Unknown data usage early morning

One more thing: I've seen a number of people recommend DataMan for tracking data usage in connection with this problem. DataMan does track usage well, but if you leave the Precise Tracking feature on (which you must do if you want that nice report of how much was used every 10 minutes), it consumes a lot of battery power. Based on lots of testing I did, monitoring connections to my router, etc., the cause appears to be that DataMan causes the iPhone not to release a WiFi connection when sleeping, as it should. As has been mentioned many times in this thread, WiFi connections take a lot more power to maintain that just listening on a 3G connection.

reading maven wrote:
Welcome to the "waiting and watching" list. My first post here was last June (coincident ) with the new data plans.....hmmmmm...no correlation I have been assured. Since then I moved to an iPad with wifi, and don't buy the data...waiting and watching. My contract on iPhone is coming up. Don't know what to do. I was sure it would get fixed with all this evidence...but so far....waiting and watching. Stay with us...our only hope.

I have posted in this thread few times before (starting right around the switch to metered plans). I did contact AT&T and as always the customer service reps (including supervisors) are first rate. Unfortunately they can only do so much. I was credited for a number of overage charges, and for the first time after the supervisor contacted others she said that technical support may want to swap the phone with a new one as part of trying to troubleshoot.

At least I didn't get the "the usage is correct" line. I did file an FCC complaint and I told the supervisor, explaining I appreciated the help but I have already spent way too much time with ATT technical groups, and it never leads anywhere.

I guess my other concern with using DataMan to try to figure out the problem is the possibility of an [observer effect|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer effect(physics)]:

DataMan causes the iPhone to maintain whatever WiFi connection there might be (see more details in the review by chcn in the Canadian iTunes store [here|http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dataman-real-time-data-usage/id393282873?m t=8]). Because of this, it might alter the state of things enough to mask the problem, depending on what the problem is. If there were some mysterious process causing transfers in the middle of the night that were going by 3G, with DataMan running those might go by WiFi instead, or if they are some strange carrier-induced 3G-only phenomenon then they might not happen at all, or they might happen on 3G just the same despite an active WiFi connection. Who knows.

I suppose one could prevent this by turning off WiFi on the iPhone or—maybe better from the perspective of the observer effect—disallowing that iPhone from one's wireless router or something like that.

chcn wrote:

User name wrote:
I've tried turning off 3g...but that just sends data through edge. ... I think you can edit your apn to stop the phone from being able to connect to the data network by removing the data ip ...but ...come on. ... Take out your sim card...

Right below the Enable 3G setting there is another setting called Cellular Data. This should turn off all data without having to remove the SIM or edit the APN or anything like that. (Not positive this setting was in iOS 3.1.2, but it's in iOS 4 and I don't think it's new.)

It's funny, you're only the second or third Canadian user I've seen report this problem. After following this thread there are a number of varied complaints, but the most serious and frequent one seems to be that some AT&T customers are billed for data in excess of the amount the iPhone counter (in Settings) counts. Some other people experience data usage that their iPhone counter does count, but they're at a loss as to how it happened. This second group of people I would suggest are suffering from a bad app, or some email caught in a loop, or some such thing. (There's another group of people who seem to be confused by the mid-night timing of the reported usage, but who may have no problem at all.)

When you say you are "leaking data" and that "This morning I somehow used 10 mb", is that 10 MB that appeared on the phone's built-in counter (Settings > General > Usage)? Or only on the Rogers/Fido counter?

Data leak may be the wrong term..what I mean is I am sending and recieving data unknowingly.

I have literally scoured the net on this and have seen conflicting reports on whether its is ads or apps trying to update or that it is a compiling of data usage from the carrier.

