Q: Unknown data usage early morning

I just got my iphone a 4 days ago. I started a new billing cycle yesterday. In one time I occured 58 mb of data. It happened at 7:30 am when I happen to be asleep. I have not used the web at all on this phone (maybe one time when i got the phone just to check it out to make sure it works)My data usage on my phone is showing 7.6 mb used. I called AT&T and she said it was probably the phone making some updates. (updates without authorization-most programs ask first) I let her know if I wanted to do updates I should be able to do this on ITUNES or when I have WIFI. Itunes says the phone is up to date anyhow. So, she calls Apple and puts me on hold. She comes back and tells me there is a long wait time for Apple and that she needed to give me the number to Apple, and I needed to call them myself. I didn't make the call. I will call the AT&T store where I bought the phone tomorrow. I left AT&T about 6 months ago for bad customer service. The iphone 4 is a great phone and everything works great. I love it. I would hate to take the phone back but If they can't resolve this I have no other choice. (Of course I wont get all my money back-they will hit me with a restocking fee if i return it!)I should be able to leave my phone on without occuring fees that I did not make. Anyhow I will keep everyone updated.

A possible solution: Turn off Data Roaming.

(Settings > General > Network: Data Roaming OFF)

My wife's iPhone 4, purchased early August, had the ~ 2am large usage, e.g., 60000KB daily since purchase. She had exceeded her 200MB cap by day 3 on the phone. After extensive complaining to ATT they converted to a 2GB plan, credited $75.00
I purchased an iPhone 4 September 16th and installed the exact same apps as a control. All settings the same except my Data Roaming was off by default at purchase. I've had ~ 1500KB at the 2am send.

I switched her Data Roaming to off on September 17th, large usage gone, 2am send now ~ 2000KB.

Hmm. Don't know if that will do it. Mine is always off. Always has been, by my recollection. I do get these large chunks at 2 a.m. here and there. Not as bad as some of the others here, but..

Don't know if turning Data Roaming off will completely solve the problem. I turn Cellular Data to off at night and don't get any early morning data transfers. I haven't verified if there is a data transfer when I turn it back on, because I only turn it on when I need it. I am keeping a log and will see if I can determine if there is.

I am about to buy and install a firewall program, and will try to see what is going on.

I'm sorry to say, but I don't think a firewall program will help. If you are trying to track WiFi usage, this would work on a PC/Mac. But since this is unusual 3G data usage, it won't get tracked by your router or another computer. FYI- iPhone apps are limited in what they can track as far as data since true multitasking is required.

Good luck- I am equally baffled with this problem.

I'm also on the bandwagon. Data transfers between 2am-3am ranging from couple kbs to 22+MBs with an average beeint 2-3 Mb (mind you, I'm on a 200MB/month plan!).

Called AT&T and got the same bs - phone is updating sth, if you have apps they access without asking, we do update to "synchronize billing" and all that kind of stuff. I guess FCC will need to look into it - they did make AT&T resolve the issue where they didn't allow MMS to go to unbranded GSM handsets couple years ago.

Did anyone get a response from Apple Cust Serv about this problem? I wonder what they have to say.

It's not Data Roaming. Mine's always off.

It's not apps, because my record says there was a 4MB transfer at 4:17 am. My phone was off. I was asleep, not using apps at 4 in the morning.

Furthermore, the phone is on my wi-fi network, so even if an app wanted to get data, it should have come in over wi-fi.

This problem is clearly a carrier issue in which their data transfer, whatever it is, goes through the cell network even if wi-fi is available.

Oh, I also refused the diagnostic prompt in iTunes, but I still got that 4 in the morning cell data transfer.

Network 23 wrote:
Furthermore, the phone is on my wi-fi network, so even if an app wanted to get data, it should have come in over wi-fi.

This one at least I can answer. WiFi is off when the phone is asleep, so any data transferred when asleep must go over the cellular network.

based on the firewall app (which only activates when an app is running) I would say 80 % of apps branch out to an advertising site. for no reason. and without being asked. I have selected below a representative sample log of apps that were allowed to access the net, and next to these, where the add site access was blocked.
All the apps ran just fine, but the first thing they do, right from the start, they try and access mobile ads sites. No pop-up, no agreements requests. They just do. This is not the answer to this topic, but there is something that is happening, without us knowing or acknowledging. Sites like admob.com, flurry.com, mobclix.com and edialytics.com.

