Unknown data usage early morning

I have been dealing with this issue as well, but have severely reduced usage by utilizing all the recommendations through out this thread. The only thing I know for sure is that I get no charges when I turn cell data off.

I am now trying to focus on my apps and control their usage. I am intrigued by the comment about MAPS. But does any one know how to control it? It is one of those apple apps, can you delete it or turn it off?

Oh wow. You just made me realize on that date that I had over 100MB usage I used Maps cuz my TomTom navigation app didn't get me where I needed to go. And then I used Maps again in Paris the other night.

But seriously, I can't begin to conceive that it would use that much data. And it doesn't log that usage as part of the data under Usage, so ***?

I just checked in iTunes with my phone plugged in and it doesn't give the option ot uninstall Maps.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Maps can't use that much data. They are all images and if you realize that an image from the iPhone camera is 5mp and around 1.5MB, a 10MB image is gigantic. Map images are simple, must be highly compressible, and are tiny, even a lot of them.

Also, we shouldn't have to be disabling all the cool software on the phone. That is why we have them. They just need to hunt down this data problem.

Also, we shouldn't have to be disabling all the cool software on the phone. That is why we have them. They just need to hunt down this data problem.

I agree, Apple and at&t need to admit the problem, respond to it and fix it.
This is a much more real problem which is costing us money and it could become a bigger headache than the overblown antenna problem!

Stephend7 wrote:
Maps can't use that much data. They are all images and if you realize that an image from the iPhone camera is 5mp and around 1.5MB, a 10MB image is gigantic. Map images are simple, must be highly compressible, and are tiny, even a lot of them.

Maybe it "can't", but it does. Go into Settings/General/Usage and note the data usage. Now open Maps, tap the Locate button, and walk a mile. Then go back and see how much data you have used.

Stephend7 is correct. We got the phone to use all the cool apps, so disabling them is counter productive. I guess what I am trying to do is simply figure out where mysterious data usage is coming from. Up to a month ago i had a BB with unlimited data. Now I have 200MG. I realize that that plan is joke and could never really work, so I guess I will upgrade to the 2 gig plan. Also I have not suffered the huge megabyte hits that others have indicated. That being said I will continue to explore this device till, I hopefully figure it out.

One thing I notice is that although my e-mail is set to push, all apps are closed, every time I look at e-mail it goes to the network. Why does it need to do that if it is already Pushing every message to the phone?

I keep hearing that "WiFi is disconnected when iPhone is locked". However here is my situation:

Using WiFi at work. WiFi allows me to use most Internet apps including Web browsers, but it does not let me check personal mail in the Mail app. What happens if I try to check is that it gets stuck "Connecting...". I think our company blocks the port in the firewall that Mail uses - for security reasons.

If it were the case the WiFi disconnects when the phone is asleep, I would expect to be able to receive incoming mail, since WiFi goes off and the push email would then come thru the 3G network. But, it doesn't. I only get mail if I turn off the corporate WiFi.

Can anyone explain why I am not getting email messages when the phone is asleep?

Lawrence, good points. It seems obvious now that people wouldn't have noticed it before the new data plans because nobody bothered to check their data usage when we all had unlimited plans. My plan didn't see major spike in recent months either, but several people in this thread mentioned their plans spiking in recent months for no apparent reason and I have a friend whose plan showed the same thing.

I've spent the last 28 hours with cellular data disabled, just wipe the slate clean; AT&T's site correctly shows no usage since 2:10PM yesterday afternoon. Tomorrow morning I will turn on cellular data on my way to work, use it throughout the day like I normally would, then disable cellular data when I get home to wi-fi just to confirm it's not a late posting on AT&T's part (which I don't believe).

Update.

Yesterday afternoon I disabled Cellular Data. As of 24 hours later I have 0 data usage logged on the ATT site except for txt messages that I recognize.

I have noted that when I am away from my 3G Microcell, and send a txt message, I get a warning message that says "My cellular data is disabled...", but the txt works fine.

I have also noted the replies that have mentioned Maps as one of the possible causes for big data usage. When reviewing my data usage from the previous week, one of the big hitters besides the daily 2AM 4Mb Internet/Media Net Sent was a 40Mb usage when I believe I looked for the location of a restaurant. How does the route to a restaurant consume 40Mb of data? What happens if you don't kill the Map App? If I use the Map App to find a new place to eat that breaks my 200mb plan, maybe it's best to eat at home...

At least for this 24 hours I don't get the phantom 5mb data usage at 2AM.

Map App experiments next.

Still awaiting a call back from Apple.

Dan in VT

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Stephend7 wrote:
Maps can't use that much data. They are all images and if you realize that an image from the iPhone camera is 5mp and around 1.5MB, a 10MB image is gigantic. Map images are simple, must be highly compressible, and are tiny, even a lot of them.

Maybe it "can't", but it does. Go into Settings/General/Usage and note the data usage. Now open Maps, tap the Locate button, and walk a mile. Then go back and see how much data you have used.

