Q: Unknown data usage early morning

Hi, I wish you luck and success! This is truly a nightmare situation.

I wanted to chime in here. I have not (sorry) read all 36 pages of comments. Just another data point for you all...

So I looked at last months bill, and I too see regular 2AMish data charges. (I am not up at 2AM) The strange thing is that one some days, I ONLY have the 2AM charges. Where I work, there is no WIFI, so I use 3G all day. So I am on 3G all day, every day at work. But, I only have 1 2AM data "charge" on certain work days?

Remember when the iPhone came out and everyone complained about getting a 2 lb phone bill? AT&T was making a note of EVERY CONNECTION for billing purposes. Then A&T fixed that. Perhaps this is how AT&T fixed it? They congregate data charges into a single "charge" at around 2 AM? They have to draw the line somewhere. This leads to a whole bunch of more inconsequential questions (Why 2:12 AM one day and 2:51 the next? Why do I have 3 lines on tuesday and 1 line on wednesday?) but those could just be the method they use.

TL;DR: User uses only 3G at work. User has many days with only 1 2AM data charge. User is not up at 2AM. Perhaps 2AM charge is for the whole day.

Well, good news. I called AT&T this morn as my bill from last month with over $500 overages on it was scheduled to be taken from my debit card today.

I was put on hold for a long time and then Roberta, the Supervisor that was supposed to have called me a week ago came on and said that someone named Walter would be calling me within an hour. And he did!! He was some sort of big supervisor in the International Department. He simply informed me that a credit for $528 was already issued against last month's bill and that should show up within 48 hours against the payment that had already gone through.

He then told me that he would call me in a few weeks after my next bill posts (the overages occurred on July 16 and 17, right over my bill cycle date so it's made things hard because they can't credit things until a bill is posted). He told me they'll deal with the 400+ MB on July 17th about a week after the bill posts.

He didn't say anything about the hows and whys, unlike Roberta, who kept trying to tell me that it was my responsibility. I was blown away. I found it kind of odd but certainly didn't question him!!

So $500 down, $2500 to go!!

Meanwhile, Roberta had done a bunch of whacky things to my data plan so it's all screwed up right now and I can't tell what's accurate or not, so I'll have to wait until next month to track my usage for unknown stuff, although I am back on my US unlimited now so it doesn't really matter, but based on this thread, I care now, for the sake of others who have limited plans!!

Good news. Sure wish there was more transparency and that they didn't train employees to say things they don't know are true.

This is an update of my experience - I hope it will be helpful.

I got my ATT Bill - the late night transfers are ON the bill.

I reset my preference to share data (in iTunes) - for the past week, the late night transfers have STOPPED!

On the phone itself, I turned off location services for all apps except Maps and MotionX GPS.

On Saturday I used Maps & MotionX GPS for a few minutes - about 4 MB of downloads - I believe map caching and traffic data.

I use AIM Free for messaging several times a day (Notifications ON) - results in very little data transfer (a few KB).

In a week of usage - nine new billing period - I've only accrued about 20MB of usage (according to ATT site).

Let's see if this continues.

I've been turning cellular data off at night for weeks now, and as I've reported already the time stamps of my data usage are all accurately reported on AT&T's site. I have not seen any noticeable drop in battery life while my iPhone 4 remains on Wi-Fi at all times (because it must with cellular data disabled), so honestly I think the line about dropping wi-fi to conserve battery while asleep is nonsense. If Apple won't acknowledge what data they're stealing from our iPhones in the night, they should at least update the iPhone 4 software to maintain a wi-fi connection at all possible times so that we are no longer billed for their shenanigans.

Cory Bauer wrote:
If Apple won't acknowledge what data they're stealing from our iPhones in the night, they should at least update the iPhone 4 software to maintain a wi-fi connection at all possible times so that we are no longer billed for their shenanigans.

Well, WiFi uses power continuously as it must maintain a connection. Cellular only needs a receiver on when idle. So if WiFi was on all the time the complaints you see about battery life today would become a roar and a march on Cupertino.

There's a good reason WiFi is off when the phone is on Standby.

...but I just said there's been no noticeable drop in battery life since I began forcing the iPhone 4 to be on wi-fi all through the night.

This thread is not about battery life. it is about *"_Unknown data usage early morning_"*. And so far it si still unproven what the data is, where it goes and to whom.

Please start your own thread regardin battery life.

It's relevant because if the iPhone 4 didn't release it's wi-fi connection when the screen is locked, we wouldn't be getting billed for the unknown data usage in the early morning. The excuse for releasing the wi-fi connection doesn't hold up to my real-world use.

The only way to force it to be on WiFi is to leave the screen on. Once the screen goes off WiFi goes off. So if you turn off cellular data you will receive or send no data when the phone is on standby. No cellular, no WiFi.

Lawrence Finch wrote:
The only way to force it to be on WiFi is to leave the screen on. Once the screen goes off WiFi goes off. So if you turn off cellular data you will receive or send no data when the phone is on standby. No cellular, no WiFi.

Other than via the Fetch schedule.

My wife doesn't have time to play with the iPhone4 yet. Pretty fresh phone. Isn't the following record beautiful? I'm still looking for answers.


DATE TIME TO/FROM TYPE DIRECTION MSG/KB/MIN
08/10 08:58 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9KB
08/10 08:54 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9KB
08/09 09:39 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/08 12:55 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/07 09:21 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2KB
08/07 09:17 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8KB
08/07 09:07 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8KB
08/07 07:19 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/07 07:10 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/07 03:29 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/07 02:48 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 19KB
08/07 02:38 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/07 02:13 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8KB
08/07 02:08 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 19KB
08/07 09:31 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/07 08:58 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 11:24 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 09:39 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 08:56 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 07:21 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 07:16 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 07:05 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 44KB
08/06 06:24 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 06:10 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 05:59 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9KB
08/06 05:41 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 05:14 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/06 12:44 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 10KB
08/06 08:56 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 11:08 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 08:12 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 14KB
08/05 06:13 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 06:03 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 05:53 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 05:49 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 05:30 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 12KB
08/05 04:54 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 04:42 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 03:56 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 02:54 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 12:38 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 16KB
08/05 11:35 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 11:23 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 09:11 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 08:56 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/05 08:41 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 09:32 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 08:42 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 08:22 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 05:57 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 05:36 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 02:43 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 02:38 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 02:25 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 01:10 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 19KB
08/04 12:57 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 12:34 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 12:22 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 12:21 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 10:49 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 10:36 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 08:06 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8KB
08/04 07:25 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/04 12:30 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/03 11:55 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/03 08:33 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB
08/03 07:31 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9KB

If that were true, there wouldn't be unread emails waiting for me when I picked my iPhone 4 up in the morning after a night of disabled cellular data.

Lawrence Finch wrote:
The only way to force it to be on WiFi is to leave the screen on. Once the screen goes off WiFi goes off. So if you turn off cellular data you will receive or send no data when the phone is on standby. No cellular, no WiFi.

Apparently if you don't have a 3G connection (out of range, SIM card removed, etc., or maybe if the cellular data is turned off) then iOS 4 will persist the WiFi connection even when the screen is locked. (It may also be a requirement that the phone be plugged in; I haven't tested this myself.) See:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=936074
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2470304