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cnpeyton Author

Level 1

2 points

Unknown data usage early morning

With the changes to the data plans, i decided to look at my wifes data usage on her iphone. What i have found is odd and a bit concerning. Overall her data usage is pretty much nothing, except for something that occurs every morning around 1 or 2 am. I have included data usage on the AT&T account below. As you can see, something happens around 1 or 2 am every morning, i just dont know what it is. The amount of data being transferred is REALLY high if you ask me, as high as 75336KB back on the 17th. I called AT&T support and they said it was the phone updating or mail being downloaded, basically they have no idea. I have the mail set to fetch manually already. Anyway to determine what is going on???

06/04 01:22 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 3368KB
06/03 01:45 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 18906KB
06/02 01:45 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 6878KB
06/01 01:45 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9460KB
05/31 07:45 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1918KB
05/31 01:27 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7551KB
05/30 02:27 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1224KB
05/30 01:17 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2685KB
05/29 01:39 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8120KB
05/28 01:39 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5410KB
05/28 01:07 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5068KB
05/27 10:42 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 21778KB
05/27 01:06 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 10419KB
05/26 09:26 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 20657KB
05/26 01:50 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8467KB
05/25 02:21 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 18086KB
05/25 01:25 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5249KB
05/24 01:25 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1012KB
05/23 01:25 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 12978KB
05/22 01:25 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9749KB
05/21 01:41 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 19166KB
05/20 01:17 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 23860KB
05/18 11:56 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 15440KB
05/18 01:06 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 29900KB
05/17 01:12 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 75336KB

Posted on Jun 5, 2010 4:56 AM

Top-ranking reply

choroid

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Sep 5, 2011 4:43 AM

this is from data manager application between 7am and 8am, I was at bath had breakfast and drive. look at the data downloads both from 3g and wifi. It can be some application but after 8 am ıt just stops without any intervention. Any ideas ? (iphone 4)

View in context

2,094 replies

Jul 10, 2010 9:14 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I would ignore when the usage is being posted to your ATT.com data usage report. Other than showing the total amount used so far it is confusing the real issue of inordinate data usage.

Start using the Settings/General/usage. This gives you real time updates, although it doesn't show times. We don't know the criteria for posting to ATT.com and I doubt they are going to tell us.

For me, I get hit with 3mb of usage every time it checks my email and receives something. Turning the phone off at night would obviously take care of that little problem at night.

Right now the iPhone support people believe this thread is about reporting issues more than data use issues. I'd suggest we focus on the amount of data used in a 24 hour period, then narrow it down further.

Check your usage on your iphone and see when it is jumping. Then narrow down the apps you are using. Better yet, check your usage data, use an application, then check your usage on your iphone right after that. See if there was a jump greater than you expected.

jinx.pt

Level 1

40 points

Jul 10, 2010 9:33 AM in response to Stephend7

This is a good recomendation.
I'd also wager many of you listen to music? That may consume a LOT of bandwidth, depending how they go about it.

I live in Portugal, and have 200mb limit. I rarely use my 3G connection, since I'm most of the day on Wi-Fi. However, I am very careful with my data usage. I always research first how much bandwidth my apps are using, since i played a game that, in a week, used about 150megabytes, and i didn't even use it that much...it just made downloads of everything everytime :/. Google maps can consume somewhat too, if you use it a lot.

Basically, my 200mbs are enough to get e-mails and synchronizations immediately (with attachments only on request), and the eventual google maps usage for when I need to know where to go or quick google search to solve a dilemma =).

Online games tend to use a lot of bandwidth if you're not careful. E-mail can also spend a lot, disable attachments retrieval.

cheers

Jul 10, 2010 9:37 AM in response to MI_canuck

I believe I have a fix for the large transfers. Hook up your iPhone, in iTunes CTRL click on your device on the left, and reset warnings. Unhook and hook the phone up again, and confirm that you do not want Apple getting info.

That fixed it for me. There are very small transfers happening now in the middle of the night, on the order of 20K or so.

Jul 10, 2010 9:55 AM in response to Nathan Goldshlag

Nathan Goldshlag wrote:
I believe I have a fix for the large transfers. Hook up your iPhone, in iTunes CTRL click on your device on the left, and reset warnings. Unhook and hook the phone up again, and confirm that you do not want Apple getting info.

