Q: Unknown data usage early morning

It's really great that some people have been able to resolve this issue, but this is not the overall solution. I did not have itunes or any apps on my phone, and still had this late night transfer skewing my data use through the roof. not to mention, although I'm sure apple collects diagnostic or other info, it's not an apple specific problem. i'm still attributing some of this to at&t and inaccurate billing.

Nathan Goldshlag wrote:
The need to create a new iTunes account is completely false. I stopped the large data transfers by hooking up the phone, right clicking on the phone device on the left, resetting warnings, and choosing not to send info to Apple. The large transfers went away.

I reset warnings and chose not to send info to Apple, but I still have data transfers between 2 & 3 AM, sometimes very large.

Nathan Goldshlag wrote:
The need to create a new iTunes account is completely false. I stopped the large data transfers by hooking up the phone, right clicking on the phone device on the left, resetting warnings, and choosing not to send info to Apple. The large transfers went away.
I reset warnings and chose not to send info to Apple, but I still have data transfers between 2 & 3 AM, sometimes very large.

Lawrence,

I see very small transfers in those time. They used to be very large.

knania, you have iTunes. You have to have iTunes to set up your phone.

Nate

actually, i don't, since I don't have an iphone. I had a palm with the exact same issues as users here. In searching for information about the problem, I found this thread and others for various phones.
I guess it's possible that many phones have reporting like iphones, but I spoke with a palm rep and they confirmed that any data collected from them would be about 40kb max...so i feel strongly that this is an at&t issue vs. a specific issue for a specific model of phone.

Apparently you are all right and I misinterpreted "sounding like she wants to be helpful" for "knows what's going on."

Apologies for wading in. I've reset my permissions in iTunes and hope this is the end of the problem.

I can report the same issue happening AND I got a decent answer from AT&T tech support!
I just got off the phone with ATT Tech support (433pm CDT). After first run around, they put me on hold and then I was told the following: "This is considered a significant known issue that has been recently discovered. Your case will be filed by my supervisor and you will receive a text message with your service request ticket #, and you will receive a call when it is resolved [for both of your lines]."
That sounds like the boys and girls upstairs heard the complaints and are now working to correct the issue. At least the part of me that wants to believe the best hears it that way. My advice is to formally file a service/tech call about the issue, so you, too, are in the system, AND keep watching forums like this!
My thanks to all of you for posting! I am sorry we have this issue, but I am glad to know I am not alone!

Here is another story for the thread. Son has been only one to have an iphone for past 18 months. When deciding on the plan to take when he swtiched we looked at his usage over the past bills. He was consistantly around 150mb. We decide to take the limited plan, since I was getting a 3G from a friend, on the 200mb plan too. Our bill resets on the 20th, From August 8 to the 19, I had 3g on and data, I used 9mb. My son a slightly heavier user was at around 100mb.

Traveling to Vtech, to drop off son at school. The next morning the usage jumps 45 mb on his phone and 10 mb on my phone. 1st day of biling plan.

Was the jump , just the aggregate dump of data for the day during the travel to vtech? I was using the maps a bit. Son was surfing and such. but 1/4 of his plan in 1 day?


Got home in wifi and I have turned off data and 3g. It stopped all data transfers. Not sure what is going to happen when it turns.

What are the specific steps on itunes to stop this?

Has anyone seen this dialog. I went in and check and change settings using itunes and got this dialog.
"You can help Apple improve its products by sending use anonymous diagnostic and usage information about your iphone.
By clicking agreee you agree that apple may periodically collect and use this information as part of its support services and to improve its products. "

If you choose show details it shows you the files that it has, they are all under 10k.

I chose disagree. I am not sure if this was agreed to earlier by my kids.

andywyndom wrote:
Traveling to Vtech, to drop off son at school. The next morning the usage jumps 45 mb on his phone and 10 mb on my phone. 1st day of biling plan.

Was the jump , just the aggregate dump of data for the day during the travel to vtech? I was using the maps a bit. Son was surfing and such. but 1/4 of his plan in 1 day?

Maps use a HUGE amount of data. Using Maps for only a few minutes could account for all of what you observed.

Lawrence Finch wrote:
Maps use a HUGE amount of data. Using Maps for only a few minutes could account for all of what you observed.

This is especially so if you use the Satellite or Hybrid views...

Spidey!!!

