Q: Unknown data usage early morning

FarmerJim wrote:
Call AT&T and ask them to explain how they bill for data usage then. It's what I did. When the first agent couldn't answer it, I politely asked to talk to someone who did. I continued to push until I got my answer. Only they can explain why they don't bill at exactly the same time each night.

They lied to you. Others have called and gotten different answers. The usage does not appear at the same time every night. But going back over old bills, for 24 months or 731 days, it has ALWAYS been between 2 AM and 3 AM EST EXCEPT when the phone is off at those times. Then it appears when I turn the phone back on. Others in this thread have reported it at different times, but that is only because they are in different time zones. It's also been reported by users in the UK, who certainly don't have AT&T.

Exactly. Only AT&T can truly explain how they bill your data usage since it's their system.

A good example to look at is this bill someone posted:
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=229569&d=1276013929

In that bill most of the users data usage events are happening around 2 to 2:30am. AT&T has MILLIONS of customers. I'm pretty sure their billing system rolls through a list at a set time per billing zone, and starts creating events. Most users use push, so they won't see usage until that event happens. Once push is disabled you'll start to see other events pop up here and there, or if you restart the phone.

From my own bill:
On 6/16 I disabled Push. On my bill for 6/16 I saw a billing event at 10:57 when I restarted my phone after checking my email, and having a game ask me to restart. Then another at 11:00 when I checked my email again. Then one final one around 2am. Today I turned push on, and I've been on the phone all day long with no data usage shown yet. I'm fairly certain tonight it'll show the full days usage at 2am or somewhere close. It matches up to what the AT&T rep told me, what I'm seeing on my bill, and what I'm noticing from my understanding of how iPhone uses push notifications.

They didn't lie to me. All the data and testing I've done has matched up to what I was told. 100%.

The nights you turned the phone off, I bet the data usage happened at the time you turned the phone off. Try it tonight. Make note of what time you turn your phone off, and then look at your bill in the morning. The times will be close, and there will be no aggregate billing since the network will see the phone no longer talking to it, and tell the billing system to end aggregation at that point.

Hey Lawrence, like I said, I have a predictable weekday routine which is why I was able to test it. I too called AT&T and after customer service got sent to tech support who was equally as non-informative. It is hard to do but I purposely limited myself to 2 apps to use over 3G that I noticed a difference in for for six (work)days. Since each app is a streaming music app and would be used for approximately the same amount of time (one hour - depending on traffic) it seems a pretty valid experiment. The data usage is very close in total. The only difference is on the days with the first app I saw data usage in real time with no 2:00am usage that night/next morning. On days with the other app I saw the 2:00am that night/next morning usage with no real-time data usuage reflected for the day. They are both really close in volume.

TosaDeac-

I had one by one turned push off, then on again but still some big transfers in the night. I have push on but only for Find My iPhone, it is off in apps and email is manual. Notifications are on but off in apps.

Can others try resetting the iPhone as I detailed?

After further analyzing my own usage, I think the rep I spoke to was confused. I don't think it is updating, I think the the previous days 3g use gets posted early the next morning. In my case, it is mostly Sirius or Pandora internet radio at 30MB per day.

Anyway, I wouldn't choose the 200MB data plan.

Nathan,

I tried your reset and I'm hoping you are right. So far I have only one night to go by, but here's my result:
DATE TIME TO/FROM TYPE DIRECTION MSG/KB/MIN
06/18 02:26 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 139KB
06/17 02:49 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 19172KB
06/16 02:49 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 15767KB
06/15 02:19 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 29047KB
06/14 07:31 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 16136KB
06/14 02:50 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 438KB
06/13 02:01 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 13682KB
06/12 10:25 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9137KB
06/12 02:06 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 4535KB
06/11 12:44 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 13683KB

I don't believe I've made any other adjustments since yesterday. I did "reset warning" but did not get any prompt about sending diagnostic info to Apple. So I tried the reset twice more. No mention of the disgnostic option, but at least last night was the lowest data transfer I've seen in months.

If streaming music to your phone is the culprit, then why does it show on usage as 'Send' and not receive? I'm fairly certain that ATT can tell if data is sending or receiving, and would account for these in two separate transfers individually if they were doing end-of-day housekeeping.

And, for the record I do see all my transfers realtime on my bill, I have tested this by doing syncs at pre-defined times. So the idea of lumping makes no sense.

The other morning I got an 8MB transfer when I turned off Airplane mode on my phone. I know for a fact that the only time I have moved more than a 100K of data the last two weeks that I was in fact connected to wifi. I do not stream anything, period. So I can say with no hesitation that I have not moved 8MB of data, yet here it is:

06/15 07:32 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8009KB

I only download apps and do syncing while I am on wifi, either at work or at home. The only things I allow to sync during the day are email (manually) and occasionally Google Maps or iTrans. There is no way I am using more than 1-2MB in any given day.

I'll be looking into the 'Send diagnostic info to Apple' setting in iTunes this evening to see if that changes anything.

I have been reading this form and discussion with great interest. I also see a lot of repetition, hence a summary of what I’ve read and what has worked for me in resolving this issue. Please copy this post and add/correct any errors so we may quickly see any updates going on.

The facts: Unknown data is sent every day in the early morning hours. The data is send over the 3G network and is charged to your account (even though wireless is available). The amount of data varies but are quite substantial and can accumulate over time for those who have limited data plans (like the new 200mb). The data is always sent out to a unknown and apparently location. Both ATT and Apple are pointing fingers and give no real solution to the issue.

Explanation 1: ATT is just summarizing your data at the end of the day. Instead of showing you each charge individually, they show one batch of information.

Although this seems like a good explanation, numerous people on this forum found that the amount sent in the early morning does not reflect their actual usage. In addition, ATT posts additional charges of usage throughout the day. Why would they do that if they summarize all the data at the end of the day? Hence, this explanation is not satisfactory.

Explanation 2: It’s the apps. They send data using a program called Pinch installed in many of the apps available. This does seem strange as you have to give explicit notice each time updates to the apps have to be installed. Also, why would apple allow such secretive updates?

Explanation 3: It’s safari. Some users have noted that leaving pages open in Safari browser contributes to the excessive data. Some users have claimed that leaving pages blank eliminates the problem. Others have said this is not true.

Explanation 4: It’s push and fetch. These settings still send data even if you are sleeping or not using your phone.

Based on these explanations, people have proposed a number of solutions. They are outlined here:

Solution 1: Adjust your settings. Here are some settings that have dramatically reduced the amount of secret data sent every day. Just go in the Settings before you go to bed and make these adjustments. Than turn back in the morning and check your bill. People have shown that their bill either shows a reduction or completely eliminates the mysterious sent.

Airplane mode ON
Push OFF
Fetch MANUAL
Location Services OFF
Notifications OFF

At this point it is unclear which of the settings really does the trick. Several people on the forum are now experimenting with turning different things on and off. If you have any more information on more of the specifics and which settings really do the trick this would be most helpful.

Please add to this post so we can quickly view a summary of events,
Thanks,

Edward Evans,

Do a sync after resetting the warnings. That is where you will get asked if you want Apple to get data. Say no.

As a "potential" new owner of the Iphone I was glad to find this post. In my opinion it's something AT&T needs to answer. After all it is data being transferred over their network.

Also as a potential owner I would be limited to either the 200mb or 2g plans, neither would be a problem for me, until I read about this issue. So as it stands I will be holding off on my purchase of the phone, which disappoints me greatly, was looking forward to it.

I really would not let this issue dissuade you from buying and iPhone. Unless you plan to stream all day long you will almost certainly be fine with the 2GB plan. Many of us are more worried about the choice between the 200mb and 2gb plans. Even with these "nocturnal charges" I still would be fine with the 200mb plan, but for at least the first few months I plan to keep my unlimited since once you give it up it is not possible to get it back. I'm planning on getting the iPhone4 for my wife too, but I have absolutely no qualms about the 200mb plan for her and I'm actually glad I don't need to spend $30 for an unlimited plan for her that she would never come close to needing.

Anyway, just wanted to prevent you from giving up on the iPhone just due to this issue alone.

So I just got off a lengthy call to ATT and Apple. The ATT tech walked me through all the normal things we have discussed, as well as checking Data Roaming and inquiring about apps that might use Openfeint statistics. After hitting the wall she transferred me to an Apple tech who was puzzled as well, but agreed with me that the answers must lie with ATT, since the cellular network and data moved on it are their servers.

Here were the suggestions gleaned from this call:
#1 Leave feedback about this on Apple's iPhone Feedback form as this tends to get more attention than the forums. You can find this here:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

#2 MAYBE Using a network iPhone app that can track data to see where it is going. If you search the app store for 'traceroute' you will several listed. However due to Apple limitations these may not work for this type of issue like an actual unix terminal service would.

#3 Suggested by me. Since I am getting an iPhone 4, I considered jail-breaking my Gen 1 phone and installing an actual unix terminal app that would allow me to do a tcpdump to see all data moving and an out of my phone.

At the least we should all follow suggestion #1, and push this issue into the light to get Apple talking to ATT about this.

well, here's the data usage from overnight btw the 16th and 17th.
06/17 01:00 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2844KB
06/16 01:37 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8609KB


My phone was turned OFF and still seeing data being sent.

Turn push and notifications off.

Then, instead of several time a day data groupings like this, data will post every time you use it.

I have push and notifications off and my last bill had 4,000+ data sessions, usually every 5-10 minutes apart. I also have fetch set to every 15 min, so there's at least one data session every 15 minutes overnight.

There is no "phantom data," it's just grouping it to keep bills smaller. My last bill was 225+ pages because of 8,000+ text messages and 4,000+ data sessions.