Microsoft has identified the culprit of a bug that causes superfluous data to be transmitted sporadically over 3G by Windows Phone 7 devices. According to a statement issued by Microsoft to Windows Phone Secrets, the problem is caused by Yahoo! email accounts configured on Windows Phone 7 handsets. Microsoft says the Yahoo! email data bug and another bug involving Exchange will be fixed in an upcoming software update due to be issued to end users in the near future. Hit the break for Microsoft’s full statement along with instructions on how to curtail superfluous data in the meantime.
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
