Microsoft Explains Windows Phone 7 'Phantom Data' 270
Fuzzy Eric writes "Microsoft has confirmed that some handsets running its Windows Phone 7 software are sending and receiving 'phantom data.' The problem surfaced in early January with some owners of phones running Windows Phone 7, claiming that their phone was sending 'between 30 and 50MB of data' every day; an amount that would eat into a 1GB allowance in 20 days. Microsoft said its investigation found that most problems were caused by a unnamed 'third party' service. It said that the problem seemed to only affect 'a small (low single-digit) percentage of Windows Phone customers.'"
MS Fault Playbook: Two Answers (Score:5, Insightful)
1. No Answer
or
2. We found the problem. It wasn't our fault, and it doesn't matter because it's not happening to anyone. (lie)
Re:Good job, Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
If it was the FBI or CIA or NSA I would still mind, but it wouldn't be THAT huge a deal, mainly because:
A. They will track me anyway if they have any reason to.
B. They aint got shit on me.
C. The chances of them actually bugging me are about .001%
I'm more worried about it being someone who is going to try to sell me shit. Because the likelihood of them actually bugging me is almost 100%.
Re:Who gets the 1GB plan? (Score:3, Insightful)
Damn... I would ask you to take a picture and send it to me for proof, but I don't want you to go over your limit.
Corporate blame game (Score:1, Insightful)
It doesn't matter. Someone at Microsoft ok'd that third party software without due diligence. It's their baby. Denying it just makes them look unprofessional. But we already knew that.
Explains? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Explains? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"Unnamed third party service" being (Score:5, Insightful)
It'll probably turn out to be either a crucial app vendor or a launch partner that they don't want to annoy - e.g. if it turned out that one of the HTC apps or the Facebook app was doing it. Until they know for sure, and work out how to fix it they probably want to be a little coy about what's causing it.
Anyway, it's not affecting that many users as far as I can tell. I've got an HTC Mozart for work that's not doing it, after checking my data usage.
Re:3rd Party? (Score:5, Insightful)
If it turns out that a network is bundling crapware with the handset that uses too much data in some conditions, or a vendor such as HTC has a bug in their app, then I wouldn't blame MS for it.
It's a big "if", but it's a definite possibility and until we know the reason I suggest we stop getting so hysterical about it.
Re:"a small (low single-digit) percentage" (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually that number comes with a big caveat since it started circulating a few weeks earlier, that even that mashable article, or the MS link it references, are carefully avoiding to shed light on. Those reported are 1.5 million handset sold "to carriers", or "by manufacturers" (which mostly sell to carriers, gosh).
For all we know, 90% of those 1.5 million might be still be unsold, sitting on shelves and warehouses and NOT in the hands of a customer. And that kind of carefully treading around the ambiguity is a giant, glowing, blinking warning sign..
Re:Good job, Microsoft (Score:4, Insightful)
Right - the risk of getting bugged by FBI is usually lower than the risk of getting your identity stolen and abused.
At least that applies to most of us.
That's an "explanation"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That's an "explanation"? (Score:4, Insightful)
Developers/Partners before Users (Score:4, Insightful)
Who does Microsoft care more about? Users or Developers and Partners? Their actions speak louder than words. They are reluctant to tell people the truth so that they can protect themselves or conserve their resources in favor of protecting developers and partners. In the world of Microsoft (and indeed Apple and most other commercial software vendors) the users are to be taken for granted and abuse of users, their information, their computers and their resources are all the norm.
I realize this is more preaching to the choir for most people here and/or this is "stating the obvious" but I think it's sometimes useful to remind people and users of where the priorities and motivations of the vendors they use and rely on are. By knowing their priorities and motivations, you can keep yourself appropriately aware and even guarded. For example, we have a LOT og Google fans here. In the eyes of some, Google does no evil and can do no wrong. They are an advertiser and a marketer and maintain all of the priorities and motivations of advertisers and marketers. It is important to keep Google in perspective. Google is just one example. Microsoft's main strategy is to keep their markets saturated with Microsoft products and services. This is accomplished through strategic partnerships and arrangements with OEMs and resellers among others. This means they place their priorities in favor of those channels; partners, OEMs, developers and all. If Microsoft's primary channel was retail and online sales, their priority would then be focused on the people who buy their products and services directly. But this is, for the most part, not the case.
For this reason ("Who does Microsoft care about?") I generally avoid Microsoft. It is not because they are buggy or insecure or "evil." It is the fact that as a user or customer, they are not interested in my needs or interests. That's a simple fact.
Re:Who gets the 1GB plan? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:NSA (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Developers/Partners before Users (Score:4, Insightful)
Who does Microsoft care more about? Users or Developers and Partners?
They have no reason to care about users, since few users are actually customers. That copy of Windows on your Dell doesn't make you a Microsoft customer, it makes Dell their customer unless you bought Windows in a box and installed it yourself. Few enough people do that to make them completely unimportant to MS.