Q: Unknown data usage early morning

Hi, all--newbie here. Just wanted to say that I, too, contacted ATT yesterday about large data transfers, and briefly relate my experience.

The representative I spoke to indicated that the large transfers were "applications updating." I said, "if the applications are updating, wouldn't that be INCOMING data instead of OUTGOING data?" "It's your applications updating," she said. Then, taking a different tack, she indicated that it was nothing that ATT could help with, and gave me the toll-free number for Apple. I said, "I'm wondering--are you hearing about this from other custoemrs? Because there are postings all over the internet about this same issue that I'm having." The phone went dead--apparently, I'd been hung up on. (Now, in their defense, they did try to call me back--but by that point I was so annoyed that I didn't want to talk to them any more.)

So I called Apple, and told them about my issue and that ATT had said contact them. The Apple rep was mystified that ATT had said contact them, and got another ATT rep on the phone, one that the rep said would be "more experienced with iPhone issues." I probably don't need to tell you that the ATT rep was NOT more experienced with iPhone issues--he, too, took the "applications updating" line, but he did use the phrase "known issue" once, and kept saying "what we're being told is that it's applications updating." I tried to get some other answer from him, but he stuck to what is apparently the script. To conclude the ordeal, I said, "well, I guess I'll just have to continue monitoring it, and watch the FCC complaints continue to mount, but I have to say that as a new customer I'm extremely disappointed." He apologized, and we ended the call.

I had another set of large transfers that same day, even after trying the suggestions about resetting warnings in iTunes. So I have no idea what's happening. But, mysteriously, today I have the "UD1536" message in my "MyWireless" page for my ATT account (the one that reads "Due to a recent data/messaging feature change, your included in plan usage may not be accurately displayed at this time"). I didn't have this message before I contacted ATT yesterday. I wonder, then, if it's something that they will only investigate if you actually call them--kind of like what I imagine an insurance company might do (deny the claim until the customer complains).

So yes, something's afoot, I think. Can't wait to see what comes of the mysterious "feature change" message. Keep us posted, everybody, on any further developments!

I have just finished reading all of this thread. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. It's very helpful to know that you aren't alone.

I have an iPhone 4 and my wife has an iPhone 3Gs, both with iOS 4.1. We've both experienced data use logged in the middle of the night, and my wife has had some very large unexplained data usage at times she was not using the phone. I communicated with AT&T once by email, but am waiting to see if we are actually billed for the alleged 200MB + usage, before I do any more.

We have followed most of the suggestions offered in this thread and have not had any more extremely large data transfers on the AT&T summary, but do continue to have data used when we are not using the phone. I find this very troubling and think it is a serious matter.

My reason for writing is to repeat the suggestion made earlier by someone to use the app DataMan (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dataman-real-time-data-usage/id393282873?mt=8). With this app you can see 3G and Wifi data use sent and received by time and location. For example, so far this morning (it's 9:15 am now), it shows data from three locations within a mile or so of my house.

2:56 am
mile from house
Cellular: 12.3 KB
Wi-Fi: 225.3 KB
Comment: I was asleep, iPhone on dresser being charged.

7:38 am
mile and a half from house
Cellular: 0.3 KB
Wifi: 105.5 KB
Comment: I was up, but iPhone was still on dresser being charged.

8:44 am
at my house
Cellular: 2.9 KB
Wifi: 536.6 KB
Comment: I was using the iPhone.

It's odd that the locations for the first two reports were inaccurate. The third when I was actually using the iPhone was right on.

But most interesting is that in all three, there was 3G AND Wifi activity.

I have now downloaded some email and browsed some web pages, and the DataMan summary page for the day shows this increased activity, but does not reflect it on the map which is where the time stamp is, so that's a little confusing.

I have set up a spreadsheet to track and compare data from the DataMan app, iOS Usage and what's shown on the AT&T web page. At this point, I do not have any evidence to indicate that any of them are accurate or reliable.

