Unknown data usage early morning

Here we are, back again for the 3rd time in a year. Checking the dates on my previous AT&T Case IDs for this problem shows that it has been almost 6 months to the day that the excessive data use has reared its ugly head. Fortunately, I saved all email correspondence from the first two and was able to send another note off to a valid email address at AT&T detailing the current overages, some 1200+MB in a 72 hour span, and got a response saying they were going to look into it. The last time this happened my case was elevated to the National Urgent Case Team. Problem went away and we were credited with the data wrongly charged.

My question is, if back in May or June of 2010 when AT&T instituted the 200MB plans, there wasn't a problem with the billing server software re-write. I am by no means a software person so I haven't a clue what goes into an undertaking such as that. It is interesting to note that this "Phantom Data Use" began shortly after the 200MB plan became an option to the Unlimited plan. Back on or near page 83 or 84 of this thread I made my first entry outlining a discussion I had with Rasheed at Apple and James at AT&T. It was during that long conversation that the reconfiguration of the server software by AT&T was first mentioned. Could it be that something is still being overlooked? If I knew a call to a knowledgeable person in their software engineering department would get it resolved, I would make that call. However, it would probably be shunted off to a lower level "gopher" or a "manager" who hasn't a clue as to the inner workings of it. Too typical of big business and our dearly beloved Federal Govt. (spent 32 years with the D.O.D. and never had a "manager" who knew what the mission was about!!) Anyone else out there with the knowledge and understanding to make that call and try and track it down?? Any AT&T software weenies reading this thread who might be interested in checking on it??......Jack

Jack,

Does your phone usage stats (Settings->General->Usage) show the 1200+MB usage? In my case, the phone usage always shows the massive data usage when it happens. If yours does too, then it's not an AT&T problem, it's an iPhone problem (as in my case where it's casued by Mail connection problems to the IMAP server). If your phone isn't reflecting the usage then you have a different problem than I have and may be right to go after AT&T. Good luck.

Bruce

hi just sharing the information that this is a problem occuring here in Australia with a number of ISP's. Personally I can't see how so many ISP's can be having the same problem with their billing systems. In addition I have been with the same telephone & ISP here with eveything combined on a single bill for around 12 years. I have never seen this kind of unexplained data usage with any of the phones I have used in this time. On the 3rd October 2011 I purchased my first iphone a 4 unlocked from the apple store. I also purchased as a gift for my husband his first iphone a 3gs. We both have an ipad 2, mine just with wifi and his with 3g and don't seem to have any problem with unexplained data usage in relation to those devices as yet. Our new iphones were opened, charged and our our original sim cards used. Our telephone & internet accounts have not been changed in any way, the existing mobile phone plans are technically "expired" and operate under the original agreement by default. So what we see here are incredibly long periods of time showing as wap/internet usage, on an irregular basis but more than once a day since the minute the phones were switched on. No estimated charge for the time is as yet showing in my account, although I am worried there will be, and there are no details as to the size or content of any data that may be being transfered. The ISP customer service operator is perplexed as am I. It is not physically possible for me to spend 31 hours and then 15 hours using the internet on the same day. I have wifi as default service and spend 23 hours per day with my phone within range of wifi either at home or work with a 10 minute commute between the 2. I have no life I know but run my own business. I know I have not accessed the internet intentionally for long periods of time .These are 2 of the more absurd entries I noted the day after the phone was first switched on. I am very concerned as to what kind of information may be being transfered, how it is being initiated and where it may end up. I have a 12 year history with same company to prove that these wap/interent usage reports are very unusual to say the least. I am in the process of requesting whether I can get a report from Telstra and bigpond that try to match the times/dates to usage. I am happy to provide any information that is required to apple in order for an explanation and rectification of the problem, including my personal phone records if that will help. I want to point out also that most of the "culprits" for the excess data mention overseas cannot be responsible in my case as I don't have them. I would also like to know if there is anyway these transfers can be intercepted and their contents analysed. I am happy to volunteer for that as well if apple feel it will help. At the end of the day I think everyone just wants to know what's going on? Thanks Trish

Trish,

If you would break your messages up with paragraphs, they will be much easier to read. I had to quit reading yours about half way through because it was all running together. Just a suggestion.

OK, I am a Telstra user and this thread is exactley my problem, It has been going on for months, I don't know if it the Imap getting stuck but that sounds reasonable to me. It is obviousley accross multiple carriers, However as my carrier is Telstra and they provided their phone to me I think its their Issue. They are trying to charge me thousands of dollars... The phone started to do this when I was overseas and resulted in $2,000 in charges in 2 days !!!!

I have upgraded IOS and does not seem to be happening however that may be coincidental - Don't Know

Gregory,

Does your Usage stats on your phone show "Send" like 10x higher than "Recieve"? That is what I see when the IMAP issue is happening. If you are seeing that kind of usage, then you probably are having the same IMAP Mail issue. If you aren't seeing usage like that then it's prob something else. We need to separate this thread to help focus on what other issues could be in play here.

bruce

iPhone 3GS 32GB iOS 4.3.3

iPhone 3GS 8GB iOS 4.3.3

I too tried to lower my bill by switching to the 200MB plan. We decided to do all app installs and updates at home over wi-fi. We don't stream video or audio. We both still went over.