That fixed it for me. There are very small transfers happening now in the middle of the night, on the order of 20K or so.

SWEET!!! that is what I was hoping to find out... if a way to "turn off" the apple crash reports... sounds like this is it!!

thnx!!! will test this out...

Jul 10, 2010 9:57 AM in response to MI_canuck

graphed out my data from the data report on my att wireless OLAM...

first 3 day,s 2-4 Jul - included tethering, so that usage is fair... and I accept it as is... ( although 350MB in one day... ouch 😉 )

5-8 Jul, that is NO tethering, no streaming on 3G... yet still almost about 60MB per day on average...

9 Jul, Cellular Data turned OFF at night... (normal usage of checking emails, web, twitter and FB... nothing out of ordinary)... a more liveable 10MB...

PS - also left it off last night, but obviously too soon to see 10 Jul data.... a liveable 10MB (normal usage of checking emails, web, twitter and FB... nothing out of ordinary)

the trend is building...

Pup

Level 2

310 points

Jul 10, 2010 10:03 AM in response to Nathan Goldshlag

"Unhook and hook the phone up again, and confirm that you do not want Apple getting info."

After disconnecting and reconnecting, nothing asked me to confirm anything...just showed back up in iTunes...what am I missing? 🙂

ed2020

Level 1

69 points

Jul 10, 2010 12:30 PM in response to Nathan Goldshlag

Nathan Goldshlag wrote:
I believe I have a fix for the large transfers. Hook up your iPhone, in iTunes CTRL click on your device on the left, and reset warnings. Unhook and hook the phone up again, and confirm that you do not want Apple getting info.

That fixed it for me. There are very small transfers happening now in the middle of the night, on the order of 20K or so.

If this is the cause then it's absolutely outrageous. For one thing how can they possibly justify several hundred megabytes of crash report from a phone and secondly what on Earth is the logic behind sending all this information over a cellular network - why not wait until the device is connected to a computer with a network connection, or connected to a wifi network?! No wonder AT&T and O2 are phasing out the unlimited data plans! 🙂

texagi95

Level 1

0 points

Jul 11, 2010 6:34 AM in response to cnpeyton

Mine is doing the same thing. At 1:30am when the phone is charging, and I'm sleeping. Also, I scrolled down to the "pay-per-usage" of my account, and it is showing 60mb!!! I have unlimited data, on a 3G phone!!!! what in the **** is this pay per usage charge?? Call ATT, they said that they didn't know, might be a glitch in the system, and that they made a note of it, and to check the bill when I get it. What kind of BS is this???

Jul 12, 2010 6:56 AM in response to Pup

Pup wrote:
"Unhook and hook the phone up again, and confirm that you do not want Apple getting info."

After disconnecting and reconnecting, nothing asked me to confirm anything...just showed back up in iTunes...what am I missing? 🙂

it works, but you have to hit 'Sync' after doing the 'Reset Warnings'... once you hit the 'Sync' button, a message will pop up... Just click 'Disagree'

Jul 12, 2010 9:41 AM in response to MI_canuck

I don't know which is the fix, but I've seen a major drop in usage since I activated my iPhone 4 and set it to not update Apple. I see more usage 'realtime' and all of it is in reasonable range. The first night I had my new iPhone I did get a 14MB transfer around 2:30AM, but since that night it has been a couple hundred KB max.

Another thing of note is that I get better wifi reception in my bedroom with the new phone, which may move more data over wifi than my 2G.

Zitter

Level 1

0 points

Jul 12, 2010 1:43 PM in response to brm123

Having the same issue. Contacted AT&T without any success.

DATE TIME TO/FROM TYPE DIRECTION MSG/KB/MIN
07/12 07:58 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5480KB
07/12 01:51 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7264KB
07/11 06:51 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 4828KB
07/11 01:07 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 17209KB
07/10 06:07 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7283KB
07/10 09:22 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 11110KB

Jul 12, 2010 6:46 PM in response to cnpeyton

Been experiencing this same problem. I've never used over 140MB in a single month, then I received the data usage overage warning e-mail from AT&T. After logging in, the data usage showed I used over 400MB in one block of time at 1:25 a.m. The following day it showed I used over 116MB at 1:45 a.m. I was asleep both times, my phone was in standby and I was using wi-fi.

