Edge (gprs) data usage while on wifi...

Question

Edge (gprs) data usage while on wifi...

I spend the day at the office where I have 100% wifi coverage, however along hte day the "Cellular Network Data" (Settings-> General-> Usage) keeps creeping up along the day. The same happens at night at home where I also have 100% wifi coverage... in the morning the data usage has gone up sometimes by more than a MB!

This might not matter if I had an unlimited data plan, but all I have is 100 MB!!

This is a 2G iPhone.

Why does this happen?

MacBook Pro CoreDuo 2.16 GHz (W8612), Mac OS X (10.5), 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HD

Posted on Jul 28, 2008 3:42 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 28, 2008 6:33 AM in response to Martim Weinstein

Dear Martin,
are you completely sure that your phone never loses the WiFi connection? When the iPhone is connected to the WiFi the relevant logo (similar to the Airport logo you get in Macos status bar) is displayed on the iPhone status bar. Whenever the connection is lost, "E" for Edge or "3G" (not your case) appears instead of the WiFi logo and then you're billed when you transfer data using the cellular network. For instance, in my office the WiFi coverage is not perfect and there are some spots where I lose it.

On a similar topic, I have found some data transfers (negligible, 10/20 Kbytes) happening even when my iPhone was in my pocket and no app was running. Any idea what could be going on? Is it possible that even when the iPhone displays the "home" screen some applications might be still working in the background (e.g Safari trying to download an incomplete page)?

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Answer 2

Jul 28, 2008 8:00 AM in response to Andrea Emilio Rizzoli

In the office, it's on my desk, charging (or not) and the only time I pick it up is for an sms or call or little else. My laptop on my desk uses the same wifi with no interruptions and the signal is around 93%. So yes, I'm sure the Wifi is always there to be used so no idea why it's using gprs too...

At home the weakest coverage in my house is around 80%... when I leave it charging for the night the coverage is above this so again, the wifi is there and ready to be used but apparently sometimes the iphone is using gprs instead of wifi.

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Answer 3

MHuck

Level 1

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Jul 30, 2008 6:42 AM in response to Martim Weinstein

Possibly, if you have the iPhone set to fetch email periodically, and you also have the phone set to auto-lock (the screen shuts off), I find that the phone will close the wi-fi connection and switch back to Edge. That would account for the usage creeping up.

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Answer 4

Jul 30, 2008 7:22 AM in response to MHuck

I thought about that... but then I though "Naa, that's too stupid to be true..." So when the screen is off all it uses is gprs??

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Answer 5

Jul 30, 2008 7:35 AM in response to Martim Weinstein

I believe SMS and Visual Voicemail always use Edge. That might explain what you're seeing.

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Answer 6

Jul 30, 2008 7:44 AM in response to Mike Evangelist1

SMS is normal network signal.. it's not data. I can have edge off and still get sms (from other mobile experience).

I do not use Visual Voice mail... in fact I have voice mail turned off.

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Answer 7

MHuck

Level 1

0 points

Jul 30, 2008 9:17 AM in response to Martim Weinstein

I'm pretty sure that's the case. When I bring my phone back out of 'lock' mode, ie I press the home button and get the screen coming back on, the Edge icon is always on, and it takes a few seconds to switch to wifi. If I go into Email and check for new messages before the wifi is on, the phone stays on Edge until it is finished with the check.

It does seem sort of dumb, but then if wifi is the battery hog it seems to be, I can see why they would switch it off when the phone is not in use.

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