Unknown data usage early morning

Okay, here's 'my' story: 11/30/12 both of my kids were at a bar. At 11:37 and 11:39, for the first time on this current bill (11/11 - 12/10) they both incurred a Internet/MEdia Net charge, respectively! This then occurred at 12:37 a.m., 1:37, 2:37, 3:37, 4:37, 5:37 and ongoing for my one daughter and 12:39 a.m., 1:39, 2:39 etc. for the other. No new apps were loaded, the previous Internet/MEdia Net were a couple of times a month. But this started at the same time for both phones and is happening every hour on the hour. I can't see it being a push notification, I can't see it being an application, but both reset their iphones and it did not stop it. Two different phones/models, at almost the exact same time started the sent data.

Okay, I personally know nothing about cell phones, I just text and call on my Samsung. However, if this were to happen on a computer, it would be a virus or a program/app installed by an unknown person. What is the information that it is sending? Now the kids understand why I said, DO NOT DO BANKING on a cell phone, DO NOT BUY anything on a cell phone with a credit card, yadda, yadda.

Also another question, why is the internet being used, when in my house they are connected by wifi?

AT&T had no real answers, but thinking on it I would think it is an Apple problem or phone problem. But you guys were the closest thing I could find that might understand what is happening. I don't know any phone experts...

I am just really, really confused on what is going on and how to stop it. This is EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR on TWO separate phones. It started at exactly or almost the same time. The only miss was when I was on the phone with AT&T discussing it at 2:37, so you should have seen that send. Also both sends after the kids reformatted the phones through iTunes or whatever were large, 2,000 to 3,000 KB. Granted not large by general standards but larger than the 1-68 KBs that had been being used. One phone is sending significantly more on the whole 15-100 KB versus 1-5 KB with one or two exceptions and had less apps.

This is driving me bonkers, btw, which is why I started investigating and found you guys. I did shut the internet off on one phone just to see what would happen. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I ran into a surprise large data usage uptick and discovered the cause, at least in my case. It's easy to repeat.

I received a message from Verizon that I was approaching my data limits. I discovered that I had logged a surprising 2GB of use over the past 24 hours, with hardly any actual physical use of the phone. Checking usage settings, I could see that indeed the minutes used were going up rapidly in real time, all outgoing.

The problem was caused by an email that was too large. It was sent, a warning came back that the server refused it, then without indication it sat in the Outbox. Although there were no spinning dials or other indications of activity, the Iphone 5 was apparently continuing to try to resend this, but now without error messages. Deleting the email from the Outbox solved the problem. This is repeatable.

So how did I get such a large email? I created the too-large email by going into Photos, selected Edit, then multiple photos, then Share. Since the photos exceeded the message limit, Apple didn't provide "Mail" as a share option, but did offer "Copy". So I just copied and pasted the photos into the email and inadvertently created a message that exceeded the server limits.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

On going to my problem, as soon as my Samsung phone left WiFi connection, it started the 'sents'. I did not know this, we went to the Apple store, the iPhones were wiped/restored or whatever they call that procedure and now two different iPhones and my Samsung is doing it more than just hourly. AT&T is saying that the charges are not excessive, but it is the fact that they are doing it constantly, as little as hourly, as much as five to ten times an hour on all phones. I am now taking this up with AT&T as well. Yeah, I think I'll shut the internet off on all phones....

Nancy,

The hourly, 1-100KB cellular data transmissions are unavoidable unless you totally disconnect the iphone from the cellular data network. It has to do with the way the notifications are handled. Notifications MUST be initiated on the cellular side as that is the only way to do them without keeping a WiFi connection live which would drain your battery in a matter of hours. I did a lot of testing and even if you turn off the cellular connection, once you open it back up, the cellular network and the phone proceed to transfer just as much information as would have occurred if you left it connected all the time. As the AT&T person indicated, the charges are small. Such is the price we pay for modern connectivity. At least the hourly transmission you are seeing are completely normal and expected. It is only with teared data plans and everyone paying more attention that things such as this are bubbling to the attention of end users. The reason for the apparent hourly periodocity is an product of the way the cellular carriers log data. The actual transmissions can and do occur at random times, they just get rollled up into a single entry in your usage log.

David T.

Okay, but why did they start on 11/30? We have had the same phones and same service for years. We have had no Internet connect charges from 11/11 to 11/29. The 'notifications' have increased with the new phones and no apps. The Samsung has no apps other than a flashlight. I am so not trying to be combative if that's the way it sounds, just that I do not understand why all of sudden in the last three or four days this has started happening and with the increase in frequency. The other downside is that the iPhones have more of a problem finding the WiFi than the Samsung.

I have been having the same issues with Vodafone in Egypt.