As I reported, my usage since July 17 statement date reset shows 34MB and AT&T is reporting over 400MB on their end. If it's Maps, it's not accurately showing a log of data, obviously.

Sorry, didn't mean to insinuate mapping wasn't reporting a lot of data. I meant to say it SHOULDN'T be using that much data. I get the same thing on my phone. It reports 3 or 4 mb just for having it on for my 30 minute drive home using the built in app. I'll try one I bought with routing to see what it does tomorrow, but I'm willing to bet it's a lot.

I used the google maps on my blackberry a lot. Since my total data usage was only 13mb to 40mb per month, I'm sure it's another app reporting too much data use.

Google Maps on the iPhone has always used a lot of data, going back 3 years, even when there weren't any other apps available. The Maps app downloads maps in real time as you move, complete with zoom details and POI. The map data is substantial.

I don't know which BB you had, but many BBs do not "do" HTML email. No images, no formatting. so even a long message is small in terms of data volume. The iPhone does ONLY HTML, so all of the images and formatting appears (you can turn off remote images in settings, but not rich text or embedded images). so the iPhone's email app can use 10 to 100 times the data volume of text-only Blackberries.

I'm so glad to find this thread, b/c I think this is an AT&T issue and not iphone. I have a palm pixi.

After having the pixi for six days, I got a text from AT&T saying that I had already used 65% of my plan. I went back and looked at all of my history and records, and my entire internet history was about 90 page views. The day after I got the phone, I had added gmail and gchat, but I found it annoying so I removed it from the phone after the third day. I sent/received 30 emails during that time. I have not used google maps. I have wifi at home and at work. I have not downloaded anything - no apps, no ringtones, nothing. According to AT&T's data calculator, ( http://www.att.com/standalone/data-calculator/), you should be able to access about 1000 web pages and send/receive 1000 emails a month and still be under the 200mb data plan. What is going on here?

After calling AT&T, same as above, they suggested that someone else was using my phone at night, that I was inadvertently doing it, or that I was downloading a lot of stuff - none of which are the case. They thought that the data charges were a cumulative charge for the day, but I have multiple data charges per day, all at different times, some as small as 8kb and the largest being 53227kb. If it was a cumulative charge, it would be at about the same time every day and there should be only one. After all of this, they decided that it was updates. Really? Every day, that size? The rep got Palm on the phone and they confirmed that the phone would get occasional updates, but not daily, and even then the updates should be about 40kb. To resolve the issue, the rep suggested that I stop using data for a few days. At first I wasn't into this solution - I mean, I'm paying for a data plan so that I can use it, right? But after some thought I did not use data Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. None so far today. So here's what I've been billed for during that time that I DID NOT USE DATA:
07/26 05:37 PM wap.cingular Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2859KB
07/26 06:58 AM wap.cingular Internet/MEdia Net Sent 3307KB
07/25 10:01 PM wap.cingular Internet/MEdia Net Sent 13KB
07/25 02:13 AM wap.cingular Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2683KB
07/24 03:42 PM wap.cingular Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1339KB
07/24 09:38 AM wap.cingular Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2622KB

In comparison, we also got a blackberry at the same time for my husband, and he uses the internet way more that I do. He's barely used any of the data at all. Also, on his bill, you can see each time he checks his email - there is 2-4kb of data usage each time, and about 2000kb when he streams music - so the bulk data charge is NOT an AT&T method of charging data.

AT&T users with other phones have the same issues and AT&T has said to everyone that they have no idea or that it's the user's fault. Ridiculous. In the end, I'm glad I've addressed this quickly, since I'm going to return the pixi for something different. The only reason I got the pixi in the first place was because it was free and I had planned to buy the iphone - now that idea is out the window. AT&T offered no help whatsoever in figuring out this issue.

Lawrence Finch wrote:
Google Maps on the iPhone has always used a lot of data, going back 3 years, even when there weren't any other apps available. The Maps app downloads maps in real time as you move, complete with zoom details and POI. The map data is substantial.

I don't know which BB you had, but many BBs do not "do" HTML email. No images, no formatting. so even a long message is small in terms of data volume. The iPhone does ONLY HTML, so all of the images and formatting appears (you can turn off remote images in settings, but not rich text or embedded images). so the iPhone's email app can use 10 to 100 times the data volume of text-only Blackberries.

I had the curve that had html and graphic capabilities which I used to the fullest extent possible. Often used google maps for traffic and navigation. NEVER had a data use higher than 40MB, and most were in the 12mb to 30mb.

So I've spent the last two days confirming that the late-night data charges are NOT delayed postings of accumulated daily data. By disabling cellular data during the night and keeping it on during the day, the only data charges that appear on my bill are the correct ones: from home to work and back. I'm going to continue this behavior for the rest of the week just to be absolutely sure. Then, I will try leaving data on at night again to see if opting out of iAds and disabling sending diagnostic data to Apple in iTunes has had any affect.