Q: Unknown data usage early morning

You mentioned in your blog post that you downloaded 3G usage monitoring apps, and I have done the same. What I can't understand is why the usage reported by these apps in NO WAY match the usage numbers I am seeing on AT&T's website. The DataMan app 3G usage numbers match the phone's own Settings > General > Usage > Cellular Usage numbers perfectly, but are grossly out-of-whack with what AT&T's reports state.

So why the disagreement? Who is reporting the correct information? When I am using my phone when out-and-about via 3G the numbers seem correct and reasonable based on the type of usage I am doing, so why would my phone go and download (send?) a very unreasonable amount of data overnight when it is just sitting there? I feel like I am trying to solve a puzzle with 90% of the pieces missing.

Hi there again Thezonie and thanks for the feedback on your setting too. I'd definitely recommend changing those settings in your System Services. The main two in particular being Diagnostics and Usage and your iAds services. Believe it or not those two alone will kill of a LOT of your data usage as iAds will search for appropriate content to advertise during your email and web surfing times, therefor adding more data and time to your phone processing emails and updating iAds etc in the background. 

I hope you do find a good solution to what's happening and would definitely be interested in any further updates you find too. 

Neil

Just a quick check thezonie, do you call and ask AT&T about your data numbers or use the settings>phone>AT&T services text service ? That would give you a more up to date usage feedback as it seems most AT&T operators will only use current billing cycle information they can see, which is normally delayed anyway.

I have definitely taken your advice and disabled the Diagnostics & Usage and the iAds services.  

I just turned my cellular data back on and it hasn't used as much data.  However, I have yet to leave it on all night.  I may do that tonight and see what happens, but I don't think I'm too bothered by having it turned off while I'm sleeping.  I have no need for it then anyway.

So, thank you! 

I login to the http://wireless.att.com site and check my recent usage, looking at the Data Usage Details to see various Internet/MEdia Net charges at various times throughout each day.

I am going to turn off the Location Services > System Services > Diagnostics & Usage, Location Based iAds, and Setting Time Zone options since I don't want them on ultimately anyway. I don't think that they are the cause of my issue (since turning off e-mail Push stopped the spikes) but who knows ... I may turn all of my e-mail accounts back to Push tomorrow night to see if I see a data usage spike.

That's great news for sure DnceForce77 and I hope those overnight data spikes drop for you. It may be the issue where when the phone drops off wi-fi to 3G it starts to have issues with any email connections so that's another option to keep an eye on. Going from an automatic push to a manual fetch for email. Please if you can, keep us updated on any changes you see.

Neil.

You-are-all-you-need-to-be.blogspot.com

Hi again thezonie and definitely a good idea on checking online with the AT&T account for sure. Maybe see how a text update test goes too ?  Also the Setting Time Zone option isn't one to worry about as your phone needs that to keep your time up to date for a variety of apps and services but definitely switch iAds and Usage and Diagnostics off. Those in particular will eat your data usage up over night in most cases.

Please keep us updated as it sure would be good to see more positive results from this.

Neil.

You-are-all-you-need-to-be.blogspot.com

3G is off and everything I have is set to manual.  Automatic fetch is definitely off. 

Ok, I'll turn the Setting Time Zone option back on.

I'm going to also set all of my e-mail accounts to Push to see how tonight goes with the Diagnostics & Usage and Location-Based iAds turned off.

I am expecting to see a spike of data use overnight, but I wouldn't mind being proven wrong.

I am also resetting my phone's 3G data usage counters just to see what those values are when compated to AT&T's. I've been home within range of my WiFi network since 3 pm this afternoon, and the most recent Internet/MEdia Net charge I see on AT&T's page is at 7 pm, so everything between now and tomorrow morning should be when my phone is only using WiFi when being actively used. (It is almost 9:30 pm.)

I will report back tomorrow with the results.

Sounds good DnceForce77 but it should be ok to leave 3G on for this test. Once your other settings are set up the phone shouldn't need to stream 3G through the night. I run Pandora most nights with 3G on and those other settings as I've mentioned but this past week still haven't used more than 1Mb of unknown data.

Good luck though and looking forward to hopefully an update tomorrow.

Neil.

You-are-all-you-need-to-be.blogspot.com

Sounds great Thezonie and definitely looking forward to a brighter update tomorrow too.

Neil.

You-are-all-you-need-to-be.blogspot.com

Well, I do have good news this morning. After changing all of my e-mail accounts to Push (which previously caused a 100-200 MB data usage spike) this morning I only had a 11 MB blip at 7:29 am.

So the Location changes that Calineil suggest may have done the trick! I will continue to monitor the usage over the next couple of days a report back my results.

Thanks for the help!

That really is GREAT news thezonie and I'm very glad I could help for sure. 

Looking forward to seeing more positive updates on these usage issues and hoping one day very soon we get Apple to fix this mess too, after all they are the ones who updated the iOS and since February more and more people are noticing these issues.  I've seen this going on for 2 years now and it's about time it was sorted.

Looking forward to less un-necessary data usage and more happy days surfing, streaming and updating.

Neil.

Yesterday morning's data numbers took a while to hit AT&T's website, but it looks like my phone chewed through around 30 MB of data two nights ago. It's not the 100-200 MB that used to happen overnight, but it's not necessarily insignficant, either. 30 MB may be due to Push e-mail running on multiple accounts, although the night before it only used 11 MB.

I'm going to keep an eye on the usage over the next few days and see how it goes. 30 MB overnight doing practically nothing is still 900 MB a month, which is what my average total monthly usage used to be.

My grandson has an Iphone3.  Under Settings/Location Services, there is not a "System Services" box at the bottom of that screen.  Is there any way to set the "Diagnostics and Usage" preference to "off."