Q: Unknown data usage early morning

I'm not on AT&T, I'm in Canada on roger's pay as you go. So I don't have any plan. I don't have any data. I've got 3G disabled. All push notifications are disabled.

But usually several times aday I'll get a txt message from rogers saying I've tried to access the internet and that I don't have a data plan. I'm really glad I don't have a data plan since I'm sure I'd be paying quite a bit for all this "non"usage.

I'm glad other people have started to notice this and wondering what it is. Has anyone setup some sort of netcat on there router to intercept this information in question to get a better look at it?

tell ATT to stick it
no number, no payment

Just try engaging in consistent behavior for a few days. When I stream music to and from work (about an hour - 1/2 hour each way) I consistently get somewhere between 27000-30000kb of usage show up at 2:00am-ish. When I do not stream music and just listen to what is on my phone, I get no usage at 2:00am-ish (all usage at home is wifi). Today, for fun, I streamed music on the way to work and did not stream it on the way home. I'm curious to see if I'm going to see a 2:00am-ish data charge for about half of the usual. I'm thinking somewhere around 14000kb.

The really amazing (or terrifying?) thing about all of this is simply look at the huge number of posts only on this thread. A quick search of "late night iphone data usage" in Google also shows that there are dozens of other forums with threads equally as long. Like many of you I have called both AT&T and Apple. One would think that with the barrage of calls, someone would instruct customer service/tech support with a definitive answer so they could say "Yeah, it is because the system does XYZ. End of story, problem resolved." But no, I guess I am just naive. Stellar customer service and way to address the concerns of your customers/users.

Message was edited by: trypticsoy

Well, it seems that this is just an ATT data report left over from their legacy methodology from the old dial up reporting code. While the jury is still out, it is the best theory so far for a couple of very good reasons.

First: ATT continues to play dumb. And while they ARE dumb for trying to restrict data usage and a whole host of other **** poor management decisions, they DO know what is going on here. And number 2 will explain WHY they don't wanna admit it.

Second: If this is just an aggregate reporting of usage, it means that ATT doesn't truly KNOW how much data you are using at the time you are using it, and has to ASK your phone for a report. Now, if true, imagine what some jailbreaking coder could do with an app that would change the logs and essentially LIE to ATT when they ask the phone for the report??

If I was ATT using 1990's tech for accounting, because I didn't want to write some very new code to make reporting live for millions of data users, I sure as **** wouldn't admit it and let the jailbreaking coders get a heads up on finding a way around my anticquaited data reporting model.

This is the only theory that makes sense. Apps don't phone home, Apple would ban them so fast. There isn't any secret reporting being done, except by ATT for ATT. They are the only party interested at ALL in your data use. Cause they gotta CHARGE for it.

I'd also be VERY willing to bet that, knowing what I know about old school data dial up reporting, that it GUESSES about usage too. And this would also explain why some users are seeing their midnight reports as close to usage and others are way over.

We saw lots of this way way back on AOL when you had to pay by the minute for dial up. It was a dirty little secret that got known, just about the time that AOL got enough of a customer base to announce their unlimited dial up plans and sweep it under the rug. Old timers will remember or know of what I speak.

So, IMHO, mystery solved. ATT doesn't have live tracking, is using an old legacy script to run in the middle of the night and just asks your phone "Say, iPhone, just checkin' but how much data do you think you used today"?

And ATT does NOT want the whole world to know that they DON'T know and are guessing half the time. LOL

But now you do know...

<Edited by Host>

Two problems with your "solution".

1) non AT&T user are reporting the same issue.

2) why would the data be sent twice? Once when a message is sent and again for billing? Wouldn't it be simpler to compile and send a summary?

3) if the data us being aggregated where is it stored pending transmission???

Thankfully, I am still under the old "unlimited" plan -the change you mentioned is one reason I haven't pre-ordered an iPhone 4... But that being said, I read your post and decided to check my own data use. Much as you have found, I too have similar unexplained data use when I am asleep - all outgoing, and all unrequested by me (as far as I can tell). My phone is a 3G, not 3Gs... so this is not limited to that model.

Here is the data list from just this current cycle (new one just started a few days ago):


DATE TIME TO/FROM TYPE DIRECTION MSG/KB/MIN
06/18 01:51 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1465KB
06/17 08:51 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 75KB
06/17 01:37 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 12878KB
06/16 01:37 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7874KB
06/15 02:37 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1982KB
06/15 01:16 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2238KB
06/14 01:16 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2678KB
06/13 01:16 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1986KB
Total this page 31176KB
TOTAL 31176KB

Just the two that are at more normal hours (8:51PM and 2:37 PM) - all the others at that magical 1-2AM window. Something is funky...

Yeah, but Rachel, as I said in an earlier post, I noticed a pattern and did some controlled experiments so I am still convinced it is app-related.

When I do nothing over 3G but stream music to and from work using SlackerRadio I see data usage of between 14,000kb and 15,000kb at around 7:30am and again at around 4:30pm for the same volume, makes sense in that is when I when I go to and come home from work. When I do nothing but stream music to and from work using LastFM I see no real-time data usage reported for that day but see the 2:00am-ish data usage of between 28,000 and 30,000kb. I did this for four days, alternating between the two apps and it was consistent.

