September 3, 2014
THE DAUGHTER'S NOT ALONE:
Facebook's autoplay video feature is destroying cell phone bills (James O'Toole, September 3, 2014, CNNMoney)
Want to save money on your phone bill? Make sure you turn off the "autoplay" setting on Facebook videos.Smartphone users are at risk of maxing out their data plans if they don't change this default setting in the Facebook (FB, Tech30) app, which otherwise will automatically start streaming videos in the News Feed window.The issue was flagged by consumer finance site MoneySavingExpert.com, which said it had "seen many complaints from people who have been stung with data bills after exceeding their monthly allowance and who believe it to be because of Facebook autoplaying videos."
We just got a message from Verizon that we'd used 75% of our data plan after two weeks. We seldom use 75% in a month. The Daughter had consumed 800mb herself (compared to 300 the prior three billing cycles) because of the Autoplay setting.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 3, 2014 1:20 PM
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