Windows Phone 7 ‘sending phantom data’
Microsoft's chief executive: Steve Ballmer. Photo: Getty Images
Microsoft is investigating reports that some handsets running its Windows Phone 7 software are sending and receiving ‘phantom data’, which phone operators are then wrongly charging customers for.
The fault is causing as much as 50 MB data to be sent over 3G networks, causing phone customers to exceed their monthly data allocation and wrongly incur phone charges.
A Microsoft spokesman said: “We are investigating this issue to determine the root cause and will update with information and guidance as it becomes available.”
Those affected have taken to web forums to air their grievances. One complainant told Paul Thurrott’s supersite for Windows: “I received an e-mail from AT&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.”
While another US-based phone owner experiencing the same fault, complained that their phone was using data at night when they was not using the phone to send or receive emails.
Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 last October to great fanfare. However, it has yet to significantly challenge Apple, Google and Blackberry in the increasingly competitive smartphone war.
Last week Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, argued the case for Windows at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
- Emma Barnett
© Telegraph.co.uk