I left the firewall running overnight, and nothing was logged, as outbound connection request.


2010-09-21 12:20:04 - Reminder: connection denied to mm.admob.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 12:20:38 - Google: connection allowed to px-in-f126.1e100.net via port: 19294
2010-09-21 12:20:38 - Google: connection allowed to google.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:12:24 - Push News: connection allowed to leapbound.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:12:53 - Push News: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:12:53 - Push News: connection allowed to leapbound.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:13:26 - FlightTrack: connection allowed to adbatch.qwapi.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:13:34 - FlightTrack: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:15:12 - Sportacular: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:15:12 - Sportacular: connection denied to sds.protrade.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 14:32:47 - Angry Birds: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 16:48:38 - We Rule: connection allowed to ws.tapjoyconnect.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 16:48:38 - We Rule: connection allowed to kingdoms.ngmoco.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 16:48:38 - We Rule: connection denied to data.mobclix.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 16:48:39 - We Rule: connection allowed to ec2-184-73-110-103.compute-1.amazonaws.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:26:13 - Tesla Wars: connection denied to iphone.playhaven.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:28:32 - Pocket God: connection denied to appdata.boltcreative.com.s3.amazonaws.com 2010-09-21 21:28:45 - Cro-Mag: connection allowed to pangeasoft.net via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:32:46 - S.K.O.B. 2: connection denied to swervenet.glu.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:33:08 - VTT: connection denied to iphone.playhaven.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:33:42 - DoodlePool: connection denied to iphone.playhaven.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:34:13 - Backgammon: connection denied to config.ngmoco.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:38:44 - MotorTrend: connection denied to cdn.ads.zumobi.net via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:38:48 - MotorTrend: connection denied to server-216-137-39-51.stl2.cloudfront.net via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:39:19 - Police Scan: connection allowed to policescannerapp.com via port: 443
2010-09-21 21:39:27 - Police Scan: connection denied to beacon.pinchmedia.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:39:37 - Coin Frenzy: connection allowed to apps.ngmoco.com via port: 443
2010-09-21 21:39:43 - Coin Frenzy: connection denied to ws.tapjoyconnect.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:39:43 - Coin Frenzy: connection denied to data.mobclix.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:39:45 - Coin Frenzy: connection denied to ec2-184-73-110-103.compute-1.amazonaws.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:40:13 - Skee-Ball: connection allowed to apps.ngmoco.com via port: 443
2010-09-21 21:40:17 - Skee-Ball: connection denied to app.plusplus.com via port: 443
2010-09-21 21:41:19 - D! Dodgeball: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:41:49 - iFighter: connection allowed to ngpipes.ngmoco.com via port: 443
2010-09-21 21:43:02 - WorldCard: connection denied to a.admob.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:43:37 - Travelocity: connection allowed to iphone.travelocity.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:43:37 - Travelocity: connection denied to p.admob.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:46:05 - Shazam: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:46:37 - VEVO: connection allowed to api.vevo.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:46:37 - VEVO: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:49:11 - Bing: connection allowed to appserver.m.bing.net via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:49:22 - Bing: connection denied to t.medialytics.com via port: 80
2010-09-21 21:49:36 - Skype: connection denied to data.flurry.com via port: 80

Interesting results from the firewall. Which app are you using for this?

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Network 23 wrote:
Furthermore, the phone is on my wi-fi network, so even if an app wanted to get data, it should have come in over wi-fi.

This one at least I can answer. WiFi is off when the phone is asleep, so any data transferred when asleep must go over the cellular network.

Thank you, I did not know that Wifi is off during sleep.

ed2020 wrote:
Interesting results from the firewall. Which app are you using for this?

I have used the Firewall IP from Cydia.

Regarding the ad sites that kaluzu listed, do you think it could have anything to do with the new iAd advertising platform in iOS 4?

http://gizmodo.com/5512601/iad-apples-very-own-mobile-advertising-platform

in any case, this should not happen at our own expense. why would I pay to see and use an add? Maybe WE should get paid to get these enabled and watch....