Unknown data usage early morning

Sorry but the email address only propagates the myth that someone cares and is actually doing something to resolve the numerous issues associated with users getting pinned down by technology sold to them and used as tar babies or cash cows instead.

After so many posts, complaints to the FCC, media exposure and Capital Hill attention, the message is clear.

IDIOCY reigns. No one seems to get that USERS aka CUSTOMERS are getting stuck paying for technology designed to pick our pockets. The privacy issues are secondary and only mask the top concern, MONEY.

After bleeding everyone and convincing them that these apps and smartphone capabilities are critical--- do you really think your iPhone is different or your carrier is flagging your account for some special billing aside from everyone else?

The rules of basic accounting/accountability don't even pass the sniff test on these issues.

Alas BackPacker57 et al, the aforementioned workaround is exactly what I've been doing for some time now, along with only enabling 3G / Mobile Data when needed. Needless to say, an expensive phone (as that's all it currently is) to carry around, My (UK-based Tesco) contract's up in a couple of months' time, so I shall rethink at that time.

Many should rethink because no one has 100% control over their data usage.

The apps continue to run in the background, the "work around" does not work, you have no control over carrier "billing practices," privacy leaks may contribute to some data usage, reliability of transmission is a big factor in data--- RE-TRANSMITS which how often does your iPhone re-transmit the request(s) and how many re-transmits from your webpage, email server, etc... are incurred because of the medium itself being a radio suceptible to the numerous impairments? Then, there remains the issue of security-- iPhones can be spoofed.

RE-THINK is spot on. The Smartphone label is passe' and does little to stop the drain of our money going to the carriers unwilling and unmotivated. Why would they? They're fat cats.

Well said BackPacker, that's a good summary.

Well after visiting Apple and again discussing with my carrier Optus, I've now made a formal submission to the TIO (Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman) here in Australia. We'll see what happens.

As the problem seems to be squarely with the phone, and not the carrier, I've said that Apple should take responsibility for the excess usage charges and be made to ensure it can't happen again (to anyone).

OK so you're all laughing by now, but it has to be escalated. If this doesn't do anything, then perhaps my next stop will need to be the media?

Bottom line is you can't trust your phone to be not using data (receiving or sending, in my case the latter), when no apps are running (yes, I mean after double-clicking home and seeing the running apps, and shutting all that are visible). Things are still running that aren't visible or controllable by the user. Data movements can still occur and YOU WILL BE BILLED for them. * BUYER BEWARE *

Oh - on another note. My carrier just informed me that there is a bug that Apple has advised them of, whereby when you upgrade to iOS 5, the phone sends 2 SMS messages to numbers in the UK. These messages do not appear in your phone's message logs - but they do appear on your bill!

The numbers it sent the messages to are 0011447860015021 and 0011447860015022.

My carrier said "don't worry this will only happen once or twice, it won't continue". They are going to remove them from my bill. I wonder if they then bill all this activity (i.e from everyone who's noticed this) to Apple?

Thanks again must go to Apple for using my phone for their purposes, and leaving me with the bill to dispute.

Trying to catch up with this thread but here is my experience with Vodafone in Australia for my wife's iPhone

For 6 months We have not exceeded the data plan which is 1gig per month, usage is some email, maybe 5 per day, Facebook, what's app, and games downloaded from the apple app store. Most is done on the wifi at home, I have never checked the usage until I got a text 3 weeks ago telling me that the data usage was over the limit to the tune of $700!!! I got straight onto customer service (a name that is a misrepresentation) they could not help at all and after several hours I asked for the disconnection team as I wanted to cancel my contract, anyway after some assistance from this team they agreed to reduce my bill by $500 as they could see that the usage was unusual and not in the usual pattern.

The usage was in the early hours of the morning across 3 separate days (when the wifi was not on) and totalled a massive $ 700 of data

My new billing cycle has been running for 21 days and I can see a lot of usage at all hours but the duration seems to be odd, below is a sample 8hours and 2 seconds and there are a lot of this time frame, very odd as she does not sit connected to the net etc for hours on end,

19/12/2011 09:48:38 PKT Internet 158494Kb 04:41:03 All Day $35.17 $0.00

18/12/2011 18:30:09 PKT Internet 99Kb 08:00:02 All Day $0.02 $0.00

18/12/2011 10:30:05 PKT Internet 410Kb 08:00:02 All Day $0.09 $0.00

17/12/2011 22:56:50 PKT Internet 287Kb 04:00:00 All Day $0.06 $0.00

17/12/2011 14:56:48 PKT Internet 970Kb 08:00:02 All Day $0.22 $0.00

No one can seem to offer an explanation or any assistance - this month she is up to 950 mb with 7 days to run and I know that that is a massive amount of 3G traffic bearing in mind most browsing etc is via wif, on the voda site they say a gig of usage would give thousands of emails, many hours of streaming video etc - it's ridiculous and I have started putting e phone in flight mode at night to prevent over usage

Any pointers or assistance would be great !!!!

