Saturday, July 30, 2011

Virgin Australia Usage Meter

Virgin Australia Usage Meter downloads your call and data usage directly from the Virgin website and displays it in either an application format or a home screen widget. It also contains optional notifications that warn you when you're approaching the end of your cycle or data/call limit.

The must have app for those running Android on the Virgin network.

Change Notes for 3.2.2:
  • Fixed login issues

Current version 3.2.2





Alternate Mirror: Download Here

Troubleshooting Notes:
  • The data from Virgin can be up to 48 hours behind. Although in my experience it's never been this far behind.
  • Virgin can take up to to 48 hours to completely setup new accounts, until this time the app may not work.
  • If you are receiving 0 days remaining and you have a new account, you may have to wait up until your first bill for this to be corrected. This is a problem with Virgins expiry date data.
  • You cannot downgrade, to install a lower version you must fully uninstall and re-install.
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56 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2010 at 8:39 PM

    I love your everything about your app, except that icon. I'm actually fairly experienced in PhotoShop, and if you'd like ill leave my email and I could quickly make you a better one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 25, 2010 at 10:05 PM

    Great app!

    Have you considered open-sourcing it?

    Another suggestion would be to make it install a service so you get a usage meter in the status bar.. like 3g watchdog does.

    Anyway, love it - it's so much nicer knowing exactly how much data I have left....and calls, I hadn't even though of that!

    Cheers,
    John.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 28, 2010 at 3:40 PM

    Hi Dwayne,

    Love this app.

    My only criticism is the size of the widget. My home screen is full, so this is tucked away on another screen.

    Any chance of a 1x1 or 2x1 widget as well? A 1x1 widget could just have the horizontal bars and a 2x1 could have abbreviations (eg, "Data: 120/300") and still fit.

    Cheers,
    Simon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownNovember 3, 2010 at 3:48 AM

    @johnrhunt
    At the moment i haven't considered open sourcing it, simply because it has the potential to hammer Virgin servers if safety measures are circumvented. I have also considered installing it as a service, but I'm not a big fan of the icon in the taskbar. Personally I have enough icons up there that the existing ones don't fit.

    @Simon Burge
    Thanks for the suggestion, I will look into creating a smaller widget. I have the same problem with it being tucked away on another launcher page.

    ReplyDelete
  5. gphoNovember 25, 2010 at 10:36 AM

    hi, are you considering making this available for Virgin Mobile USA users?

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownNovember 26, 2010 at 1:30 AM

    HI I'v downloaded the app but it does not recognise my account. It asks for my password but there is actually a pin number not a password. when I imput the pin -no luck

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownNovember 26, 2010 at 2:09 AM

    Sorry, just read your troubleshooter notes. I have a new connection so sill wait a couple of days and try again. Thanks for the app.

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownNovember 27, 2010 at 4:18 AM

    @Gerald unfortunately I don't have any access to Virgin Mobile USA member accounts so at this point I am unable to support non-Australian accounts.

    @Bruce The password is the 6 number pin so it should still work. If you have still are having trouble authenticating drop me an email at the email address in the market.

    ReplyDelete
  9. tdrecordableNovember 28, 2010 at 4:48 PM

    Hi

    I love you app and have been using it everyday, very useful.

    I am having some difficulty with the 48 hour virgin lag. i have been charged $12 because of excess usage on the last couple of days of my bill.
    perhaps this could be synced with "actual" data usage on the phone rather than the virgin data monitor which is laggy.

    thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownNovember 29, 2010 at 9:09 PM

    @tdrecordable
    There are currently apps on the market that do what you are asking. I would recommend 3G watchdog as one such app.

    The problem is with these apps is that they are not accurate either. The reason for their inaccuracy is that most mobile providers including Virgin charge in data blocks rather than actual data usage. What this means is that while 3G watchdog (or equiv) may say one figure the actual usage figure could actually be a bit higher.

    ReplyDelete
  11. PolygoggleDecember 1, 2010 at 4:15 PM

    Just got the paid version of this. Appears to work great on Huawei IDEOS.

    ReplyDelete
  12. GlenysJanuary 14, 2011 at 10:29 PM

    Hi Dwayne. Great app, all the right info in the right place.
    Couple of suggestions for you:
    * add option for 1x1 icon (as Simon suggests) -- to save room you could consolidate graphs into one bar chart, so have elapsed time only once? sure you've thought of that :)
    * allow more than one instance of app -- I monitor my son's usage as well as mine, but have to change settings each time. Would love to be able to see 2 widgets representing mine and his usage at the same time -- if you get the urge to code this, happy to pass on my acct details for testing purposes

    Many thanks,
    Glenys

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownJanuary 17, 2011 at 1:00 AM

    Hi Glenys,

    I would love to collapse the elapse time bars but I cannot because prepaid can have two different cycles, a month for data and up to a year for calls.