Most in this thread report data transfers in the middle of the night. While I also see these, my biggest issue is data transfers when I leave my house. I started noting the time I left my house (that is, when I left my wi-fi and the phone switched to 3G) and compared that to my billed data transfer times. Some days in the month showed nothing special, BUT 50-75% of the days showed huge data transfers at the exact times I left my house (2-10 MB nomally, one at 61 MB). For me, it appears something on the app should use wi-fi but doesn't. It buffers it's data until 3G is once again available by me leaving my wi-fi.

I tried to get AT&T to log my data transfers with more detail than simply data transfer start time and amount. They said they can't, citing privacy concerns. I told them "I don't care - log it", but they refused. They have also suggested turning off data. What a dumba$$ suggestion! I'm not going to pay this much for a phone and monthly data plans and then cripple it. They have also suggested blanking the phone and reinstalling the apps one by one and watch the data transfers. With over 100 apps, that could take a year!

I have just updated to iOS5. We'll see what happens.

Lee

lee - Close all apps that connect to the internet, such as mail, safari, facebook, etc., immediately after using. You need to do this even while at home, because when your phone sleeps, it will switch back to 3G.

To close an app (if you don't already know this), double click the home button. Open apps will appear across the bottom of your display. Press and hold any of them until a red circle with an "x" appears at the left of each app. To close, click the "x". Remember not to close DataMan, if you have it (I got a little close crazy when I first learned this.)

If you have any ATT apps, they will always use 3G, even if you are on wifi. MyATT is a great example of one of their data hogs, and I still think it was the source of my own problem with them.

Sk8Dreams - I have killed the apps that way many times. It does not seem to matter.

Even if the phone switches to 3G when it sleeps, that does not explain why the huge transfers occur right when I leave my house each morning. The phone is awake for about 1.5 hours before I leave, but it waits until I leave my wi-fi.

I do have the myAT&T app, but I use it very rarely. I have not used it at all in the 2 months I've been watching this.

We'll see if iOS5 fixes this - I doubt it. The upgrade process irritated me because I could not choose to start fresh or restore from backup. Actually, it did show the choice, but I couldn't choose fresh - it auto-selected restore. Tonight, I'll redo it and make sure it does NOT restore. Then I'll put the apps back very slowly and see if it's a rogue app or 2 causing this.

Because the big transfer isn't EVERY day, I'll wait 3-4 days to delete it. I want to make sure iOS5 doesn't fix it. It seems nuts an app like that that does so little could be responsible for so much traffic.

Aside (not to hijack thread):

The only issue I've had with iOS5 was the inability to start with a clean phone, rather than a restore from backup (mentioned above). Actually, some apps seem a little sluggish, especially Words With Friends; but it is a 3GS. Other than that, all good.

Just as was the case when I reported two previous mystery data downloads to my wife's phone to AT&T, after contacting the National Urgent Care Center, the downloads stopped and no charges were levied against my account. No one has been able to provide any reason for it to begin or end but it stopped the night of my last entry here on the 6th coincidentally the same date I sent another nasty-gram off to the address I provided on the 6th. This instance was the third time it has happened to us, almost 6 months to the day elapsing between occurrences. Will be keeping an eye on it come the middle of next March!!

It is AT&T and a couple levels higher than Customer Service or Customer Care. The more I kept pestering them, the higher up the food chain they sent my problem(s). When this last incidence began, I dug out my old emails and went straight to them, I even bypassed calling it in and geting a Case ID. I did include all the pertinent information from the first two times it happened so that they would know where to start.

Here's the address I've used to get to them.

icare3@amcustomercare.att-mail.com

Did anyone ever figure out what this sending data usage is? I have just noticed the same issue - while trying to figure out battery drain on an iphone 4s, it seems that every hour somewhere between 250-4000kb are being sent.

Its amazing isn't it. There is no doubt about the data traffic when we are not using our phones, but we are being treated like mushrooms - kept in the dark and fed a load of b*.*.hit. Also a common story for a long time now is that wifi goes to sleep when the phones are not used. Well, yesterday morning both my partners and my I4's with IOS5 were dead flat - never happened before and they were both fully charged when we went to bed. Guess what else happened!!! Our home wifi system had "partially" died, so obviously the phones spent the whole night trying to make a connection. So much for no wifi when the phones are asleep. More ********.

I think the IMAP issue in the Mail app sounds like the most plausible reason. Unfortunately, that makes it not an AT&T problem, but rather an issue for Apple and/or the mail hosts. Switching mail hosts isn't a practical solution for us, so I think what we will do is keep her data turned off until our contract runs out, then switch to Sprint and get new phones.