Q: Unknown data usage early morning

Go to Settings/Location Services. Scroll down to System Services and tap it. Every switch that is ON is another iOS function that sends data to Apple. Directly under Location Services are all of the apps that use Location Services, and some of them can send or receive data also.

iPhone4S

I was on the phone with ATT for 50 minutesTalked to Joe Rios. He was not very helpful. The only explanation he had was that there was apps running, which would confirm an earlier post on this thread. They don't know what the 11.9 MB was used for. Their system just shows that there was an app running or "The phone was updating". I asked how often does the phone do that. He said about once a week. I wasn't getting anywhere so I asked for his supervisor. Her name was Amanda Marsh. She knew a little more than Joe, but could not give me a sensible explanation as to why it would take 11.9 MB to update the phone. She did agree that it seemed like a lot. She did confirm that the phone goes to 3G when asleep (which I also noticed). She also mentioned that her daughter has a Blackberry and it does no such thing, confirming Dutch's comment. 

Amanda also had access to my past usage and apparently all this happens a little after midnight, that's when the usage spikes and it happens once or twice a week, she says. She recommended that I go to settings a turn off any notifications that I do not use which would limit any unsolicited  software updates. She claims that software updates itself when notifications are on. I would think that only Apple coould do that for the IOS.

I have to do a little more experimenting. I think Dutch is right, the iPhone is calling home, being that its new, they are working out some bugs that we are unaware of. If so, it cetainly is not fair that they use our 3G data when doing so.

They either have to tell Siri to update only on Wifi or alert you so you can do it manually.

I am convinced that this is an Apple thing, not ATT. I never had this problem with my old 3GS.

See my post about notifications.

Siri uses Internet access every time you use it, and there is no way to prevent it other than to not use Siri. Reason: The iPhone does not perform any sort of speech recognition. It records what you say, then uploads it to the Siri servers on the Internet for interpretation. The Siri server parses what you said, figures out how to respond, then sends the response back to the phone. So the iPhone is really just a digital voice recorder; all the work is done in the cloud.

I knew that about Siri - I I was just joking - Thanks for your response anyway.

Sorry I didn't get the joke. I agree that it is an Apple problem, if it is a problem at all. We have smart phones that have over 300,000 available applications (I have 170 on my phone), many of which use data to perform the functions we bought them to do. Unless you have a phone with no added applications and you turn off all of the built in functions the phone is going to use data, and probably a lot of data. It's going to be very difficult to identify a specific application, becuase it is probably multiple applications. If you don't want to use data you can certainly emasculate all of the applications that use data, but then why have an iPhone at all? It's not a great phone if all you want to do is talk; it's bulky and uncomfortable to hold and overly delicate. It's primarily a data device, and the best available at this time for that purpose.

There are those who do not have added apps and do not use any factory apps that use data, and have every notification turned off; and still get large data transmissions in the middle of the night.  I firmly believe that it is Apple taking usage information from the phone- i.e. the phone is calling home - Apple.

Blackberry and HTC phones do not do this on the same data plans.  There will not be another iPhone in this family!

It sounds to me, reading over the past couple of days, that some people are complaining about 500kb, 1000kb, etc. use during funky hours of the day or night.  At first I struggled trying to figure out what it was I sent/received or what the wife sent/received.  My problem, as is the case with a few others, has been astronomical sized chunks of data - 10, 15, 20, 25 etc. mb at a time.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something, somewhere is going on that either AT&T or Apple isn't owning up to.  My thoughts are the former.  I have had 3 occasions over the past year and a half, almost 6 months to the day apart and on each occasion I got on to AT&T and got it resolved.  As I said a few notes ago, within hours of sending in a nasty-gram to the National ECare Resolution Team (email address provided in a note above) on each occasion, the excessive data use went away and wiped off of my bill.  Therefore, I cannot believe that a "rogue App" or whatever else you want to call it is at fault.  Yes, you are going to see rather large chunks used here and there but review what you have done during the day - emails on 3G, MMS texts with video or large photos, and so on.  They, too, can add up quickly but with a 200mb data plan, I'm not too worried about them.  It's when one of those infamous AT&T emails shows up telling me I am exceeding my data limit is when my anal sphincter tightens up and I am dialing 611 immediately.  So far, so good.  I'm not saying they know me now but I cheerfully tell them my problem and then explain that what they have on their "script" in front of them has nothing to do with it.  I refer them to prior Case IDs and then get put on hold before another higher up person gets on line.  As I said several times, including above, the National ECare Resolution Team or the National Urgent Case Team are the ones to talk to or send notes to.  If you do send them a note, include screen shots (converted to a .jpg file instead of a .png file) of your bill or your usage screen on the phone.  Most importantly, don't go ballistic on them, that will get you absolutely nowhere. 