    I am looking into multi-account support but I've just changed jobs and don't have much time just yet.

    As a work around the donate version can be run along side the free version allowing you to have two widgets with different accounts.

    I hate to recommend the donate version as it defeats the purpose of donating but it's currently the only way to have two accounts running side by side.

    I'm also looking into updating the widget, like making the main one simpler and more configurable, as well as making a smaller one.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jessie James Jackson TaylorJanuary 22, 2011 at 4:26 PM

    if you would be willing to give out the source code for this app, perhaps i could port it to vmusa? i am an american vm user who would very much like to add this functionality to my new android.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2011 at 6:33 PM

    Dwayne,

    I am a Virgin Mobile USA customer, and we have the same problem: no way to check our minutes. So over Christmas I wrote an app which does the same thing - screen-scrapes their website to get usage information.

    http://market.android.com/details?id=com.jaygoel.virginminuteschecker

    Your app has a lot more features than mine - ones that are often requested of me - and I wanted to know if I might be able to ask you some questions to improve my US version? I couldn't find your email address - may I ask you to send me mail? dev@jaygoel.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownFebruary 3, 2011 at 7:25 PM

    Hi Jay,
    I don't know how much I can help but I'll be happy to do whatever I can. I'll drop you an email later today.

    ReplyDelete
  17. dBFebruary 18, 2011 at 2:33 PM

    I'm having trouble relating the $x/$y call credit to what I see on the Virgin website. I'm a big fan of Virgin's YourCap19. When you top up with that, you get $50 credit, plus last month's credit rolls over into the new 28-day period.

    So for example, after a top up yesterday, the website shows my call credit has gone from $58.02 to $108.02, and that I'm at the start of a new 28 day period.

    Virgin Usage Meter has updated and also notes I'm at the beginning of a new 28-day period. It claims in this new period I've used $41.98/$150. Note that (150 - 41.98) is $108.02, so it's got the remaining credit correct. But it's usage rates are a bit alarming. It's a brand new period and I'm yet to make any calls, but the graph already shows me about 1/3 of the way into my credit.

    I'm wondering where did the $150 come from? Ideally today it would be showing $0/$108.02. Perhaps I have some setting misconfigured?

    ReplyDelete
  18. UnknownFebruary 18, 2011 at 8:55 PM

    Hi dB, can you read http://theandroidworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/09/virgin-usage-meter-bug-submission.html and drop me an email. You'll have to wait until virgin's servers come back online though.

    I suspect though, that the problem is that Virgin has dropped a recharge entry from your recharge history or your new recharge hasn't been recorded yet. When either of those things happen the usage meter tries a best guess approach. In otherwords it looks through all possible recharges based on the amount of credit you have remaining and guesses the one which fits best. Unfortunately in this case the $150 recharge fit the remaining credit was the best choice if incorrect.

    I admit that this is not a great way to do it but with the limited information Virgin provides it was the best I could do at the time to assure that the remaining credit was always correct.

    If you look at my latest blog post you'll notice I have some prepaid support improvements planned. This issue is one of the things that will be addressed as part of those improvements.

    ReplyDelete
  19. UnknownFebruary 20, 2011 at 2:52 PM

    Hi Dwayne,
    How do you install the app onto the phone?
    been trying it for awhile and can't seem to get around it.
    plz help ,
    thank you

    ReplyDelete
  20. UnknownFebruary 20, 2011 at 6:34 PM

    Hi Tom,

    It should be just a case of downloading to your phones SDCard and then running the apk from a file explorer like Astro. Alternatively you should be able to install it from the market after Virgin's servers have come back online which should be tomorrow afternoon.

    Hope this helps,
    Dwayne

    ReplyDelete
  21. UnknownFebruary 22, 2011 at 4:08 AM

    Hi Dwayne,
    thanks for the help,
    but what is the app called??
    cause i couldn't find the app in market
    thank you

    ReplyDelete
  22. UnknownFebruary 22, 2011 at 2:18 PM

    Hi Tom,

    The app isn't on the market just yet. I took it down while the server is being upgraded. As soon as the servers come back online I'll republish it and let you know.