Just to let you know that it is not just a problem with AT&T,it must be the new operating system that is causing the massive increase in data issue. I posted the following unaware of this thread. You all seem to have suggested a wide range of actions to resolve or at least explain what might be happening but the key issue remains - why have some many people experienced their data use go up by so much since the introduction of the new phone/operating system. Maybe the last suggestion will sort it - off to try it now!!

This was my post for your information:

Has anyone had problems with excessive data use since switching to the new iphone and 0s4? My data use (i'm with o2) has increased over 4 times in the first month! In the 18 months with the 3g i used an average of about 150mb a month, the the most ever being 176mb. In the first two weeks of using the new phone (or was it the new operating system?) I had racked up 450mb! I have tried the following - no push emailing, switching off notifications, closing down all the apps on the multi-task!etc. I have even taken to switching off 3G and data. O2 have given me a new sim card when I talked to them about the problem. Whilst the problem has been reduced with these measure it hasn't gone altogether and i am not getting the use or enjoyment out of my phone as I did with the 3g(i'm to worried to use many apps incase the data use goes throught the roof again) . Since I bought the phone I have added a few new apps and have played with the phone a little more but there is no possible explanition for the the massive increase in data use (it tended to happen over night - but i'm told thats when the data use information is sometimes collected). My 02 billing and data monitoring on the phone seem to be inline so I think it must be a problem with os4 or the phone.I know i'm not alone with this problem and as others start to monitor the use of data with the new limited data use coming on stream I think this could become as big as the reception issue for apple. Help anyone?

Mine took a leap last April. I'm sure that's before OS4 was released and I know it was before the iPhone4 was released. My data use is constantly higher now than before then. I still maintain my surfing habits are the same and actually less, now that I have an iPad.

*I have the problem and I am not using the new OS.

We still do not know what it is, where it goes or to whom.*

terry pettengell wrote:
Just to let you know that it is not just a problem with AT&T,it must be the new operating system that is causing the massive increase in data issue.

It is CERTAINLY NOT the new operating system. I have reviewed 2 year's worth of bills, and I see this usage on every one of them. I never noticed before because my data plan is unlimited. When the new data plans came out I checked to see if I could take advantage of them, but clearly I cannot.

I thought about this for a while and it seems some inside information is needed. The average AT&T support person doesn't know how billing works and Apple doesn't have a clue what's going on in the mobile switching network.

*I'm pretty sure you are looking at a single line item that usually includes your whole day's worth of data service.*

I worked at AT&T, and wireline and wireless bills are tallied at the end of the day. The system collects billing records from many different switching areas of the network and tallies it in one line item.

During the day when you first establish an IP connection the network determines whether you are a data enabled device, it keeps your same IP address open, even though you may move into another cellular center's routing towers (e.g. in the SF Bay area there are at least two, one in San Jose, the other in San Francisco.), that way you are not constantly getting new sessions with Google, MobileMe, et cetera.

Telephone calls and data sessions all have a midnight or 1AM cut off time for billing (i.e. you will never see a call billing record go longer than 24 hours, even if you talk for three days.) Around an hour or two later all the remote data centers have reported your data usage to your home billing office (register), from there it gets itemized on your bill around 2AM.

*Further explanations:*
- You see some smaller data records during the day, e.g. 45kb or 341kb. That's when you turned off your iPhone completely, reinitialized it, got off a plane in a new city, anything to cause the iPhone to close the previous session and start a new IP session (the old session also times out eventually or gets closed when a new one starts.)

- Also, sometimes remote AT&T data centers batch their billing records and send them a day or two later (creating another billing record.) If you are away from your home data register for a few days, you might not have any tally that night. (Often/mainly happens when you are in a different area code than your phone number.)

- Data users on other phones have the same 2AM records if they keep the session open all day. *NB: a Blackberry may close every IP data session intentionally - RIM thinks it adds more security to Exchange Mail than keeping the session open.* Also, if your kid's picture phone goes into browser mode or transmits a picture, there is also a short data session that ends and gets a data record during the day.

- Look at your usage: watch some YouTube, navigate with Google Maps during the day, then look for the total of the data usage in the data detail of your iPhone on the AT&T Wireless site. It shows up at night.

- If you think any "data" is leaking out of your iPhone at night (remember "Only the Paranoid Survive"), power down. The data usage from the previous day will still be posted at 2AM, it doesn't need your phone on. [The WiFi or 3G questions in this discussion were a red herring.]

Frankly, its a pretty tricky business counting packets from a wireless device than can travel through several cities and hundreds of cell towers a day.

Cheers,

J