Q: Unknown data usage early morning

Still the questions remain.

What is being uploaded and how do we verify it?
How do we know the billing is correct if we cannot verify the source of the upload and to whom it is being sent?

Having the same issue. Contacted AT&T without any success.


DATE TIME TO/FROM TYPE DIRECTION MSG/KB/MIN
07/12 07:58 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5480KB
07/12 01:51 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7264KB
07/11 06:51 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 4828KB
07/11 01:07 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 17209KB
07/10 06:07 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7283KB
07/10 09:22 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 11110KB

Been experiencing this same problem. I've never used over 140MB in a single month, then I received the data usage overage warning e-mail from AT&T. After logging in, the data usage showed I used over 400MB in one block of time at 1:25 a.m. The following day it showed I used over 116MB at 1:45 a.m. I was asleep both times, my phone was in standby and I was using wi-fi.

I've called AT&T and Apple multiple times and continue to get a runaround. AT&T told me to turn off cellular data until the issue was resolved, then was supposed to contact Apple and then call me back…the call never came. I called again, was passed from AT&T, then to Apple, then finally made it to a senior advisor at Apple technical support. This senior advisor told me the only explaination is third-party apps running in the background. He went on to explain how apps like Facebook can run in the background and use data – apparently he doesn't understand how iOS4 works and that multitasking is limited to a small number of capabilities. I was not running streaming audio or using any app that would use task completion, so third-party apps running in the background could not be the answer.

So since iOS4 doesn't include any kind of data tracking and AT&T doesn't offer any kind of detailing tracking as well, I think we're all hosed until they figure it out themselves. While this wouldn't be an issue under unlimited data, it becomes a major problem with tiered plans.

"I believe I have a fix for the large transfers. Hook up your iPhone, in iTunes CTRL click on your device on the left, and reset warnings. Unhook and hook the phone up again, and confirm that you do not want Apple getting info.

That fixed it for me. There are very small transfers happening now in the middle of the night, on the order of 20K or so. "

I tried this several times without success. I never got a message - even after clicking Sync. I just activated the phone tonight and when I first connected it, it opened iTunes itself and I went thru the activation. There wasn't anywhere to click to prevent Apple from getting this data then either.

How do I turn this off?

Just got off another 1.5hr long phone support call…

I spoke with an AT&T supervisor who in turn called and spoke to someone at Apple support - he relayed the following:
• when the phone is in standby mode, it shuts off the wi-fi radio to conserve battery life
• thus, in standby mode all data transfers occur over 3G/cellular data

A couple thoughts:
1) the phone should never switch to 3G data when wi-fi is available. This is clearly a software flaw Apple should address.
2) it still doesn't explain my 400MB data transfer at 1:22 a.m. and the 116MB data transfer the following morning at 1:45 a.m.

I wasn't running any third-party apps capable of using that amount of data (like Voip or audio streaming), so it had to be a built-in Apple app using the data. My only guess is Mail.app got stuck in a loop and started downloading like crazy even when the phone went in standby and it switched to 3G.

The other thing this brings to light is the absolute need for detailed, realtime data monitoring, either on the iPhone itself, or through AT&T. How can we diagnose or fix the problem when we receive an e-mail 48hrs late saying we blew through our data cap and the only description of the data use is "Internet/MEdia Net?" This would have been a curiosity under the old unlimited data plan, but is major problem now when you're stuck with a 200MB or 2GB limit.

I seem to have solved my problem with my iPhone using huge amounts of data.

The problem was that every time it checked AND received an email it would say that it had received at least 3MB of data. You can imagine how this can add up. Sometimes 100mb in a day.

The solution was creating a new email account and THEN deleting the old one. I deleted the old one and created a new one last time and it didn't help at all. Not sure why and it might not really make a difference, but I'm trying to think of every little detail that might have had an affect on the outcome.

How to tell if you are having this problem.
Set email to receive manually and make sure PUSH is off. Go to the usage data ON YOUR IPHONE and note the mb of data used. Then go to your email account and check your email. If there isn't any email, send one to yourself.

After you have received your emails check your usage. It should not have gone up, or only gone up 1mb. Try it several times.

While the people at ATT and Apple were very nice and did their best, they really didn't help a lot. AT&T's drove me the craziest as their solution is to just spend more money. She was patient and nice and did everything she could though, just wrong.

I may be jumping the gun, and I may be back, but so far I've used only two or three MB of data today.

Using the usage data on the iphone is the best way to track usage problems. Start by checking every hour or just before you start to run a particular app. Put in a note in your note app to keep track and narrow usage down. www.ATT.com is only good to show totals for the day, and even then, it isn't very helpful It doesn't even show which way the data was going.

Good luck everyone!

Message was edited by: Stephend7

I too have joined the club of high data usage. Yesterday (7/13) morning I got an alert that I was at 65% usage from ATT.

I spend 95% or more of my time at home with wi-fi - I rarely use data outside my home unless I'm traveling so I was very shocked to see data usage. My history showed that my data usage rarely goes above the 200mb so I picked the lower plan when I upgraded to the iPhone 4.