REMEMBER-- the issues associated with data usage billing for iPhones and other smartphones remains a "PERFECT STORM" scenario---- the carriers billing practices doesn't preclude carriers from any culpability.

"As data travels between the UE (User Equipment--the phone) and the Internet it will pass through several different nodes, several (or all) of these nodes will generate CDRs (Charging Data Records). These CDRs will be compared against each other to make sure that everything is OK. Normal policy for operators is that if they detect something wrong with a CDR it (and possibly earlier and later CDRs) will be discarded. This means that the operator will lose money and the user will get some data usage for free, but the alternative is that the operator might charge for something the user hasn’t done, which is a big no-no (can turn ugly if brought to court)."

The comment is from a post found at:

How a law firm tested "phantom" AT&T smartphone data use

Then again, the app makers are and share responsibility too:

It's not surprising, since there isn't a clear understanding of iPhones' and other smartphones' data consumption. The OS, apps, and then the concerns over privacy and security may also be culprits consuming data unbeknownst to the user. Then, when users think they exit an app, does the app really stop? My apps don't, and according to Kengwei, "Some apps can go on for 10 minutes before the iOS watchdog kills it. It depends on how an app is designed by the developers."

iPhone Data Pains

Then since you mentioned the TIO ---- I will dig around for a contact across the pond who maybe in your neck of the woods. First name is Tim and he worked a "project" to discover using the "project" as a University of Maryland extended in Australia classroom exercise of sorts ----- anyway he is an excellent guy to know.

@Lawrence

Another set of issues that I think need further discussion is the sandbox theory of Apple regarding iPhone security.

Docking the iPhone to the Mac or PC I would think, still poses a security threat. Malware seemingly can gain entry to the iPhone through docking.

What I find interesting is Nicolas Seriot's report back in 2010 on iPhone Privacy.

Nicolas shows the historical breeches of iPhone security with different OS releases.

I also can't help but wonder is some easy social engineering on violated webpages could easily prompt users to download a ficticious security certificate?

Another key concern that Nicolas points out are the SSH issues

Then again, as I've posted before, there's even the concerns with WiFi security and once again, WiFi isn't secure.

Lastly, as I've stated numerous times before, the issue isn't solely resident within the carrier space, nor is it pinned on the app developers. Apple shares responsibility as does the FCC that seemingly have their heads sandboxed in arrears if you catch my drift. This industry is one money lapping dog that has taken advantage of consumers. The latest example of Carrier IQ trying to use corporate intimidation against the kid revealing their misuse/misdeeds implanted on Apple's OS.

Privacy is in the minds of the talking heads on Capital Hill. This isn't a privacy issue, that's the distraction. The issue is money.

What say you?

P.S. Anything that can be measured is capturable, encrypted or not.

😉

my wife's iphone is doing the same thing. ATT has no clue. mine is fine. both are updated to OS 5. she carried over our old land line number. i wonder if this is the common thread of all phones doing this.

Well I also argued with ATT and went to the Apple store with no answers do you really think I am going to have to take the time to go into a app and shut it off everytime and I mostly use Face book, so I have shut off my I phone and went back to a regular phone for now, because I am positive I did nothing out of the ordinary to cause out of control data usage. Also it makes me coureous as to why ATT no longer has the unlimited data plan offered, I think they know there is a problem and once my contract expires goodbye att and why do I have to have a contract for this kind of service. Will think twice about any future apple products.

There are easier remedies. I used to turn off cellular, then I realized that if I lost the phone, the Find My Phone app would be useless. Leave cell on, and turn off Push for everything. Combining that with closing any app that uses data has solved the problem for me. Also, as stated by myself and others previously, get DataMan Pro to really see what your phone is doing by way of cellular and wifi usage. No need to visit settings all the time and reset constantly. You can also set warning threshholds with DMP. This once saved me from cell data overage when I had forgotten that I'd turned off my wifi for an extended vacation, came home and began to update apps.

I, too, am victim to this in Australia except from Telstra. I am on a 1GB plan and have been so for over 12 months. I use the ipad at home connected to WiFi and then on Fridays I drive up to Brisbane (2 hours away) and use the ipad extensively over the weekend but am on WiFi at that end too. Every month the bill has been $19. This month it's over $350. When I checked the individual pages it showed that on a particular day at 4:00pm it had up/downloaded over 1 GB of data from a location that I just drive past on my way to Brisbane i.e. the ipad is asleep, I am driving past one of the mobile towers, it has somehow latched onto it and moved my whole allowance in 30 hours (again, I thought there were only 24 hours in one day). I spoke to Telstra Small Business reps over the Xmas New Year period whose responses varied from "yes I will credit you $100 immediately and the rest needs to be verified from management" (neither of which happened) to "you need to upgrade to more usage" (as I see so many of you have been told). This seems to be a problem that is just creeping into Australia. After having spoken in person to a Telstra franchise manager today who was going to see what he could do I have decided if there is no change I will be going to the media. This is an OUTTRAGEOUS rip off. I have ALWAYS had the Fetch Data set to Manual and Data Roaming off. I have never needed to turn off Cellular Data in over 2 years of use. When I downloaded all my bills I see a trend of the ipad "interrogating" the various mobile towers on my drive up to Brisbane only in the last few months. As I said, the ipad is not in use on my drive up yet it shows a usage from that tower of 30 or so hours a day which is a) impossible as I am not in range of those towers and b) impossible as there are only 24 hours in a day!!

