Ellipsis 7 tablet - drops wi-fi and goes to mobile data w/o telling you, and for no reason?

Question

I don't totally hate my Ellipsis 7 tablet.  It does have a nice, bright screen, and it does have a fairly fast processor.
This is where the compliments stop.
1.) It's glitchy.  As others have stated, icons do seem to disappear. 
2.) It seems to "lose communication" with my high-end Sandisk micro-sd card (that has no other problems when used in my smartphone.)
3.) The battery life could be a lot better - you will charge it every day, even with minimal use.
but my biggest problem with this tablet (which I got from my local Verizon store) is it's "sneaky behavior" with mobile data.  I am nearly convinced that these devices are designed, intentionally, to use up your mobile data whenever possible, even when solid wi-fi is available.
Have any of you Verizon Ellipsis 7 users, that use these primarily at home with wi-fi available, noticed a rather large increase in the mobile data being used?
This is sort of long, so I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read this...
Here's my scenario; which I can duplicate.
I live in a place with 2 strong wi-fi networks available.  The tablet accesses both of them with no problem.  Speed tests show 10Mbps download and 0.768 Mbps upload, the speed we pay for.
One night, I get the text messages from Verizon that I'm close to using all my mobile data. (which I appreciate)  But I'd been getting so many texts, emails, etc., that day I didn't look to see what the alert was.  My bad!  So, I'd gone over and approved $10 to upgrade with one more GB of data.  I figured it was a fluke; that somehow I had turned off my wi-fi, or it had gone down, or somehow something happened that made the tablet switch over to mobile data.
...but I was watching more closely now...
less than 24 hours later, I'm getting those messages again!  I'd used one GB in less than 24 hours???  So I called Verizon, and we went through the normal putting limits on the device, etc., so it couldn't happen again.
So then, I asked him the simple question?  When not 1, but 2, strong wi-fi signals are available, why would this device switch over to mobile data, WITHOUT letting you know???
He couldn't answer that. He transferred me to someone else that was "higher" in techincal support.  She was a sweet girl, and really wanted to help me, but she never understood my problem.  At one point I said to her, "Look, it's simple.  These devices always default to wi-fi if available.  What would make them disconnect from wi-fi and go to mobile data instead?"  Her answer was that she needed to look up if a tablet was supposed to connect to wi-fi first...  uh, OK.
At the end of a very frustrating call, she offered to send me a box to ship it back to Verizon in.  They would then decide to repair or replace it.  I would be without a tablet for a minimum of two weeks.  I said Thanks but No Thanks, I would just disable mobile data entirely.  The lady I spoke with did not seem pleased with my decision, but what could she do?  And we ended the call.
So, I'm still trying to figure out what is making this thing kick over to mobile data (remember I just shut mobile data off entirely before I hung up with Verizon) and I was currently connected to an external bluetooth speaker (which shouldn't have anything to do with anything, I realize), when I started a video on YouTube. 
Now, mind you, I was ALREADY showing connected to a strong wi-fi network.
And up comes a dialog popup, asking me to turn the wi-fi back on, even though I would incur additional charges!
BUSTED, VERIZON!
This message doesn't come up when it tries to switch over from wi-fi to mobile data unless you have completely shut off mobile data.
I only mention that I was connected to an external bluetooth speaker because it is the only way (SO FAR) that I have been able to duplicate this "silent switchover" repeatedly.
If I'm on Youtube first, not connected to my bluetooth external speaker, the device will stay on my wi-fi network when I pause the video, connect to the bluetooth speaker, and then restart the video.
If I'm already connected to the external bluetooth speaker, and then open a browser window or youtube video, the device will attempt to change its connection from wi-fi to mobile data.  There is no reason for this!
Yes, yes...  I realize that being connected to an external bluetooth device should have absolutely nothing to do with whether the tablet should keep its wi-fi connection or switch to mobile data...
except that it does!  And there may be other circumstances that I haven't found yet...  I don't know, but I'm watching!
At the end of the day, ANY DEVICE THAT IS GOING TO SWITCH FROM A WI-FI NETWORK TO MOBILE DATA, FOR ANY REASON, SHOULD TELL YOU IT'S GOING TO SWITCH, AND LET YOU DECIDE TO ALLOW THAT CHANGE OR NOT, especially when there is NO REASON for the device to switch in the first place.  In the same household are my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and husband's Galaxy S5.  They never exhibit this behavior, and yes, we use internet on our phones at home rather frequently.
Watch your mobile data folks...
Oh, and the Verizon lady called back about 30 minutes later...  asking me again to agree to send my tablet in.  I explained to her that I could now duplicate the problem.  I told her that it would be easy enough for them to check and see if all devices are doing it (which I'm guessing they all do!  there's not enough memory to download any apps, so I doubt it's that...)  I said that with the millions of Ellipsis 7 devices they have, someone in tech support can grab one and try it.  Still no luck, and she still wanted me to send it back and be without a tablet for 2 weeks or more.  I declined.
Anyway, if you've read this far, I thank you!  I would like opinions as to whether you think this should be happening or not, and whether you have had this happen to you or not with this tablet.  Thank you for your time!

Answer 1

Hello this is happening to us also (minus the Bluetooth speaker).  We can't figure out what is causing the data usage.  I turned off mobile data as soon s I activated the device, and got the message that unless I am connected to WiFi.....(that is exactly what I wanted). We watched Netflix for about three hours, then the alerts started.  Like you we have many devices connected and never used over 2GB now all of a sudden we have used it in a matter of hours.  My husband called Verizon  and got the usual doubting Thomas response.  I understand that they don't know my device settings.  So over the phone we check all the settings and turned  off every possible culprit eating up the data and end the call.  By now I have purchased another gig for the month!  Assured we are NOT using mobile data, we continue on the IE path to bliss.  HA!  A few hours later I check the mobile data usage on the Verizon website and that darn thing is still using data.  After two more phone calls and two VERY uneventful trips to the local store we were told to take out the sim card.  This has stopped the data usage, but it defeats the purpose of having the data plan.  I could have just stuck with my Surface.  Verizon sent us a new sim card.  Its been installed and I have set my homepage to Verizon mobile data usage (just kidding) but I am on that site a lot.   I am surprised at the number of complaints about this device.  When we called the Verizon support acted as though this was the first time they had heard about this.   Loved your post, you should write for a living.