On Thu 6/17 I did not stream any music, only listened to stuff on my phone. No real-time usage reported nor any 2:00am-ish usage reported. Lastly, yesterday, Fri 6/18 I streamed music on the way to work using LastFM and did not stream it on the way home. My expectation was that I would see 2:00am usage at about half the normal volume of when I stream both ways. Sure enough, when I checked this morning, there was 2:00am data usage of a little over 14,500kb. It is just way too consistent. SlackerRadio seems to report real-time usage and LastFM seems to show up as an aggregated total at 2:00am.

The fact that people with other carriers also notice this only lends credence to the argument that it is app-related as to how different apps register or report data usage. Again, it is very consistent, and after a little controlled experimentation, very predictable as well.

I agree that Apple would never allow "phone-home" apps but there is an app-related pattern that I have found.

Man, I just really want a definitive answer from someone at either AT&T or Apple!

I sent a friend of mine who works with AT&T a link to this thread and this was his reply:


Yes, I've seen this and I believe it's a nightly roll-up of cumulative usage for all the little transactions during the day.

It's true that while the phone is locked (aka in "sleep" mode) the wifi is shut down. Therefore, any email checking, voice mail transfers, or notifications your phone receives during that time are over 3G. If you have your phone set to check email frequently or if you get a lot of notifications this adds up.

The diagnostic data people talked about in that thread is sent from your computer when you sync your phone, never directly to the phone. In fact, I turned that off because it adds so much time to each sync (can be minutes). If you have it on and want to turn it off just find the option in iTunes to "reset all warnings" or something like that. Then it will ask you during your next sync.

I will say that I've seen the phones do a hard reboot in the early hours of the morning more than once. I do think that there are possibly maintenance routines or updates which can get done at that time of night, but not every night. These could be planned reboots or crashes. I've seen this equally on our 3GS phones as well as our original 2G phones which no longer have SIMs in them. With no SIM and wifi off when locked this has to be something done completely internally by the phone vs externally triggered. They are Unix boxes after all.

I don't think much of a 200K plan for iPhones in light of how much they do while supposedly idle. 2GB is probably OK but I was very surprised they didn't add more data to when you add $20 for tethering. I am keeping the unlimited plans on our phones for now, but I don't really see us using more than 2GB.

I think if I had to have tethering right now I'd consider one of those Sprint 4G wifi modems which cost $60 with a 2yr contract and $60/month for unlimited data. These can connect five devices simultaneously via wifi whereas the iPhone only does USB or bluetooth tethering. That doesn't work with the iPad (yet, at least).

The main track of this thread is the time of data usage reporting on our bills and what it might represent. A much smaller track is the amount of data showing no matter what time it is billed.

That's where I feel we are overlooking a problem. I am very consistent in my usage. I take my phone out with me at meals and when there is no wi-fi I read news sites and RSS daily feeds on 3G. My data usage graph shows this:

Dec '09 119 MB
Jan '10 89 MB
Feb '10 163 MB
Mar '10 114 MB

Ok. Now watch this:

Apr '10 290 MB
May '10 197 MB
and as of June 19 '10, half a month 183 MB.

I do not stream anything. The only way I have changed my habits is to use my phone for data less. I have an iPad now and never check anything online with my phone when I am home. The problem for me is the amount of data reported.

Message was edited by: Eddie Strauss

Another reply from my friend at AT&T:

Well, it's not really sending it then. It's sending it all day long but they just don't show all those little transactions during the day. The big number overnight is the sum of a bunch of small ones.

-G

But if you are on wifi, Apple just confirmed that when the iPhone is sleeping, it stays in the wifi connection, so how can they charge anything for data usage. Unlike phone numbers, one cannot even check to see the address of the data?

I thought I read somewhere that the phone does not hold wifi when in sleep. It uses 3G. I also thought I read somewhere that the ability to hold wifi while in sleep was one of the features added to the new OS available next week. Not positive but I vaguely do remember reading that.

I have confirmed, using a System Manager app that when the phone goes to sleep, it does revert to Cellular data. Oddly enough, though, once it wakes up again, although it shows a good wifi signal, the Manager app shows wifi as being "inactive" and cellular as being "active". I can't say that I understand that.

Okay, but why does the data report disappear when you turn on Airplane mode, turn off notifications push and fetch, location services, etc.? I've done this for two days now and there is no longer a data report in the morning. If ATT was reporting data at the end of the day based on usage, it should have consistently keep doing that.

I talked to ATT again and they are saying it's definitely the apps and notifications. I have an ATT representative follow up with me to get to the bottom of this issue (because they don't know why it wouldn't go on WiFi and use the 3G instead during the middle of the night).

Also, none of the ATT employees have offered the data summation explanation at the end of the day. That would have been an easy explanation for them, but they are not offering this. They all say it's updates and apps. So again, this makes me belief the data report summation is not true. It's something else.

I have now made 3 calls to AT&T about this. The first time they said it was the "iPhone updating itself". They made me shut off the phone and said they would "reset" something so this wouldn't happen. Of course it did. Next, they told me it was the apps, but they had no idea why the apps couldn't transmit data via wifi instead of 3G. They transferred me to someone from Apple, who didn't know why I should be getting these data charges between 2 and 3 a.m. each day. They also couldn't explain the latest of the early morning entries, which was a whopping *96,000 KB* (or about half of the allotted monthly use under the cheapest plan). The Apple person did suggest that I uninstall and reinstall iTunes. Why? Who knows. Also, she said that I should have already updated to OS4 (which I understand is not available until 6/21). She said it was an "AT&T billing problem".

Bottom line: two giant, unresponsive organizations pointing fingers at each other, with little regard for the consumer.