Unknown data usage early morning

DnceForce77 wrote:

So they're aware of this problem, they're just being a greedy business. That's nice. If it weren't so expensive to cut out of a contract early, I would take my business elsewhere.

ummm, where would you take your business? The choices are AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. All of them are greedy similarly priced.

ummm, where would you take your business? The choices are AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. All of them are greedy similarly priced.

Ummm, Sprint at least has an unlimited data plan. And there's another company (though run through Sprint) that has a deal and works on behalf of charity organizations as well.

But thanks for the rudeness at the start of my day.

I've been having this exact issue too, and went to download DataMan Pro to try and track it down. It looks like it's been yanked from the store. Do you suppose the reason is because it exposes this billing bug?

Yah, I got DataMan, it just shows my overall usage. I want to see if there's a specific app that's downloading data at night, and that's what the Pro version is supposed to do. I guess it'll be hard to do that if it can't look at other apps!

Did anyone ever get a resolution to this? Update of plans, annything? Happening to a couple phones on my plan. Not sure how best to proceed, other than jailbreak the thing and hack it to not send.

Any info as to paths to resolution are appreciated.

Is the phone really using the data?

1) Write down numbers under Settings - General - Usage - Cellular Data usage (Add them together) and the day/time

2) Use phone for 3-4 days. Subtract new total from above number to get phone reported usage over 4 days

3) Log into AT&T web and look at usage for the same 3-4 day period. Is it within 20% range of the phone?

If yes, phone most likely really is using data.

Remedies: Check for stuck message in Outbox, iMessage etc. Do a "Reset All Settings" (Not an Erase) on the phone. Finally, try restoring phone as NEW and then redownload your apps, set mail back up etc.

If the numbers are very different (200% or more), data may be misreported. Some have reported a SIM swap will solve this - head to your AT&T store and ask them if they can do a SIM swap for you. See if that fixes it.

Still no? Call AT&T repeatedly for months, describing the problem every time you call, and pray you get someone there can help you.

Personally, I had no success. My Microcell was misreporting data on two iPhone 4S units. Tried all of the above, AT&T finally gave up. I unplugged the Microcell, threw it away, and have had no data misreporting issues since.

In my case what seemed to fix it was temporarily switching to a 3GB data plan, then back down to 200MB after a couple of days. It was clear in my case that the problem was a bug in AT&T's software that aggregates usage into billing records. Don't switch plans until you have clawed your way up to ICU level support at AT&T. Otherwise they will treat you like a minion and not listen to you.

echoing asfdj. I also shut down my microcells (2) and am no longer experincing data overcharges. Like many, I just gave up trying to get AT&T to acknowledge the problem. Someday we can all join in the class action suit against AT&T.

It also happens on O2 network, something odd is going on. I thought my increase was down to iMessage but it's way too high. I have a 500MB monthly allowance and it resets on the 10th, I've hardly left my wifi zone since the reset and I've used 2MB so far, not a lot granted, but it is when I've not been on any apps when not connected to my wifi. I've just tried a reset of teh network settings, hopefully that helps. I did speak to O2 who were fairly useless, turn off 3G when using wifi was their answer, unbelievably, but this didn't seem to do the trick, data usage was still ticking over.

In the past 19 months or so of the 4 lines on my account the lowest use was 30 MB in a month - the most on a single line was 1.4GB - back a few years I did exceed 5GB in a single month on one line but that largely due to bad WiFi at a hotel and lots of Netflix.

I am considering the new shared data plan - while it might increase my monthly bill by $5 or $10 overall - since it includes unlimited talk I don't need to add $20 a month for unlimited microcell - and can dump my $65/month land line - and just use the cell without needing to wory (nearly as much) that one user will trip over their individual limit and cost me extra $.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

rphunte42 wrote:

I have found that if I leave the phone plugged into the Apple supplied ac charger at night, I don't see the large late night data use. If I don't plug it in overnight, then I get the late night data use.

The reason is that when the phone is plugged in WiFi stays on; when it is unplugged WiFi turns off 45 seconds after the phone goes to sleep to save the battery. So you are probably not using any less data, it's just all going over WiFi.

Which is fine, as I don't pay by the byte for wi-fi. As long as the phone isn't adding up costly data transmissions, I really don't care if it sends a lot of data.

I went to Settings/General/About/Diagnostics & Usage and selected Don't Send.

Since Apple and AT&T both point the finger at each other as a way of avoiding responsibility for the data pull and billing, I am opting out of that losing game.

I may not be able to eliminate all the data that gets sent out against my wishes, but Don't Send at least reduces it.

Well add me to the list of mystery high data usage. I got hit with a 2.9GB charge at 0100 hours on a Monday! There is no way I was A) using my phone at that time and B) not on wifi. I already have the automatic send of diagnostic information turned off. The only two things I can come up with that would use even close to 2.9GB are...

1) iCloud backup that for some reason took place over data plan and not wifi.

2) Some type of vicious app looping that constantly was trying to send an email or something over and over again.

Of course talking to AT&T tech support was useless as she kept on saying that maybe I was watching a movie over data at 1 o'clock in the morning. If that's the case, I apparently have found a way to hack Netflix into streaming blu-ray quality movies over data, all while being asleep.

I wouldn't be surprised if AT&T has some shady business practices when it comes to data usage and finding ways to charge data to their users. Unfortunately, since data usage through AT&T is a black hole of information and there's no way to prove it, I will from now on be stuck turning off my data usage before I go to bed.

gpmic wrote:

Well add me to the list of mystery high data usage. I got hit with a 2.9GB charge at 0100 hours on a Monday! There is no way I was A) using my phone at that time and B) not on wifi. I already have the automatic send of diagnostic information turned off. The only two things I can come up with that would use even close to 2.9GB are...

1) iCloud backup that for some reason took place over data plan and not wifi.

2) Some type of vicious app looping that constantly was trying to send an email or something over and over again.

Of course talking to AT&T tech support was useless as she kept on saying that maybe I was watching a movie over data at 1 o'clock in the morning. If that's the case, I apparently have found a way to hack Netflix into streaming blu-ray quality movies over data, all while being asleep.

I wouldn't be surprised if AT&T has some shady business practices when it comes to data usage and finding ways to charge data to their users. Unfortunately, since data usage through AT&T is a black hole of information and there's no way to prove it, I will from now on be stuck turning off my data usage before I go to bed.

In case you missed the earlier discussion:

If you leave the phone powered on, and NOT plugged into the Apple supplied charger, or other suitable charger, it will shut off the wi-fi after a few seconds on non-use, and any data that needs to be sent will go out through the cellular data network. The only way I have found to prevent these 'nocturnal transmissions' is to plug it in overnight, or remember to shut down the cellular data radio before you retire for the night. I find it easier to just plug it in and enjoy a fully charged battery for the next day. If I forget, inevitably, I find that it send several megabytes of data during the night. Not a concern for me as I have an unlimited data plan, but I would STILL like to know just what it is sending, to whom, and why. It's obvious Apple doesn't care, and ATT isn't going to tell us.

I have had the same issues but it doesnt matter whether my phone is plugged in or not I still a large amount of data being used between 12:30 and 2 in the morning! I work for the local cable/phone/internet company and also have a wifi network at home and i never had this issue with my old 3GS! When I call AT&T they of course tell me to call Apple because its an issue with the phone, they even gave me a new sim card and there was no change in the data issue!