I have an iphone 4s and noticed regular huge downloads in the middle of the night. Thankfully Vodafone gave me a refund when I showed them these late night downloads as a sign of good will.

However I still regularly get a warning first thing in the morning telling me that I have used 80% of my data, swiftly followed by a 100% warning a few minutes later. This is usually if I have neglected to turn off cellular data before i go to sleep. But this is inconvenient, and there should be an option to switch off background downloads.

I am a huge apple fan, always have been, however Android phones seem to have got it sussed with that simple "switch off background activity" button. Added to this, I bought a smart phone because that is what I wanted. I don't want to have to manually exit every app and turn off cellular data when I am not using it.

What really disappoints me is the volume of messages posted in this thread and so far not a single response from someone representing Apple. To get any support from Apple themselves, it seems that I should have paid up for extra applecare insurance, but this is not an insurance issue. Surely this is an issue to do with the phone not really working as it should.

Would love to hear what is being done. It is quite clearly an international issue, not just a single phone network, so the common denominator is the phone and its software.

Okay, after spending two days on this issue. I have an iPhone 4s(?), an iPhone 4 and a Samsung Galaxy. I went through all of the past history and found data transfers being sent until recently. Recently I found Internet/MEdia transfers. Like AT&T forgot to tell me they changed the name. Due to the fact that the Samsung was sitting ontop of my router, it was probably doing it WiFi the whole time, until I left the house today, when it started. AT&T also changed from MG to KB, etc. I checked the montly usage and basically it was about the same. These charges are not from Apps, the brand reset/reformatted phones by Apple had NO APPS! And, infact, after being newly reset/reformatted they started sending MORE than hourly, up to 10 times an hour. My Samsung only had a flashlight app. These transfers are from original apps on the phone.

Now surprisingly, my daughter and I traded phones so I got the iPhone 4. I am having a bit of difficulty with it staying connected to the WiFi or reconnecting to WiFi when it sleeps and wakes up. Very possibly I don't know what I'm doing and she will tell me in the morning. I do think this is bad if it is the norm. If it is near a WiFi connection it should stay connected or reconnect, or have an option. However, I looked at the phone under settings, there is a cellular data setting which will restrict all cellular data to WiFi only to include email, web browsing and push notifications. I won't know definitively until tomorrow whether this is true. This might be helpful in my case since I don't do anything but phone and texting and very little texting.

Some guy at the mall today, either AT&T and or Apple said that these charges are because of the new smart phones! It's all new phones, Apple, smart phones, etc. because they access the internet constantly. If you have a Facebook app or the like, I understand it is even worse. I found a non-app program for stocks on the iPhone 4, this I am assuming is 'on' as the default. For my personal use, I am serious considering if somebody can reactive my old Nokia dumb phone, at least it knows not to access the internet unless specifically told! Of course I could monthly just shut the internet off on my phone every month and see what that does. They have said they can't tell me what data is being sent becaue of privacy restrictions. However, Apple has to know what data is being sent if it is the phone sending it without your authorization. 'I' have not told the phone to send this information anywhere, as I don't even know where it is sending it or what exactly it is sending. Personally, I think I should have that option to pick and choose, when it goes to check my email if I want it too, etc.

nancy_j wrote:

Okay, but why did they start on 11/30? We have had the same phones and same service for years. We have had no Internet connect charges from 11/11 to 11/29.

They didn't start on 11/30. It has worked this way for 5+ years. However, AT&T had a glitch in its billing system that wiped out all usage data for most of November. They haven't said anything about it, but I had hundreds of entries that suddenly disappeared from the usage report online.

I just called AT&T about it. The level 1 tech couldn't help, as a complaint about low data usage isn't in her script (she wanted me to say high data usage), but she has escalated it to level 2, and I am supposed to get a callback. There have been other reports in this thread of data usage disappearing from AT&T's online account management page.

Hey, you knot it might have been nice if they had told me this, then we could have stayed home from the ALL DAY trip to Apple. AT&T made one appointment. Both my Apple phones had the same issue. Hence, Apple said AT&T should have known better and there wasn't anything they could do. We kept the 1:20 appointment and they scheduled another for 3:50. The fact that the InternetMEdia charges started on 11/30 at 11:35 p.m. and 11:37 p.m. My youngest just informed me that the 'name of the charges' could have been due to us switching from a "family plan" to a "family data plan". Another thing AT&T should have known. I don't know if the information disappeared, but heck it is way better than thinking virus. I just stumbled acrossed it because I wanted to check texting on a phone. The only thing I can say is Apple made the stay extremely enjoyable for my 4-year-old granddaughter with all the iPads or whatever with games she could play. This inturn made it more enjoyable for us, since she was not whining and throwing a fit. Also, the store was wall to wall people, everybody was HAPPY! This is the Christmas season nobody is happy! The store was darn near spotless with a ton of people. I asked the kids how did they do it, and they said, well all the employees clean up as they go by. I mentioned that that would be really cool to start doing at home!

