graph shows that my usage is an average of ~112 GB per month - varying between about 57 GB and a high of 225 GB in January 2018, which I also think is ridiculous.

Neither of the tech support people I had to talk with (because first one disappeared, and another person picked up so I had to start all over with the issue) had any clue, which of course they would not admit and even went so far as to question what browser I was using!!#5$#.    So, a CASE had to be submitted to the "TEAM" (I hate that concept) with a resolution date of February 23.  Hurmph!

The Mobley is my sole connectivity I'm using at this point - running everything - desktop, tablet, streaming, Kindle.  I'm online a lot so the higher data usage is very possible.  I'm just trying to see what it actually is, as I'm wondering if I'm gonna be in trouble on the road if I don't lower that usage.

Have any of you using the Mobley looked at your Mobley data usage? by using the My ATT computer web site - NOT YOUR ATT mobile phone via an app.

Do you find any discrepancy in the data usage that is being reported? from one place to another on the web site?

I know the Mobley is Unlimited - and only throttled after 22 GB due to traffic etc.  I'm in the city so maybe there is this much bandwidth that I have never noticed any slowdowns.  I do not expect to have such lavish capacity in the boonies however.  I just want to know my data usage, and how I might lower it going forward.

Thanks in advance
Linda

 
I use the My AT&T Android app and it reports the data usage in the current billing period.  Goes to zero every month.  Today it says that I've used 18.1 GB of data and have 9 days left in the billing cycle.

Also went into https://www.att.com/my/#/accountOverview and get the same information.

Hope this helps.
 
We have 2 Verizon phones and 1 tablet that we can use for hotspotting (I recommend staying far away from the jetpack as they throttle that thing HARD) and 1 AT&T Mobley. We full time and work 5 days a week online plus our own personal usage and streaming from Amazon prime when we have a strong enough signal, which is often because we pick our spots based largely on cell signal.

All that data comes over the Mobley (when we have AT&T signal - our booster helps!) unless my wife and I have video conferences at the same time, then one of us uses a Verizon connection.

I used to track my data usage too, but after numerous consecutive months over 100GB and some approaching 200GB, I stopped worrying and stopped tracking. If you stick to sparsely-populated areas with good signal, I believe you will have zero issue.

The key is in the difference between Verizon's and AT&T's policy on throttling:
Verizon: when hotspotting, you WILL be throttled after 22GB on a phone or tablet or 15GB on a Jetpack (down to something stupid like 128kbps - completely unusable) except when using apps, which maintain their unlimited high speed data without a data cap.
AT&T: During periods of congestion or when limited bandwidth is available, you MAY be throttled to improve connectivity, at the expense of speed, for everyone using that tower.
 
We've gone over 100GB/mo with our AT&T Connected Car (Mobley) plan a number of times, and have never noticed any different slow downs then we usually see with any service on a really busy tower, particularly at peak times. If we've been "deprioritized" at those times, it wasn't enough of a slow down to notice the difference. My AT&T online account has always shown our usage pretty accurately as far as I can tell. I removed the SIM from the Mobley and installed it in a Netgear Unite hotspot months ago, and the usage shown on the Admin page is always very close to what the online account shows.
 
Linda, I think you're overanalyzing this.

The statement "this is usage since May 30, 2017" means records are available since that date. You then select what portion you want to view.  Right now that encompasses your entire history since you opened the account, that may change as you remain a customer past a year or some other cutoff point.

The statistic you're interested in is your usage during the current billing cycle because of the 22GB deprioritization threshold.  FWIW, I've been averaging 60 - 140 GB per month in both rural areas and in cities without any significant slowing.

As far as connecting in rural areas, the one time I had noticeable slowing was a day last fall in Chama, NM when the Mobley slowed to barely usable.  But so did the park wi-fi from a different provider, and restaurants in town were refusing credit cards because their card readers were malfunctioning.  So it was a general problem getting the Internet into the area, not anything ATT specific.  Chama is at the end of a rural valley about 100 miles north of Santa Fe, so I suspect they only have a single path to the Internet down that valley, not the normal star network redundancy.  When that single link had problems there was no way to re-route traffic around it, so everyone in the area was affected.

How to lower your usage?  If you stream a lot, select Stream Saver to reduce your streaming resolution from HD to SD.  Turn off Windows automatic updates, on Win 10 tell it the Mobley is a metered connection.  Just make sure you turn on the updates every once in a while so you don't miss anything important.
 
Hi Gang -- Sorry to be so long is responding -- got zapped with a cold that distracted me for a couple of days.  But, back in the saddle again as they say.

First, thanks all for the really good news about using the Mobley in the boonies or on the road.  Lifts my spirits whole bunches.

But, second.  I still don't get what is going on with the reported data usage on the WEB site.  I'm am trying to understand, because I will also have a Verizon hotspot (via my cell phone account) available for use, but it will be limited to whatever GB is included in whatever unlimited talk/text plan I end up when I go full time.  Right now, I have a cheapo Verizon 2GB data plan, because I don't need to use even that because the ATT coverage is just fine.  BUT, going forward there will be times when there will be NO ATT signal, but maybe there will be Verizon and I'll have to use that for data.

I whole-heartedly admit that I am seriously lacking in understanding mobile communications - especially the finer points that get into "casting" to the TV from a computer, phone, or tablet, moving SIM cards, when to turn on WIFI on the phone, or tablet etc.  I have been reading, reading, and more reading, and do know more than I did 6 mos. ago, but I'm still woefully lacking.  I've never had a need to KNOW mobile communications, and no one in my circle of friends has any clue either because they are all "wired" for internet in their homes.  Thus I turn to the forum, but many times, the discussions are WAAAAYYYY over my head, because of terminology etc.

I've been dreading getting into this -- but, one of the last preparatory items on my list is whether to get/install a cell phone booster.  Been reading up on those, and I do understand how they work, and differences in antenna, limits inside the TT, oscillation etc.  But, two questions I've not been able to find answers to (I think I know . .but . . )
1.  Will a booster work to enhance a signal to the Mobley?
2.  Will it boost both cellular and DATA?

I know a cell phone booster will not boost WI-FI like at a restaurant or campground.

And last, I have posted below a couple of screen shots from the MyATT web site that started all this confusion for me.  As you can see, it clearly states that the posted usage is from the beginning of my account.  I have noted the asterisk, BUT there is NOTHING on the web page indicating what the asterisk means.  And note, ATT mobile customer service (in fact 2 reps) had no idea or explanation of what was going on either. 

Not relevant to the Mobley issues, but I'm going to try to visit my local Verizon storefront today and hopefully learn more about how to understand, and then optimize my mobile communications.

Again many thanks for the encouraging reports of experiences with the Mobley on the road.

Linda
 

Attachments

  • datausage.jpg
    datausage.jpg
    13.7 KB · Views: 18
  • datareport.jpg
    datareport.jpg
    39.6 KB · Views: 17
I am in the process of adding a booster to my Mobley right now, and will let you know how it goes.  I am using a Wilson / Weboost M2M https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/wilson-weboost-signal-4g-m2m-direct-connect-booster-460219/ along with a trucker No ground plane roof mount antenna.  This model is not a repeater and must be hard wired to the antenna port on the Mobley's circuit board (required opening the case and voiding the warranty).  I will take photos as I go (just received the last of the stuff needed for the project), and will try to post updates here.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
131,753
Posts
1,384,362
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom