Q: Unknown data usage early morning

"...Only thing that is different...I downloaded the update."

Which is precisely why I have NOT updated my iPhone4 to IOS5 ! Nor shall I, until this issue is resolved.

alik57 wrote:

Only thing that is different...I downloaded the update.

 

Ali

Ah, but you will find phrase in message threads after EVERY update in the past 4 years. So the logic should be that we should all be on iOS version 1.0.

fred robot wrote:

 

"...Only thing that is different...I downloaded the update."

 

Which is precisely why I have NOT updated my iPhone4 to IOS5 ! Nor shall I, until this issue is resolved.

When we downloaded iOS 5..0.1 and specifically turned off the data reporting, as mentioned above, the usage seemed to drop.  iOS 4 did not give one the option to turn off that reporting.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

 

alik57 wrote:

Only thing that is different...I downloaded the update.

 

Ali

Ah, but you will find phrase in message threads after EVERY update in the past 4 years. So the logic should be that we should all be on iOS version 1.0.

The flaw in your logic is that not every iPhone is released initially with iOS version 1.0 !! It will - naturally - have whatever is the latest available release at the time. I do, however, take your point.

The issue is IMHO to do with the multitasking software.

It affects more than just the new iOS5.  My mother's phone is a 3G which cannot run iOS5.  She is running like 4.x (whatever is the latest for her phone).

fred robot wrote:

The flaw in your logic is that not every iPhone is released initially with iOS version 1.0 !! It will - naturally - have whatever is the latest available release at the time. I do, however, take your point.

 

The issue is IMHO to do with the multitasking software.

And, you will note, that this thread started in June 2010, which was WAY before iOS 5 - the current version at that time was 3.1.3.

When the iPhone came out it didn't multitask, but it still used a lot of data. But no one cared and no one noticed (at least in the USA) because AT&T's data plan was unlimited. There were complaints, however, from users in other countries as far back as v 2.1.

The issue is that there are a lot of apps that use a lot of data. The fact that they can do it in background makes it harder to figure out which apps are doing it, but it is not the root problem, which is that the phone was designed to use data, and was designed at a time that data plans were unlimited in the first countries it was deployed. The issue is only going to get worse, as more devices that use more data become available and more carriers are cutting back on data plan limits. It's not just iPhones that get complaints about data overage billing.

Isn't the original deal with this thread that there can be large amounts of unexplained data transfer on the Iphone?

I came to this thread originally because I had hundreds of megabytes of unexplained data uasage. I still have data transfer occurring but it is quite small-ranges from 7-188kb and doesn't have any effect on my bill. This data transfer occurs whether or not wifi is active and definitely is not app dependant. I use push email so I assume this is the main user. I have diagnostics and usage turned off but I still suspect there is some information going to Apple so there is another possible source. Oddly enough when I am away from my home wifi network the amount of data usage remains the same and only changes if I use an app, which is to be expected. So basically I am happy.

EXCEPT - MY CARRIER ACKNOWLEDGED THE PROBLEM WITH IPHONES, THEN SUBSEQUENTLY EMPHATICALLY DENIED THE PROBLEM EXISTED, THEN SUDDENLY THE PROBLEM WENT AWAY. TELSTRA, AUSTRALIA IS MY CARRIER.

I am lucky, I get all my usage shown in my bill in detail, so it is easily seen each month what is happening and when.

It would be nice to know how Telstra fixed it here.

I've been through this 3 times already.  Every six months, almost to the day, this phantom usage appears on my bill, my wife's phone, my phone, or both of them.  I get on to the AT&T National Urgent Case team, calmly present my case, refer them to prior instances of it happening, and it "magically" goes away.  Any follow ups I submit asking what was found are never answered but it is clear sailing for the next 6 months.  As I said in an entry three, four, five pages ago, I am waiting until March of next year for it to begin again.