This is a new development for me as I have recently just removed my 3 gig plan.
The reason I am most confused is that both a freind and i had remarked how little data we used and the plan is usless,,__*AFTER CANCELING MY PLAN MY USAGE HAS GONE UP_* this is my primary concern as I am trying to be carefull not to get a large bill. The data use I'm reporting here is from the phone..still waiting for the bill...just a few more days.
As far as the data switch..some os have it ..some don't..and others report the carrier may disable it in its bundle.
Reports suggest apn editing software doesn't accurately work on or including os 3.X.X or higher. I can confirm that Data toggle in sbsSettings does not work.. still showing a valid data ip as well as an edge icon and usage from iphone settings.
I am not interested in having my data blocked by fido..because who knows when you might need it enough to be willing to pay per use.
Also I may be one of only a few canadians reporting this..on this site...but not on the web.
I think I might try editing the carrier bundle with ssh and use a .plist editor..instructions below.

http://xsellize.com/topic/29520-avoid-data-costs-on-firmware-30-edit-cellular-da ta-network-settings

I will not use my iphone as a phone until i have a resolve. My siemens m55 rocks..lol

I'll try to update if I find an answer, and if anyone else has ..please post it 🙂

User name wrote:
Data leak may be the wrong term..what I mean is I am sending and receiving data unknowingly. ... The data use I'm reporting here is from the phone..still waiting for the bill...

It's kind of too bad this thread can't be divided into the two, distinct, issues after the fact. Your issue is that data usage, as reported by the phone, has gone up in a way you can't explain. But the other issue that many people here report is being billed for data far in excess of what the phone reports. I would suspect (though I'm not sure, of course) that different things account for these two different phenomena.

User name wrote:
As far as the data switch ... I can confirm that Data toggle in sbsSettings does not work.. still showing a valid data ip as well as an edge icon and usage from iphone settings.

Interesting. On my phone (iOS 4.3.1, Rogers, not jail-broken), turning *Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data* to Off has the following effects: (1) I lose my Rogers IP address; (2) the 3G icon goes away; and (3) I cannot access any network resources (no web pages, NTP servers, etc.); all of which is what I would expect it to do.

My reported usage seems always to accord more or less with what I'm doing, which is to say I get very small transfers for things like push notifications,* but only large chunks when I do something to ask for it.

*By the way, referring to my other post on DataMan and the observer effect, this is one example of where running DataMan during the night may/probably does change the nature of what you would observe. Since DataMan keeps the WiFi connection alive, things like push notifications or anything else may come through the WiFi pipe instead of the 3G pipe, so you can't see what would have happened if you weren't watching.

User name wrote:
... I am sending and receiving data unknowingly. ... _*AFTER CANCELING MY PLAN MY USAGE HAS GONE UP_* ... I am trying to be carefull not to get a large bill. The data use I'm reporting here is from the phone..still waiting for the bill...

Have you tried the [Fido My Account app|http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/fido-my-account/id337632423?mt=8&uo=6|Click to go to iTunes website]? It purports to be up to date to within a few hours. Alternatively there is a similar tool on [the website|https://www.fido.ca/web/page/portal/Fido/Ecare_Standalone|Click to go to Fido My Account] to see current usage. No need to wait for the bill.

@ chcn

That switch >enable data..or whatever it is named is not on my phone..reports suggest it is in the current os as well as being on previous versions depending on whether or not the carrier enables it.

I have settings/general/network/

enable 3g
data roaming
internet tethering
vpn
wi-fi

I talked to customer service fido rep and after insisting she check with tech serv. replied that fido no longer disables data.

There is data charges on my new bill (according to the fido page) and the rep can see them as well but wants to wait till the end of the billing cycle to reconcile.
She understood I was upset with being charge for data i was unintentionally using..has mark this as such in my file and that I would be credited for this month, after that..I'm on my own

Sorry if I'm hijacking this forum. If I'm off topic I will leave.

User name wrote:
@ chcn

That switch >enable data..or whatever it is named is not on my phone..reports suggest it is in the current os as well as being on previous versions _depending on whether or not the carrier enables it_.

That's interesting. I didn't know that bit I underlined. On my Rogers iPhone (iOS 4.3.1) I have the following settings under Settings > General > Network:
• Enable 3G (On/Off)
• Cellular Data (On/Off)
• Data Roaming (On/Off)
• Set Up Personal Hotspot (replaces tethering in 4.3)
• VPN >
• Wi-Fi >

It seems strange that Fido wouldn't allow this setting since they're part of Rogers. My understanding was that they would no longer put a data block on your account, which is fine. But removing the setting from the phone seems unjustifiable.