    Dwayne

    ReplyDelete
  23. UnknownFebruary 22, 2011 at 3:29 PM

    thanx for the help

    ReplyDelete
  24. dBFebruary 23, 2011 at 2:14 PM

    Hi Dwayne,

    Finally Virgin are back, so I can send you the stuff you requested. I'm having trouble finding your email address though?

    ReplyDelete
  25. UnknownFebruary 23, 2011 at 2:16 PM

    Hi dB,

    You can send it to dwaynehoy at gmail dot com

    Cheers,
    Dwayne

    ReplyDelete
  26. UnknownMarch 4, 2011 at 12:30 AM

    Thanks
    This was the first app i Installed on my Sister in laws new phone (and the first android app i installed )

    now she has me uploading all her music i think i am her new android phone Guru now

    ReplyDelete
  27. UnknownMarch 20, 2011 at 4:04 AM

    Hi i have installed this app and it comes up with the message
    prepaid data was not in expected format, can you tell me what this is please?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  28. UnknownMarch 21, 2011 at 3:35 AM

    Hi dsayle,
    Can you have a quick read of http://theandroidworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/09/virgin-usage-meter-bug-submission.html#axzz1HE8HiVgI

    Email me the information requested there to dwaynehoy at gmail dot com and I'll help you out the best I can.

    ReplyDelete
  29. UnknownApril 12, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  30. UnknownApril 12, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    Interesting problem. I'm using Gingerbread on my Samsung Galaxy S. But I can no longer find the free version in the marketplace. Donate version comes up fine. Nothing listed under "by this developer" either.

    I would prefer to use the marketplace for easy updates.

    ReplyDelete
  31. UnknownApril 12, 2011 at 5:43 PM

    I truely apologise for this.

    Currently I specify what versions of Android the software is compatible with in the application itself. This allows me to do some testing before enabling for a specific version. Normally I would have released an update to enable installation on Gingerbread but unfortunately I'm 3/4 of the way through a large number of modifications which means I am unable to update at the moment.

    Hopefully it should only be a week or two before I am finished.

    ReplyDelete
  32. UnknownApril 12, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    No sweat. If I needed it urgently I would have used the apk. I never hit my cap though.

    Thanks for the great app btw.

    ReplyDelete
  33. UnknownMay 8, 2011 at 1:12 AM

    hi dwayne.
    love the app, however unable to get the rollover function to work. apparantly i rolled over 18 dollars last month.

    any ideas why it doesnt work?
    cheers,
    lach.

    ReplyDelete
  34. UnknownMay 8, 2011 at 2:53 PM

    Hi Lach,
    Unfortunately Virgin does not provide rollover data so it must be calculated. Which means you must be running the newest meter prior to your remaining credit being rolled over.

    The good news is at the end of the next billing cycle your rollover credit for that month will appear.

    ReplyDelete
  35. UnknownMay 8, 2011 at 9:42 PM

    That is good news indeed!
    Thank you for the prompt reply, and keep up the great work. I know there are many people who are extremely grateful for what you're doing!

    ReplyDelete
  36. UnknownJuly 27, 2011 at 12:57 AM

    I have the $29 big cap and the meter shows very odd numbers - my monthly credit is $450 yet the the meter shows $900, and included data is 250mb but the meter shows 400..

    ReplyDelete
  37. UnknownJuly 28, 2011 at 2:32 AM

    Hi Alex,

    I'll have a look into it.

    In the mean time can you have a quick read of http://theandroidworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/09/virgin-usage-meter-bug-submission.html#axzz1HE8HiVgI

    Email me the information requested there to dwaynehoy at gmail dot com it'll speed up issue finding a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  38. CJAugust 5, 2011 at 3:38 AM

    Hi Dwayne,

    Great app btw, it's gone on to my home screen!

    I've run into trouble though...

    I was using v3.0 which seemed to work fine but after installing v3.1 I lost my call and data usage. I tried reinstalling v3.1 a couple of times and the call usage came back but the usage bar and timer for the data is missing.

    I can still see the data usage numbers, but these are also wrong as I have a 250MB cap + 50MB data pack = 300MB but it says I only have 50MB!

    Is it possible to install 3.0 again to see if this fixes it?

    Thanks
    Courtney

    ReplyDelete
  39. David.LoganAugust 5, 2011 at 9:21 PM

    Hi Dwayne,

    Just noticed a slight problem with the app. I have just rolled over the month for the first time and it seems to have rolled over 24 hours before Virgin has. I am showing the rollover date as the 6th of August but the days left have already reset but the dollar/data amounts have not as they won't reset until midnight on the 6th (tonight).

