Why does Three use twice the data as O2 (Sky)

[--Tony__]

When I use my Sky data sim for data, I use well under 1GB a month, I'm a low user as I use a lot of WiFi.

When I use Three for my data, I use more than double the data.

This makes no sense and the usage is exactly the same, one company is measuring my data usage incorrectly either Sky under reporting my usage or Three over reporting my usage.

I am not talking about what my phone estimates I use, I am talking about what each company claim I have actually used each month.

[PeteG]

Hello, Tony. 

That's not something I've ever come across before. Usage should be worked out the same way by each company. You mentioned you phones data tracker, have you tried using that to see if the usage remained the same on there? Or if it also increased to coincide with your move to Three.

[--Tony__]

I haven't checked the phones data logs but I have never found it very accurate. I suppose it might help identify who is accurately reporting my usage if I did.

I have been with Sky for 8 years (since launch) and never used more than 1GB a month.

I have not actually moved to Three, I bought a Three data sim last November for my phones second sim slot. I can move between sim slot1 (Sky) and sin slot2 (three) for my data and consistently Three uses way more than Sky in any tests I have done.

I purchased a Three 24GB data sim that lasts up to 24 months, as my data usage is normally under 1GB I expected this data sim to last the full 24 months. But just 6 months after purchase Three claim I have used 16GB and only have 8GB left. It looks like I will get 9 months instead of the expected 2 years.

I do believe it's Three that is inaccurate as, before trying Three, I took a Lebara (Vodafone network) sim for 9 months, also in my second sim slot and they also recorded under 1GB a month which mirrors Sky (O2 network), in fact it was a 1GB a month allowance and I never ran out of data once over the 9 month contract.

The Three data sim still gives Europe and Worldwide data roaming for free, which is a good bonus of their data sim, so I had planned to buy a new Three data sim but I won't now, it's just not cost effective if I only get 9 months instead of 24 months. I will go back to using Lebara for my data sim when my Three sim runs out of data.

[jr0]

interesting... does that claim matches the report/dashboard from Three app? I'm pretty sure you can see the "data" usage from the app.