As I pointed out back in September/October of last year, this thread began not long after AT&T instituted the 200mb plan.  I used to have an unlimited plan for a couple of years and never, ever reset the statistics on my original phone that I inherited from one of my sons.  When I passed it on I cleared it and saw 79mb as the data total used since it was restored and given to me.  Now I keep a weekly watch on my AT&T medianet/internet usage and compare it to what the phone shows.  So far, so good.

I am running version 4.3.5

I had the same problem -- high cellular data usage often very early in the morning when connected to my home wifi.  I went to the apple and AT&T store, and finally the AT&T person suggested it could be related to my AT&T Microcel.  I turned off the Microcel and the problem is fixed.

I am having not the same, but similar problem. I have iphone 4, until yesterday on iOS4, updatd to iOS5 last night. anyway the problem is that few weeks ago my iphone started using enormous amount of data (until then I had no problems like this). First I got the message from AT&T that I used 65% of my data plan (200MB). so I stoped using 3G, that I use very little anyway, since I am in wifi 90% time. but 5 days later next message from AT&T that I used 95% of my plan. 3 days later another message that I went over my 200MB plan and am going to be charged extra for next 200MB. Then my next billing cycle started and after 5 days I checked my usage online at AT&T website - 130MB out of 200MB already used. Vast majority in received data, not sent. ***??

so I started analyzing it. It turned out that I do not have any mysterious transfers in the middle of the night. My iphone uses about 150-200KB data per night. But it uses 5-7 MB (!!!) every time I send textmessage via free text messaging app (textfree with voice). One text is ~6MB! I does use that much data both in wifi and 3G but I am paying for it extra. What is more interesting, my husband has iphone too, we use the same app for texting and his iphone uses 40mb per message. we tested it. So it looks like mine is using more that 100 times more data than his. we are in the same wifi and 3g network. I go over the limit with my data plan, he has no problem with it, we are both using our phones in the exact same way. AT&T cannot explain it.

ps. what is microcel?

OK--take this international to REALLY see some high data charges. I was on a high-speed train in France for 3 hours, using a "personal hotspot" in an attempt to connect my laptop to the net. No dice. I was unable to send email, able to load a few web pages (a few hundred Kb at most) and basically had no bars for much of the time. I was surprised then when AT&T shut off my service because they said I had used 3.7 GB (that's gigabytes!) of data. My phone did indeed say that it had send 3.1 GB of data and received 4.8 GB of data, but I certainly had not gotten any benefit from it. But they will be billing me $5,800 at the end of the month and in the meantime (unless I pay 50% of the charges) I have no phone, text or data access.

After webbing around, I found that in February of 2011, someone filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T for artificially inflating actual data usage estimates from between 7 and 300%, and the company even bills for data when the phone or tablet is disabled or unused. The guy filing the suit even hired a consulting firm to quantify the data usage.

"To verify this, the consulting firm hired by Hendrix purchased an iPhone from AT&T and, disabled all notifications on it and did not configure any mail accounts on it. To make sure no applications connect to AT&T, all applications were closed ensuring none were running in the background. After leaving the device untouched for 10 days, it still managed to rake up over 2 MB of data usage in a total of 35 data transactions. Patrick adds:

“This is like a rigged gas pump charging you when you never even pulled your car into the station.”

While it is quite normal for multitasking enabled apps running in the background to consume data, the suit clearly states that they made sure no apps were running in the background.

The suit also claims that a significant portion of AT&T's wireless data revenues amounting to $4.9 billion in the last quarter were inflated by overcharging users." 

See http://www.iphonehacks.com/2011/02/att-hit-by-class-action-lawsuit-for-overcharg ing-iphone-users-for-data-usage.html for the full article.

Unfortunately, on November 1, 2011, a judge decided that the case had to go to arbitration, since the AT&T contract forces any disputes to arbitration and class-action suits are prohibited. For more about this, see http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Systemic-Over-Billing-Case-Scuttled-11684 1

It's not comforting that the companies in charge of the arbitration are hired by AT&T and tend to rule in favor of their employer 91% of the time.