    Any thoughts?
    Thanks
    David

    ReplyDelete
  40. CJAugust 9, 2011 at 3:31 AM

    Ok so I just installed the new v3.3.1 update and now it works again!

    Thanks
    Courtney

    ReplyDelete
  41. UnknownAugust 11, 2011 at 2:57 AM

    Glad it's working for you CJ.

    David, that's a Virgin problem, all those values including resets are retrieved straight from Virgin. Unfortunately Virgin doesn't reset all their counters at the same time leaving a 24 hour (sometimes longer) gap between counters and date updates.

    ReplyDelete
  42. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2011 at 2:48 AM

    Hi Dwayne, My usage meter was going well until awhile back when I started getting an error saying "cannot parse the integer" or something similar. Im sorry I didn't write it down because when I updated the app that didn't work and I had to reinstall it. Currently the app is installed but I'm unable to send through my details. I can enter my name, plan, phone number etc etc, but there's no button for me to click such as Send. The information goes nowhere! I'm probably missing something so very basic. I'd appreciate your help. I'm on an Xperia X10i with 2.1 version of android. Thanks in advance! xx

    ReplyDelete
  43. Eukaryote:DSeptember 15, 2011 at 12:28 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Eukaryote:DSeptember 15, 2011 at 1:07 AM

    It works again!

    ReplyDelete
  45. UnknownSeptember 16, 2011 at 8:45 PM

    @Jen
    The settings automatically save when you hit the back button. Sorry about the late reply but I didn't get notification of your comment.

    ReplyDelete
  46. |FeZZa|October 1, 2011 at 2:34 AM

    A great app mate.

    Can I request this to be available to tablets (like Asus Transformer TF101) on the market? So that I can update it more easily instead of downloading it manually.

    Thanks and keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  47. NevOctober 11, 2011 at 7:31 PM

    Hi, thanks for the app. It's very useful. One minor negative feedback - it is telling me constantly that I have less than 20% of my month remaining. I guess that's useful so that I can try and use my allowance before I lose it, but it is telling me repeatedly all day every day. I think it should either tell me less often, or allow me to say I don't want to be told again this period, or something. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  48. PeterNovember 13, 2011 at 4:24 PM

    Dwayne,

    Thanks for making such an app.
    Some feedback:
    *) It doesn't work for me (c; - I'm a prepaid user and get "Data Retrieval Error: Expiry date was in an incorrect format" error when I try to get any information.
    *) How do you connect to the Virgin website ? Using SSL ? I'm just wondering, since I use public networks a lot and hope that my account information stays secure.

    Thanks in advance,

    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  49. Eukaryote:DNovember 28, 2011 at 1:21 AM

    Dwayne can you please upload the latest version of this app. I can't download it because the market says it's not compatible, but I know it is because last time I downloaded it directly from the website here and it worked.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  50. UnknownNovember 29, 2011 at 11:40 PM

    Hi Eukaryote, I've uploaded the newest version. Sorry about the delay!

    ReplyDelete
  51. MauriceDecember 2, 2011 at 7:49 PM

    Hi Dwane. Like Jen, first time I installed this app, on retrieval I get: Data Retrieval Error: unable to parse " as integer.

    Not sure what the single set of quotes means or how to get around it. Have uninstalled and reinstalled with the same problem
    maurice

    ReplyDelete
  52. UnknownDecember 2, 2011 at 9:40 PM

    Hi Maurice, jen, could you email me at dwaynehoy at gmail dot com. I need some additional information.

    ReplyDelete
  53. lyallpDecember 12, 2011 at 8:42 PM

    Gday.
    Tried it.
    The summary page displays wrong remaining$/value$ info.
    The account I am viewing is a Long Expiry Pre-paid with no data.
    The Calls tab shows the correct values, however.
    Looking good, otherwise.
    I expect to be doing more extensive testing soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  54. Whip CrackerDecember 18, 2011 at 5:21 PM

    To Jen and others with the same issue:

    If you get the "Data Retrieval Error - Unable to pass " as integer", please make sure that the "Account Name" is in fact your account number with Virgin and that the "Phone Number" is your mobile phone number.

    I just had this problem with a friend's Galaxy S2 and after chopping and changing a few things, we got it working from there.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  55. rebbyjjJanuary 29, 2012 at 11:52 AM

    HiDwayne,

    Just a quick question, how do i get the widget for my home screen? I can't seem to figure it out.

    Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  56. UnknownAugust 27, 2012 at 2:03 AM

    Great app.....but how do I sync the actual date of my account cycle....my date will be the 7th....I just jioned...will this correct itself later?

    ReplyDelete

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