I will let you all know how it turns out. This is going to be a HUGE story.......

The media probably won't give a toss. Telstra spends too much advertising money with all the majors. Best bet is to go to the telecommunications ombudsman. I've done this a few times with telstra and always resolved in my favour very quickly.

Had the same issue with unexplained data usage last year. Rang Telstra and they were aware of it with the IPhone 4. Rang a few months later and they denied there ever had been an issue. Typical Telstra. They are a dishonest company and full of b###s##t. They are a blight on the face of the earth. Anyway my data usage involved really big chunks of data while I, and the phone, were asleep.

Then the problem just went away and it doesn't matter a hoot what apps I have open, what mail settings I use, whether my home wifi is on or not. The problem is just not there. I upgraded to ios5 and everything is still fine. I have watched this thread for a while and seen all the theories but I think it is an issue with the ios. It has to be as it happens in too many countries and providers and phone and Ipad configurations to be simply user settings. The only common denominator is the ios, and because in the scheme of things it is only giving a relatively small number of users grief Apple don't really care. The I4S for example has/had battery issues and the thread on this site regarding that attracted over 800,000 hits so Apple jumped to attention and did something. This data thing is insignificant compared to that so why should they bother. Also a company that expects its customers to accept the worst piece of software ever, Itunes, probably doesn't care a lot. Thank God there is software now that overcomes Itunes staggering shortfalls.

I am having the same issue as everyone else here. My wife had a 3GS, it was using around 2-2.5GB a month for years, in the first month (November) I had the 4S, we went over 3GB. In December we went over 5GB and we were home for 2 weeks on wifi! She is using the same apps she has used for years, nothing new. She does text but rarely sends pics.

As soon as I noticed the data increasing I started searching around and found lots of others complaining. I ended up turning off location services, siri, icloud sync/back ups, no music matching, using restrictions to disable Ping and apple diagnostic/usage sending. Also started turning off cellular data at night. The phone is still using excessive data. I called AT&T and was able to get a credit for all the overage fees but they still don't have an answer and said it would be up to me to figure out what the phone is doing.

AT&T is logging large data transfers of 170-320MB in the early hours when we're sleeping. I thought maybe there was a delay in the useage logging but there is activity all day long that is consistent with what I'm tracking on the phone in the Settings | General | Useage | Cellular data. Also, at home we are on wifi so no clue what is happening.

On Jan 1st my AT&T acct showed 0 sent/received and I reset the phone stats for cellular data as suggested by AT&T. Now, 6 days later, the phone shows a total of 572.8 MB (sent+received), the AT&T site is showing 1073.34 MB. So in just 6 days they are showing almost double what the phone thinks it used. So in another 6 days I can expect the overage charges to start piling up. We are on 5.0.1.

I'm considering a factory reset, possibly requesting a new sim and/or phone. I also received a 4S during this same time and my useage is consistent with the iPhone 4 my 4S replaced.

Any progress on this issue by anyone?

There have been quite a few threads on this subject. In the UK, there are many instances of data usage on all networks happening exactly at midnight.

Both my wife and I have 4S on Vodafone, and EVERY night at exactly midnight, there is a cellular data download of between 500k and 15Mb! Of course, Vodafone say that they have never heard of the problem but from forum posts both here and on other sites (including their own), they are not telling the truth!

Vodafone's answer is that it must be an app, and the solution is to switch off Cellular data. Very useful!

randyfrompinckney wrote:

AT&T is logging large data transfers of 170-320MB in the early hours when we're sleeping. I thought maybe there was a delay in the useage logging but there is activity all day long that is consistent with what I'm tracking on the phone in the Settings | General | Useage | Cellular data. Also, at home we are on wifi so no clue what is happening.

I (and many others) have repeated this many times in this thread, but no one seems to notice:

WiFi is OFF whenever the phone is on Standby to preserve battery. Even if you think you are on WiFi at home. So any data transfers will go over 3G. The exception is if the phone is connected to power; if it is WiFi will stay on when the phone is asleep. So keep it plugged in and it will use WiFi instead of 3G.

There are many apps that update overnight, including news apps, FaceBook, etc, and now iCloud backup (although it only does it when on WiFi and plugged in). However, the early morning data transfers on your bill are accumulated data from the last cell tower you were connected to at the time of the report. The other data transfers on your bill represent data from cells you have left during the day (when you leave a cell it reports accumulated data). So the time stamp of the data transfer does not correlate with the actual time of the data transfer.