I would be quite annoyed if either Rogers or Apple took away my ability to turn off cellular data. Not that it's a setting I use much, but I have used it some in testing, when I want to restrict all communication to just Wi-Fi.

User name wrote:
Sorry if I'm hijacking this forum. If I'm off topic I will leave.

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that. There are clearly different but related complaints in this thread, which I think can be broadly classified in two categories: (1) unexplained data usage that the phone is actually using (or which appears on the counter anyway), and (2) data being billed well in excess of what the phone seems to actually use based on the phone's counter.

I really have no way of knowing what percentage of the complaints fall into each camp. But your complaint, and the very few other Canadian ones I’ve noticed, seems to be of type #1, while a great many of the AT&T ones on this board seem to say they’re type #2.

Like I said, it would be nice if these two issues could be separated because they probably have very different explanations and causes, but it’s a bit too late now I think, and I’m not even sure that all users know for sure which camp they fall into because of difficulties with confusing billing and timing differences.

I have had iphone 4 for 4 months. No surge of data usage until this last billing cycle. For the last 10 days, every other night usually at 12:05 am ~100 MB.
Record so far: 2.9 GB at 12:04 am So just 10 days into the new billing cycle I am over the limit. My iphone didn't leave the area of my wi-fi over night and was always plugged in over night.
On the other hand, the other phone, 3G with unlimited data plan has never showed any surges in data flow nor ever uses more then 200-300 mb per month.
Called ATT to ask for advise: they pretend that they never heard of this problem before. They are useless as usual.
So simple solution: as it is right now, it is cheaper to switch to Verizon and get unlimited plan, then to find my future bills in thousands!

To None2011:

Although the first level people don't seem to be helpful, I think most people have had the experience that if you persist and or file a complaint with the FCC, that AT&T will give you a refund. It is in their interest that you be happy and don't do as you suggest, take your money elsewhere.

None2011,

Is this usage being included on the phone's counter in Settings? Or just on your AT&T bill? As I've pointed out elsewhere on this forum, there are two distinctly different issues I think, and it would be helpful if new posters would indicate if they think they're just having a billing issue or if it's a matter of the phone actually using data in an unexplained way.

You can install Dataman to see where and when data is being recorded by the phone (to the nearest 10 minutes), or just use the built-in settings app, taking note of before and after amounts, or resetting it at a certain time. (Be aware that there are some issues with using Dataman for this, namely that it takes a lot of battery power, and that it appears, in my home network at least, to keep your WiFi connection open, possibly affecting the very phenomenon you're trying to research.)

As you've no doubt read elsewhere in this massive topic, it can be hard to figure out which problem you're having (billing vs. rogue usage), because the time at which you use the data bears little resemblance to the time at which it gets posted to your account. For that reason the best way to compare is probably to turn off your phone completely for a good chunk of time (several hours, overnight) to sever all the connections and force AT&T to tally up usage, then restart it and reset the counter or make a note the starting values. Then compare your phone's usage with the phone company's over a period of several weeks, ideally a couple of billing periods. (Some people have suggested that AT&T may not post amounts to your account until you have shut down the phone for an extended period and then restarted it, so to be really sure you might want to shut it down for a few hours, then start it up for a while, then shut it down again overnight. Then when you start comparing your totals with theirs from then on you might be on the same page.)

If you have an app that's actually using data, it should be fairly apparent by watching the counters. I just had such an encounter myself on the new iPad with CNN's app, which I will post in a couple of minutes in its own post.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, it appears that there are different but related complaints in this thread, which I think can be broadly classified in two categories: (1) unexplained data usage that the phone is actually using (or which appears on the counter anyway), and (2) data being billed well in excess of what the phone seems to actually use based on the phone's counter.

