Yahoo! Mail Cause Of Windows Phone 7 Phantom Data Use

Microsoft has blamed Yahoo! Mail and an "inefficiency" with the Windows Phone 7 email client for the phantom data use some users have reported. The confirmation, sent to WindowsPhoneSecrets, follows Microsoft's previous statement that an unnamed third-party service was the cause of the issue, which saw Windows Phone 7 devices using large quantities of 3G data without apparent reason.

According to Microsoft's statement, below, the issue will be addressed in a "near-term end user update" by the company. Until then, WP7 users with Yahoo! Mail accounts should tweak the download settings to reduce the frequency of server pings and the period from which email is downloaded.

We have determined that an inefficiency exists in the synchronization of email between the Windows Phone Mail client and Yahoo! Mail.

This inefficiency can result in larger than expected data usage for a very small percentage of users.

Microsoft and Yahoo! have worked together to identify a fix, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, customers can mitigate this issue by following these steps:

On the Start screen of Windows Phone 7, click on the arrow at the top right

Choose "Settings" from the app list

Choose "email & accounts"

Choose "Yahoo! Mail"

Click on the setting under "Download new content"

Select a less frequent setting. If you are using the default setting (every 2 hours), change this setting to 'manually'

Click on the setting under "Download email from"

Select a shorter time range. If you are using the default setting (the last 2 weeks), change this setting to 'the last 7 days'

Microsoft has also identified an issue with our Exchange ActiveSync [EAS] email synchronization protocol that may affect a very small percentage of users

This issue can be caused by email that exceeds the mail server email size setting or is sent to an invalid email address

This issue can potentially affect email services that utilize the EAS protocol – Outlook and Gmail for example

The immediate mitigation is for users to delete mail that appears "stuck" in the outbox

This is currently scheduled to be fixed in a near-term end user update from Microsoft