I checked my wife's iPhone 3gs usage - 9mb - very low
I checked my daughter's iPhone 3g usage - 7mb - tho we just gave it to her when I upgraded to the 4.

my data usage - 137mb - too darn high for someone using his phone with wi-fi only!

So, I read this thread and many others yesterday morning. I decided to see if a reboot would solve the problem - as I'm thinking one of the background apps might be doing it and a reboot should turn it off right? So I rebooted and only used the phone, email, and the pzizz app (a napping tool) yesterday... here's a snippet of my usage:


DATE TIME TO/FROM TYPE DIRECTION MSG/KB/MIN
07/13 06:40 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 21KB
07/13 01:17 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5064KB
07/12 10:52 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2852KB
07/12 10:41 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 31KB
07/12 05:36 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 3086KB
07/12 04:45 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 48KB
07/12 03:05 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2840KB
07/12 02:50 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 48KB
07/12 01:23 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 85KB
07/12 12:49 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 18KB
07/12 12:32 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 66KB
07/12 12:19 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 26KB
07/12 11:42 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 988KB
07/12 11:17 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 49KB
07/12 10:32 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 913KB
07/12 09:03 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1834KB
07/12 01:34 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5652KB
07/11 10:34 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 948KB

(and the previous days all looked like 7/12 with lots of data)

Notice that 7/13 after I rebooted, there were no reports of data sent! Oh, well I also changed something else that I just thought of - I turned "Cellular data" off in the preferences - well that should have a lot to do with it too right? All of the regular apps I'm using (testing now on 7/14) seem to work with the cellular data turned off while using wi-fi - so I'll probably be making sure that is off while at home.

so is it that there's some background app on the iPhone 4 that is sending this data?

Now, as to whether the iPhone switches off the wi-fi when the screen is locked to save power (as I've seen written here and other places), that seems bogus to me. My iPad is wi-fi only and when the screen is locked, I still get email alerts etc... so wi-fi is still connected on the iPad. Now, if I could only turn off the phone while leaving wi-fi on, we could prove that it works on the iPhone.

I believe I may have found the culprit for me... and perhaps for you guys as well. It's one of two things I think - not sure since I did both at the same time.

For 3-4 nights, I left Cellular data off, just to prove the data reported early morning wasn't data deferred from earlier in the day. Sure enough, if turning off Cellular Data overnight, no mysterious data showing up early morning.

Then I did these two things:
1) Plugged iP4 into iTunes, CTRL-click on iphone and do 'Reset Warnings', then CTRL-click again and hit 'Sync', and then the "would you like to send Apple crash reports, bla bla bla"... hit "Disagree"

2) go to http://oo.apple.com using your iPhone (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4228)

After doing those two things, I started leaving Cellular Data ON over the last couple of nights.

Low and behold - at worst, 1-2MB overnight and that's from some emails that came in overnight. No huge 40-50MB chunks, or even 100+MB chunks which I've also had...

I don't know which of the two did it, or maybe a combination of both. I don't really care, all I wanted is to eliminate any "unapproved by ME" data being transferred overnight without my knowledge or consent. Seems to be working so far after two nights. Will continue to monitor obviously.

Here's my log:
- first 3 days (7/2-7/4) included tethering - ignore the amount, but note late night transfers - and I was asleep for sure
- next 3 days (7/5-7/7) or so, no tethering, no streaming while on 3G... still some late night activity...
- from 7/8 to 7/11, Cellular Data turned off at night
- 7/12 did some streaming before going to bed - explains the 50MB (ouch)
- left Cellular Data ON 7/13 early morning - a mere 1.2MB at 2:22am... and it didn't log yet, but similar for 7/14 (as I reset my data usage meter on the iphone last night, and only had like 2MB this am)...