I've called AT&T and Apple multiple times and continue to get a runaround. AT&T told me to turn off cellular data until the issue was resolved, then was supposed to contact Apple and then call me back…the call never came. I called again, was passed from AT&T, then to Apple, then finally made it to a senior advisor at Apple technical support. This senior advisor told me the only explaination is third-party apps running in the background. He went on to explain how apps like Facebook can run in the background and use data – apparently he doesn't understand how iOS4 works and that multitasking is limited to a small number of capabilities. I was not running streaming audio or using any app that would use task completion, so third-party apps running in the background could not be the answer.

So since iOS4 doesn't include any kind of data tracking and AT&T doesn't offer any kind of detailing tracking as well, I think we're all hosed until they figure it out themselves. While this wouldn't be an issue under unlimited data, it becomes a major problem with tiered plans.

Jul 12, 2010 6:58 PM in response to Nathan Goldshlag

"I believe I have a fix for the large transfers. Hook up your iPhone, in iTunes CTRL click on your device on the left, and reset warnings. Unhook and hook the phone up again, and confirm that you do not want Apple getting info.

That fixed it for me. There are very small transfers happening now in the middle of the night, on the order of 20K or so. "

I tried this several times without success. I never got a message - even after clicking Sync. I just activated the phone tonight and when I first connected it, it opened iTunes itself and I went thru the activation. There wasn't anywhere to click to prevent Apple from getting this data then either.

How do I turn this off?

Jul 12, 2010 7:59 PM in response to cnpeyton

Just got off another 1.5hr long phone support call…

I spoke with an AT&T supervisor who in turn called and spoke to someone at Apple support - he relayed the following:
• when the phone is in standby mode, it shuts off the wi-fi radio to conserve battery life
• thus, in standby mode all data transfers occur over 3G/cellular data

A couple thoughts:
1) the phone should never switch to 3G data when wi-fi is available. This is clearly a software flaw Apple should address.
2) it still doesn't explain my 400MB data transfer at 1:22 a.m. and the 116MB data transfer the following morning at 1:45 a.m.

I wasn't running any third-party apps capable of using that amount of data (like Voip or audio streaming), so it had to be a built-in Apple app using the data. My only guess is Mail.app got stuck in a loop and started downloading like crazy even when the phone went in standby and it switched to 3G.

The other thing this brings to light is the absolute need for detailed, realtime data monitoring, either on the iPhone itself, or through AT&T. How can we diagnose or fix the problem when we receive an e-mail 48hrs late saying we blew through our data cap and the only description of the data use is "Internet/MEdia Net?" This would have been a curiosity under the old unlimited data plan, but is major problem now when you're stuck with a 200MB or 2GB limit.

Jul 12, 2010 9:05 PM in response to BigBash57

I seem to have solved my problem with my iPhone using huge amounts of data.

The problem was that every time it checked AND received an email it would say that it had received at least 3MB of data. You can imagine how this can add up. Sometimes 100mb in a day.

The solution was creating a new email account and THEN deleting the old one. I deleted the old one and created a new one last time and it didn't help at all. Not sure why and it might not really make a difference, but I'm trying to think of every little detail that might have had an affect on the outcome.

How to tell if you are having this problem.
Set email to receive manually and make sure PUSH is off. Go to the usage data ON YOUR IPHONE and note the mb of data used. Then go to your email account and check your email. If there isn't any email, send one to yourself.

After you have received your emails check your usage. It should not have gone up, or only gone up 1mb. Try it several times.

While the people at ATT and Apple were very nice and did their best, they really didn't help a lot. AT&T's drove me the craziest as their solution is to just spend more money. She was patient and nice and did everything she could though, just wrong.

I may be jumping the gun, and I may be back, but so far I've used only two or three MB of data today.

Using the usage data on the iphone is the best way to track usage problems. Start by checking every hour or just before you start to run a particular app. Put in a note in your note app to keep track and narrow usage down. www.ATT.com is only good to show totals for the day, and even then, it isn't very helpful It doesn't even show which way the data was going.

Good luck everyone!

Message was edited by: Stephend7

Unknown data usage early morning