My BT won't show usage

[piglet22]

So if you posted this at the end of May 2024 and on 4th July 2024 it's still not working (phone or browser), then it's taking a long time to fix.

I had a call from BT complaints yesterday and got the distinct impression that they didn't know much about it. Or weren't letting on.

I've been promised an answer next week (w/c 8th July 2024).

You can get it to work (version 8.50.2 Android) and I was able to see detailed usage with day to day usage, but it was for an old charging period. Try the same in the current period and it doesn't work.

Just error messages like usage not available.

BT are going to be in a difficult situation if users can't see their usage, go over their limit and refuse to pay any additional charges.

All the other utilities, water, electricity, gas are obliged to provide meters so that customers can check their usage. With BT and no physical meter, it's all the more important that they provide a reliable online meter.

[PatF]

The app is version 8.50.2

It's gone back to not showing my usage 😒 but it's my billing day so maybe it'll be better tomorrow.

I do wonder it they're pushing everyone to use an unlimited data package, so they don't have the bother of keeping a total of our usage...

[piglet22]

Yes, it's quite likely to show previous months data, but that's not much use of you are close to the limit at the end of the charging period.

There's plenty of adverts around and on the app itself pushing EE, so maybe the days of limited data SIM cards are drawing to a close.

BT are certainly not rushing to fix this problem.

I might know a bit more next week.

[PatF]

@piglet22I uninstalled/reinstalled the app, yet again 🙄 and it does seem to be showing up-to-date usage for me - how long this will last, who knows...

Using same version as you, 8.50.2 on Android.

You're right, it's appalling that they're keeping people in the dark re usage - it's almost as if they WANT people to go over their limit 🤔

[piglet22]

@PatF 

Good luck with that. You shouldn't have to be installing and re-installing. A company the size of BT with all its resources shouldn't be putting out stuff like this.

I'm in conversation with them and it's as though they know nothing about it. When it is widely reported on the BT Community Forum, their line is is that they only deal with individual complaints. So there might be hundreds of customers with this same problem, but if they don't complain, then chat on the forum counts for nothing.

Some progress is being made officially, and the exact point where the phone app and browser version fail has been identified. It has involved quite a lot of time so far.

One bit of advice I had from HMRC and their app that had login problems, was not to log out of the app.

This seems contrary to  common sense, but that was their official line.

[piglet22]

@PatF 

I just had another look at this.

In the web browser (Google Chrome), I had a page with the "Fetching authorisation token...." which had been blocking the current daily usage details showing up.

I refreshed the page and noticed on the URL line (top of page), a notice briefly showed with "popup blocked".

This had been suggested before, but I never saw the popup notice.

I clicked on the small icon where the notice had been and there you get an option to block or allow popups from BT.com.

After some faffing around, the "fetching....." disappeared and the mobile usage page appeared with the first two days of the current charging period (started 03-Juy-2024).

Whether or not this is a fix, I don't know, and so far it only works for the web browser. I presume you can do something similar for the phone app.

If it really is that simple, why haven't BT mentioned it?

[PatF]

@piglet22  I confess, I had never realised that I could check my mobile data usage on my laptop! Just figured out how to do it and, lo & behold, they both tally - which is slightly reassuring 😉
But yes, as you say, it's such a faff and that "Fetching the authorisation... blah blah" is beyond annoying 😩
If it continues for much longer, I'll put in a complaint and then, I guess, moving away from BT, sadly.

[piglet22]

A bit more progress.

Tried the Chrome web browser on the phone and after some errors like "bad request" and a lot of navigating, I did manage to see the mobile data usage on the phone.

The BT app is still not working with the usage feature.

On the browser, the popup blocked still appeared.

At this point, using a web browser on the phone is not a fix for the BT app. I couldn't see anything in the BT app settings for blocking/allowing popups which seem to be the key to all this.

It will be interesting to hear what they have to say next week.

[PatF]

@piglet22  Any joy from BT?

[piglet22]

@PatF 

They phoned me but cut the call off before I could speak to them.

They are calling again tomorrow.

I gets more intriguing.

I  haven't got the phone app to work, but have got the web browser version to work by allowing popups for BT.

Unfortunately, it only works a couple of days then stops.

It's a lot easier to find popup settings on the web browser (PC) version than on a mobile phone.

I'm not going to let them off the hook because this is of their making. If you have a data usage limit, you have every right to see your detailed usage. The difference is that you can read the electrity meter but you can't read the data usage meter. That's BT's job.