Now, a question for all those still on an unlimited plan:  How many of you have gone Online and looked up your data usage under MediaNet/Internet to see if you, too, aren't being charged.  I know it is something that a person with an unlimited plan wouldn't worry about but check it just for grins.  This whole thread started in June 2010 and, if I remember correctly, that wasn't long after the 200mb plans were introduced.  My first instance with the excessive usage was late Sept./early Oct. of that year.  My first entries on this thread appear around page 83 or 84 and tell of a discussion with an Apple employee (Rasheed) and an AT&T employee (James) on a conference call.  James thought it might be related to billing software updates that had been made when the 200mb plan came into being.  Just a thought. . . . . . .

I wish people would stop bringing up these small "middle of the night" transfers. It's already been confirmed that those are just summaries of the day's data transfers and are perfectly legit. The problems are the huge transfers involving 10s of megabytes (in some cases 100s of megabytes) that are pushing people over their limits. I doubt that it's a 3rd party rogue app, because it happens to so many different people. I also doubt that it involves the phone "calling home" to Apple (why would it do this???) or updates, because the transfers happen when all our apps are up to date. I still think the most likely problem is the Mail app getting stuck. Has anyone had this problem with no e-mail addresses configured?

JES42 wrote:

 

Now, a question for all those still on an unlimited plan:  How many of you have gone Online and looked up your data usage under MediaNet/Internet to see if you, too, aren't being charged.  I know it is something that a person with an unlimited plan wouldn't worry about but check it just for grins.  This whole thread started in June 2010 and, if I remember correctly, that wasn't long after the 200mb plans were introduced.  My first instance with the excessive usage was late Sept./early Oct. of that year.  My first entries on this thread appear around page 83 or 84 and tell of a discussion with an Apple employee (Rasheed) and an AT&T employee (James) on a conference call.  James thought it might be related to billing software updates that had been made when the 200mb plan came into being.  Just a thought. . . . . . .

I have an unlimited plan and have always monitored my usage out of curiosity. I have only gone over 200 MB in a month a couple of times, and I have never gone over 300 MB. And, as I said in an earlier message, I have 170 3rd party apps and 6 email accounts. I also travel internationally and add an International data plan when I do. I monitor that VERY closely. And the only app I have found that uses a lot of data is the Google Maps app. It can use 10 MB in 5 minutes. Well, actually, excluding streaming apps and YouTube, which everyone knows use a lot of data.

It's been suggested here a few times that some of the unexplained data usage may be when the iPhone "phones home" with diagnostic data. There were rather confusing instructions about how to turn this off in iTunes.

I just discovered (with my iPhone 4 using iOS 5.0) that you can turn Diagnostics & Usage reporting on or off and apparently view what is being sent on the iPhone under Settings. Since I just discovered it, I don't know when this first became available. I don't remember seeing it or hearing about it before.

Go to Settings, General, About, and scroll to the bottom for Diagnostics & Usage. If you click on Diagnostics & Usage, you can check either Automatically Send or Don't Send. You can also view Diagnostic & Usage Data. On my phone there are two rather short text files labeled LowMemory-2011-10-24-1628... If this is the sort of thing that Apple is "sending home," I'm skeptical that it could be what is causing the megabytes of unexplained data usage. In any case, it appears that you can now monitor what the iPhone wants to send.

In my case it verifys something I had thought - that despite claims that the iOS manages memory so that lack of memory is never a problem - it is possible to have situations where enough memory is not available which leads to app crashes and slow operation. This is why I periodically close unused apps, not to avoid the possibilty that they may be using cellular data behind my back (although, that may be a problem with some apps, but not in my experience).

I have had these settings off since the start, so it can't be what is causing my data transfer issues.

The Diagnostics & Usage tab is not available in iOS4.  I wonder if they added it and the ability to turn it off in response to all of our complaints.

