Data Usage Leading To Big Bills Due To "Phantom Usage"

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- With the explosion in smartphones and apps people are using more and more data from watching videos to playing games and uploading pictures but all that data can lead to some big bills and angry customers

"We are angry and frustrated," said Dave Wells.

David and Teri wells couldn't believe their eyes when they were charged $555 for data on their Verizon bill.

"We didn't do it," said Teri Wells.

The couple claims they normally use less than 10 gigabytes each month but their November bill said they used more than four times that.

How much is 45 gigs? It's like streaming music nonstop for 2 months or watching video on YouTube for 15-days straight or posting 126-thousand photos to Facebook.

"We firmly believe that we didn't use this data and we have no idea what happened," said Dave Wells.

Cnet's Jessica Dolcourt said almost everyone is using more data these days.

"Maybe you're in line somewhere and the natural thing to do is turn to your phone for entertainment," said Dolcourt.

What eats up the most data?

She says Skyping, watching YouTube videos, uploading videos and pictures and live streaming.

But what about this past bill?

"Forty-five gigs is a lot," said Dolcourt.

When a CBS station brought Dave and Terri's case to Verizon, they credited them for all that extra data.

They wouldn't say what happened, but Dave says they told him it was "phantom usage"which can be apps running in the background.

The couple has now installed an app that tracks their data usage, so this doesn't happen again. The best rule of thumb for saving data is to use secured Wifi whenever possible.