So what to do? As everyone here has noted, the AT&T Customer "Service" reps can't help you. Even their boss's boss's boss can't help you. You can dispute the charges, in writing to AT&TBill Dispute,1025 Lenox Park, Atlanta, GA 30319 (this is the address in the contract. On the phone, the AT&T rep told me to send it to AT&T Complaints Department, P.O. Box 1180, Greeley, CO 80632). I sent to both, with a cc to the other, canceled the auto payment from my checking account, and hope to be talking to an AT&T person with a solution in the near future, but no resolution yet.

One solution would be to change carriers. I've not seen a single mention of Verizon in this thread, after reading the last 10 pages of posts. Does anyone know anything about Verizon's track record in this regard?

The ultimate solution would be to drop the cell phone in the deepest ocean and return to the good ole days. But that isn't likely.

Hi Guys

I live in the UK, and have had my iPhone 4 for 18 months now.

Last month, I received a text from my carrier (Vodafone) to say that I had nearly reached my quota of internet usage of 1gb. I found this hard to believe as I have only ever used a max of 500mb every month for 17 months, but I had been tethering my iPad on some days on the train so I thought "I better cut down".

On 23rd November, my billing cycle kicked in and I'm back up to 1046mb allowance....so I thought all was happy.

Unitil this morning...

Received a text Tuesday to say that that I had almost reached my limit again, only 5 days later! So I thought it must be a mistake. I then logged into my Vodafone App this morning to see I'm 24mb over my limit....8 days after my billing cycle refreshed my allowance!!

Now it seems, I'm having this problem that you've all been talking about. Yesterday, I got on the train to work, checked my Facebook in the 4 minutes I get before I hit a 3G blackspot and then nodded off for a little nap. Not using my phone again for another 1h20m. According to Vodafone, I've used 3mb of data every 2 minutes for that entire 1h20m and used up 100mb yesterday morning....whilst I was napping on the train!!

The blame has been passed onto maybe one of my apps was running in the background, but I have no new apps receently so why has this started happening now?!?!

It seems fishy to me after reading all your comments that this is happening worldwide with Apple devices, so yes it is either the apps ripping our allowance or Apple are up to something!!

You mentioned tethering and within this thread I believe it's been mentioned before.  I will repeat my theory short version--- there is more than one issue.

Getting back to tethering, my daughter recently purchased an iPod Touch.  She's pretty savvy but then most teenagers are.  While at the Mall, she mentioned she was next to a lady with a Blackberry.  Then, she said, "I started getting iMessages and Skype calls." 

I have not had the opportunity yet to go to the store where my daughter said this occurred but I will.  A fact is iPhones and iDevices can be hacked/spoofed.  Maybe there's a coffee shop or some store with unsecure WiFi.

Can't help but wonder, how many complaintants are using tethering too?

The other question I have for anyone interested, is during any period of suspected DATA USAGE that you cannot account for---- did you receive any phone calls on your iPhone that were wrong numbers repeatedly?

You are correct--- the issue is far reaching but unknown about Asia.

Re: Surprise wifi in the mall - do they have an AT&T store? I'm always able to use a wifi connection ("attwifi" or something similar) when I'm near at AT&T store.

Re: Phantom data - this is really hitting mine and my GF's phones starting recently. For what it's worth, I'm on ios5 and she's still on ios4. I've used ~20mb of data in the last 3 days despite being at home (wifi) or at work (wifi) the entire time, except the car trips to and from.

As a diagnostic, I'm shutting down all apps, rebooting my phone, and not using it for anything other than text/phone for a couple of days to see what happens.

I've been in several malls that offer free WiFi.

Re WiFi at home and work, the iPhone will only use WiFi when the screen is on. When the phone goes to sleep it turns off WiFi to save battery. So it doesn't matter if you are in a WiFi zone but the phone is asleep; background apps that use data will use cellular data.