YES email has been an issue since early days--- the Late Night Data usage reporting isn't an issue and has not been since AT&T changed how the reporting behaves-- as was pointed out prior in this thread there were multiple reports jamming up what appeared to be a billing error--- that behavior is gone and agree that this thread is so long and full of "behaviors" that many viewers do not take the time to read the thread.

Back to the email behavior-- yes, and it depends upon which iPhone model you have.  This is something else that posters are ignoring.  Original iPhone users like me are stuck without the tools that are being added in each new iOS upgrade.  My email takes forever and even after the mail is downloaded as posted previously, the Mail app continues to consume data as do the other apps.  This was confirmed by at least one app developer.

There is still a huge hole in the AT&T billing practices that an intimate poster made known.  AT&T will not devulge their billing practices and I don't see the FCC pressing them to do so.

As for "security" there is ongoing concern that SuperCookies and app providers data collection consumes data--- who pays for it?  The same early concern was voiced with Apple and the opt out process is confusing to some degree depending upon which iPhone you have, whether you use a PC or MAC and finding it to disable it.  The other security concerns are twofold, a)AT&T security and since I have a record of spoofing of my iPhone and an AT&T case--they did credit all the calls back to me and usage and even overcompensated my account with minutes and b)WiFi access and potential security vulnerabilities.

Then, the behaviors of when, why and how the iPhone consumes data.  It is absurd for Apple, AT&T and app makers to assume that users are okay with the presumptions that the iPhone is an "always on, always consuming data device" per the AT&T response to the FCC.  This is their bailout phrase or disclaimer.  Everyone wants to sell an app, service or the iPhone and yet users all want and demand mobility.  The opportunity is the biggest fleecing of consumers-- bigger than ripping them for texting which is pure profit.

So in short, it's not just an IMAP issue and an emphatic, NO - it's not a "user issue" either.  It is seemingly complex and contradictory as to reported symptoms/fixes/finds/observations; while IMAP is just one more thing contributing to the root cause of customer data limits being whacked out when users know they don't use the apps heavily and have gone to extremes to disable every possible thing under their power.  My iPhone exhibits the same behavior with Safari as in Mail.  After a webpage is downloaded, it continues to spin and spin--- seemingly a completely loaded webpage but data errors, retransmits or whatever going on in the background that equates to higher than expected data consumption. Couple these behaviors with what the app developer said about how long any app continues to run and then mix in AT&T or any "Carriers" billing practices that they DO NOT REVEAL and you get insanity.

Now, a question for all those still on an unlimited plan:  How many of you have gone Online and looked up your data usage under MediaNet/Internet to see if you, too, aren't being charged.  I know it is something that a person with an unlimited plan wouldn't worry about but check it just for grins.  This whole thread started in June 2010 and, if I remember correctly, that wasn't long after the 200mb plans were introduced.  My first instance with the excessive usage was late Sept./early Oct. of that year.  My first entries on this thread appear around page 83 or 84 and tell of a discussion with an Apple employee (Rasheed) and an AT&T employee (James) on a conference call.  James thought it might be related to billing software updates that had been made when the 200mb plan came into being.  Just a thought. . . . . . .

That is a good point about the billing procedural changes AT&T made. I've tracked through the portal (My iPhone won't work with apps to track data usage (DataMan and Threshold for example).  When I opted out of Apples reporting program my usage dropped and when AT&T moved the billing reporting to "late night" it appeared to drop too.  But in proceeding months, data usage increase substantially after my behavior changed--- not using iPhone for web surfing and removing most of my apps, the data usage increased.

For about a year and a half my data usage has averaged 0.3GB and suddenly my bill reports I've used 2.5GB of data. Although I have unlimited data, that is still a huge jump. I haven't changed anything (other than the upgrade to iOS5) that I normally do, and I have wifi at home and at school. I called ATT and they told me about the same, that it must be some "apps" stuck using cellular connection in the background even when wifi is present. I don't know if I completely buy that but this is a very recent change. I was very nice about it and so were they, and the gentleman for some reason decided to credit my account with $188 (I don't know where that number came from, especially since I have unlimited data) so it makes me wonder if this is a huge issue that AT&T doesn't have the answer for? I'm tempted to call Apple and get their take on it.