Last night I ran across a what seemed to be a rogue app that may show how issue (1) can happen for some people. My wife had the new iPad with her last night when she was out waiting for my daughter at something. She used the [CNN iPad app|http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cnn-app-for-ipad/id407824176?mt=8|Click to see this app in the iTunes store] (not a universal app, so I don't know if the iPhone version would behave the same) for a few minutes, and then put the iPad to sleep without exiting the app.

Hours later, when I looked in Dataman I could see when she had used the app, as there was a couple of MB of data transferred, some of it apparently over the WiFi network of the place she was visiting. But then from the time she put the device to sleep onward there were continued data transfers *over 3G* for the rest of the night. They added up to about 17MB before I noticed. As soon as I terminated the app (by double clicking the home button and killing the app from the multi-tasking bar) the transfers stopped. Simply going to the home screen might have been sufficient too; it depends on whether this is one of the types of multi-tasking Apple allows. I didn't have time to test it and just wanted to kill it.

Another interesting thing about this is that in my previous tests on my home network I've confirmed that our iPhones and the iPad all maintain an active Wi-Fi connection to our home router even when they're asleep, if Dataman is running with the Precise Tracking feature on (and yes, this kills battery life, though it is less noticeable with the big iPad battery than it is on iPhones). Yet these data transfers which seemed to be associated with the CNN app all happened over 3G. I wonder if that's because they started when she was out of the house and so that's the connection that kept getting used even once the device was home.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to reproduce this (or even have time to try in the next few weeks), but the moral of the story is that apps can indeed use 3G data if they are left running, even if it would appear they shouldn't, even if you're at home on your home Wi-Fi network, etc.

I've always been in the habit of pressing the home button before I put my iDevices to sleep, so that apps are forced to stop running except for those with a "legitimate" background process. (I don't know if this really makes any difference though; you would think that just putting the device to sleep should have the same effect.) Even then some apps may keep talking to the world in the background, so if in doubt, either kill the app by double-clicking on the home button and touching and holding on that app's icon in the task bar, or kill them all by restarting the device by just powering it down as normal and then restarting it. (This will, of course, terminate all running processes. Contrary to what one "Genius" bar employee told me—he told me I needed to periodically restart the phone and clear all of the apps from the multitasking bar one by one!—your recently run apps are not all restarted when you restart your device. Their placeholders are still there in the multitasking bar as a convenience to you, but if you look at a list of running processes using a 3rd party tool they are not running or using any memory after a restart.)

I want to echo chcn's hypothesis that a rogue app(s) may be the culprit. In my wife's case, I think it is Reeder caching articles over 3g, despite being set to wifi caching only.

Here's my supposition:
- wife is viewing Reeder RSS feeds on home wifi before bed
- Reeder is caching via wifi unread articles, photos, etc. to speed up future reading
- wife and phone go to sleep
- Reeder app is still on in the multitask/fast app switching task bar when the phone goes to sleep
- Reeder continues to cache or caches again later -- but this time via 3g. I'm guessing that the app isn't smart enough to say "I was on wifi before, but now I'm on 3g, and I should stop"
- suspecting this after seeing several after-wife-is-definitely-asleep 10MB-20MB transmissions, I turned off caching entirely

Eight days after doing this, there are no more large mystery data chunks. Sure, there are still a few 50-500kb sessions, but no big ones.

I'll keep monitoring for awhile. But I feel like I've found the culprit. This is not to denigrate Reeder. I love the app, and maybe it is smart enough to switch wifi to 3g, etc., but I can't argue current results.

Good luck to others.

"Eight days after doing this, there are no more large mystery data chunks. Sure, there are still a few 50- 500kb sessions, but no big ones."

that is okay with you? 500kb? i think that was what many people were complaining about to begin with.

iinami wrote:
"Eight days after doing this, there are no more large mystery data chunks. Sure, there are still a few 50- 500kb sessions, but no big ones."

that is okay with you? 500kb? i think that was what many people were complaining about to begin with.

People complaining about 500KB transfers they don't understand need to get a life. It's a tiny quantity of data.