07/13 08:37 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 3047KB
07/13 07:04 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 4492KB
07/13 06:56 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 440KB
07/13 06:48 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 74KB
07/13 06:34 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 22KB
07/13 04:20 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 356KB
07/13 03:01 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1698KB
07/13 11:36 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1418KB
07/13 10:49 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 20KB
07/13 09:21 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 160KB
07/13 09:13 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 25KB
07/13 02:22 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1178KB
07/12 07:22 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9616KB
07/12 06:08 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 94KB
07/12 03:24 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 227KB
07/12 02:41 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 83KB
07/12 01:27 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 53KB
07/12 12:55 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 87KB
07/12 12:06 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 118KB
07/12 11:29 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 124KB
07/12 11:25 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 166KB
07/12 07:35 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 4490KB
07/12 12:16 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 50056KB
07/11 10:40 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 6181KB
07/11 05:25 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 4503KB
07/11 08:30 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5673KB
07/10 02:52 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 20045KB
07/10 08:43 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 400KB
07/09 06:50 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9776KB
07/09 10:36 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 84KB
07/08 06:52 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8029KB
07/08 11:51 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 40329KB
07/08 11:23 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 20KB
07/08 10:39 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 23KB
07/08 09:10 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 94KB
07/08 08:04 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 20727KB
07/07 05:51 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 44277KB
07/07 05:32 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 46KB
07/07 05:20 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 18KB
07/07 05:11 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 36KB
07/07 04:41 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 28KB
07/07 04:01 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 26KB
07/07 03:51 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 41KB
07/07 03:40 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 13KB
07/07 03:24 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 21KB
07/07 03:21 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 5KB
07/07 01:23 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 267KB
07/07 11:40 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 200KB
07/07 10:58 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 47KB
07/07 02:21 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2789KB
07/06 06:54 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 30890KB
07/06 05:53 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 154KB
07/06 04:25 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 192KB
07/06 01:34 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 260KB
07/06 12:59 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 47KB
07/06 12:29 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 317KB
07/06 12:20 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 822KB
07/06 11:37 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7985KB
07/06 09:55 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1696KB
07/06 08:51 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 65KB
07/06 02:00 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9000KB
07/05 02:36 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 62762KB
07/04 05:53 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 4802KB
07/04 05:39 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 30KB
07/04 05:27 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 117KB
07/04 01:57 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 123514KB
07/03 10:16 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 160271KB
07/03 09:54 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 58411KB
07/03 03:56 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 35445KB
07/03 02:47 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 90791KB
07/02 10:45 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 110815KB
07/02 10:44 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 69KB
07/02 09:36 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 1642KB
07/02 05:38 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2007KB
07/02 05:22 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 55KB
07/02 04:57 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 74KB
07/02 04:17 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 20KB
07/02 03:58 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 17KB
07/02 01:22 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 316KB
07/02 11:18 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 954KB
07/02 10:40 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 85KB
07/02 10:15 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 21KB
07/02 02:54 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 30982KB
07/02 12:54 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 490KB
07/02 12:08 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 33566KB

Two days of calls to AT&T, no one has a clue other than to turn your phone/data off or airplane mode. Seems the company (AT&T) who will earn an extra $15 on this should know the source of their extra income! Where's Gizmodo on this??

Ok, what a "d'oh" moment I had this morning! If you turn off cellular data, you don't get voicemail alerts and visual voice mail. Geez how did I not think of that?

Could it be that all of the checking for voice mail is what people are seeing as all this traffic?

I did a few quick tests yesterday just to see what uses up cell data when wireless is off, and the maps application is a big data hog! I certainly will monitor my usage of data when away from wi-fi! Good thing I have 3 iPhones in the family to spread out that maps usage when we're on a family trip

So here's the thing. Since AT&T says that "most people use less than 200MB/mo" they determined that as a price point to supposedly give customers a break. That would have been true for me until last April. It is no longer true now.

Nor does it seem to be true for most of the people posting here. So if it is true that the phone needs all that data upload to function properly, then who are the people who don't go over 200MB? Now?

Eddie Strauss wrote:
So here's the thing. Since AT&T says that "most people use less than 200MB/mo" they determined that as a price point to supposedly give customers a break. That would have been true for me until last April. It is no longer true now.

Nor does it seem to be true for most of the people posting here. So if it is true that the phone needs all that data upload to function properly, then who are the people who don't go over 200MB? Now?

good question... I can and have burned through 200MB in a couple of days without EVEN TRYING.... who the **** are these people that can go 30 days and stay under 200MB??? either a), they have turned off Cellular Data all the time and use WiFi ONLY b) they have no email setup, never use safari, and download only game apps (which shouldn't use any data)... in essence, people that don't really use an iphone how it was meant to be used...

anybody who jb'd their 3Gs, knows there is an app called PrivaCy. This will allow you to opt out of from these adds or tracking monsters. Such as Pinch Media, Flurry, Medialets, and Mobclix

That is not the point though.
- I did not sign up for these,
- I was not asked to opt in or out.

But then to have the nerve and ask the user to pay for the extra data use, this is totally BS. It's illegal, kinda of bait and switch. I am sure a lawsuit is brewing somewhere.

The folks having this problem - have you tried what I suggested which fixed the problem for me??

I reset the warnings by connecting the iPhone and right clicking on the iPhone on the left under devices in iTunes (CTRL click for Mac folks) and selecting reset warnings. The first time after when I sync the phone it asks me if I want to send diagnostic info to Apple and I select NO.

Ever since I did this on 6/13 I have seen transfers during the night, but they are relatively small, tens of K to a few hundred K. Nothing like the multi megabyte transfers I saw before.

Nate

I have the same problem and I talk to ATT about this problem 3 days ago and they put me on a HIGH PRIORITY and would get back to me by the 15th (today).
I had to call them back and they said it could take another 7 days.
Before I go to bed, I turn off all apps running in the background, turn on wifi and turn off push and I am still getting data usage. How can that be?
I even turned off my phone at night and when I turned it back on, the data usage started to run up. I have used almost 1 gig of data in 10 days ND ATT has no answer.
How can I trust them with my overall billing if they can't explain this problem?