Whereas this is sounding like AT&T's fault entirely, their saving grace is I met a remarkable kid. He apologized at one point for being 'too nerdy' and I said no, don't stop. I have gotten more knowledgable information from you than anybody else I have talked to in a long time. He explained how to get ringtones onto the Apples (I'm a Windows person), how to do a couple of other things, he even realized I was having trouble due to distractions, so he wrote it all down before I asked! I would have been so nice though if AT&T could have just told me.

My oldest came kind of close, she asked if it might have had anything to do with the recent hurricane around Halloween.

Same thing happening here. It is only "Sending" data, not receiving data. I have installed data monitoring apps, up the wazoo, but none of them I could find differentiate sending from receiving per app, and the monitoring application doesn't account for all the sending that is going on. I can account for the receiving part but not sending part. Icloud backup has been disabled.

I've been calling AT&T monthly to get overages credits every month since July (when I first started noticing it happen) It is a pain and I am going to start charging them for my efforts.

It isn't my responsibility IMHO for me to pay for monitoring apps and spend all this time troubleshooting. It is the service provider's responsibility to prove to me that I am initiating these data transfers. They are clearly happening while the phone is on Wifi, while the phone is off, or when nothing is really going on.

And I would like to point out, as I and dozens of others posting in this thread have pointed out innumerable times, that the AT&T billing system posts all data as "sent" regardless of whether it is sent or received.

Okay, after watching my 'family' usage for several days now, we are not being hit that high. AT&T did tell us when we all went to Smart Phones that there would be data charges I believe he said for updates and the kids said apps. I have found that an app-less phone still incurrs charges. My phone iPhone 4 has not sent and I/MEdia charges since I shut the internet OFF! Settings, General, Cellular, OFF. This restricts all data to WiFi, including email, web browsing and push notifications. My daughter informed me that she has a similar data transmission thing on her Samsung, which has worked effectively. The other iPhone, my other daughter asked if she could keep her data on due to needing to receive texts for work and there being two copies if she turns it off and then on. Not sure that that is about but I said okay, since the data is not high. She does an hourly send usually when the phone is not in use, like through the night. If my other daughter needs the internet while out for some specific reason, she just turns it back on through the phone. I do receive text messages while at home, I also don't do the internet or text alot since I kind of like my 24 inch computer screen and full size keyboard. What can I say, I remember walking with the dinosaurs.

I am only giving this information if it will help. Personally, I do not believe it is an Apple thing, as much as an AT&T thing, why? We have two Apple phones and a Samsung Galaxy and they are all doing it.

Now if I could figure out why (or some nice person email me) why my oldest can't stay connected to the Wi Fi with the Apple 4S (?), the more exciting Apple 4 phone that does color texts or something from Apple to Apple phone. I am talking she is approximately 10 feet from the router!

Mark,

I have an iPhone 4, the only app is the flashlight. I believe you are right in that it connected to the Internet when it went to sleep. However, Once I shut off that, through settings, general, cellular, cellular data off, it has NOT connected to Internet/MEdia as of 12/2. I just checked the bill this morning as I wanted to check the charges on all three phones. My one daughter does have Internet/MEdia charges from her iPhone during that timeframe to present and does NOT shut her cellular data off. I, however, do not. Tonight, when I leave the house should find out if it really does work outside of the house. It is either sending the notices through the WiFi or not able to send them all together. This is very strange, though, because it seems to be happening due to AT&T only. I originally thought it was iPhone because my 'then' phone was the Samsung which sat on my desk or bedroom all day and was connected to the WiFi and never unconnected. The day I noticed the charges and went to Apple, since AT&T denied it was their fault, the Samsung started to receive the charges when outside of the house and casually inside, but infrequently.

But you suggestion on the airplane mode thing and charger at night might be easy enough for my daughter to do. However, momentarily the charges don't seem to be that great and we only have the 1 GIG plan.

I am not trying to be combative, if it sounds that way, just confused that it appears to be so different for so many people.

I might also add, I use Find my Iphone to track my phones in the event they are lost.

If I turn off 3G, I can no longer track the phone.

AT&T and Apple really need to address this! If this is some way to generate revenue, they could wind up getting sued!

I'd like to see an App which is native to the hardware in the phone which doesnt require VPN, and gives bytes sent bytes received by application by interace 9WIFI, Edge, 3G 4G etc), and it must account for all bytes billed.