A little off topic, but I'm little intrigued about one issue. It's been said several times in this thread that iPhone shuts down WiFi connection when idle, and so any communication when idle must therefore be handled by 3G even when WiFi is available.

My question is: what about Facetime?

I use facetime quite often talking to my wife. I can make a direct Facetime call (i.e. without a phone call, just clicking Facetime) to her iPhone4 and we will be connected directly to Facetime over WiFi immediately. That means that her iPhone, even though idle, was monitoring WiFi traffic in order to accept the Facetime call even when idle. Facetime only works on WiFi and not on 3G. Wouldn't it indicate that iPhone can in fact maintain WiFi connection even when idle?

Just a though.

walmark wrote:
A little off topic, but I'm little intrigued about one issue. It's been said several times in this thread that iPhone shuts down WiFi connection when idle, and so any communication when idle must therefore be handled by 3G even when WiFi is available.

My question is: what about Facetime?

I use facetime quite often talking to my wife. I can make a direct Facetime call (i.e. without a phone call, just clicking Facetime) to her iPhone4 and we will be connected directly to Facetime over WiFi immediately. That means that her iPhone, even though idle, was monitoring WiFi traffic in order to accept the Facetime call even when idle. Facetime only works on WiFi and not on 3G. Wouldn't it indicate that iPhone can in fact maintain WiFi connection even when idle?

Not necessarily. Facetime can receive alerts, then open a connection. The initial connection can be 3G, but switches to WiFi when you unlock the phone. Or, Facetime can maintain a continuous connection via WiFi with the servers as a background task. This would, of course, drain the battery pretty fast.

The reason WiFi is shut down when idle is because, unlike 3G, WiFi requires a continuous 2 way connection, so the transmitter is always active. 3G can just listen.

I have been having major problems with this exact issue for three months now since I've had my phone. I intentionally reset the cellular data tracker on my phone the day before my new billing cycle started. Here's what is currently shows...

Billing Cycle started October 12th

iPhone 4's Settings/Genereal/Usage/Cellular Data says :

Sent 12.9 MB
Received 60.3 MB

That's a total of 73.2 MB for the billing cycle.

Here's what AT&T's mywireless site is claiming I've used so far:

528 MB

What an ENORMOUS disparity!

I've called the AT&T customer service line four times so far and each time I get the run around. The first month they gave me a credit for the overage (I'm even on the 2 GB plan!). The second month I barely used the phone out of fear and just barely stayed under the 2 GB. This month, I've maybe used it for a total of 15-20 minutes and I've supposedly STILL racked up over 500 MB!

I have all push notifications off, location services turned off and e-mail check set to manual. I've sent a total of 2 text messages in this cycle and neither contained pictures. I turn off the cellular data whenever I'm in range of wi-fi. I actually only turn on the cellular data when I intend to use the phone for 3G which is a total of about 5% of the entire day. I haven't streamed any music or watched any videos in this cycle. In fact, the few times I've actually used the phone for 3G have been solely to browse web pages.

AT&T tries to tell me the phone's cellular data tracker is inaccurate and only tracks what is used through Safari. I know for fact this isn't true because while I was on the line with them I opened an app and played around with it for a few seconds, then checked the cellular data tracker and sure enough it had increased. Even so, considering I mainly use Safari there shouldn't be such a huge discrepancy.

I also made a Genius Bar appointment and the Genius assured me the data recorded in the cellular data tracker should match up almost perfectly with what AT&T reports.

Verizon Wireless Settles Complaint Over Data Fees
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Verizon-Wireless-Settles-nytimes-830509155.html?x= 0

SUGGESTION: Users log complaints online to FCC: http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

Where is this option to remove participation in the "improvement plan"?

It's described several times in the thread.

1) Right click on the iPhone icon on iTunes and select Reset Warnings
2) Sync your phone. You will get a dialog box asking if you want to send diagnostic info to Apple to help improve the product. Select DISAGREE.

Same story here - was alerted (at the time I went over, received no warning notifications) on Wed 10/27 via text that I had gone over my 200MB. The next day I called AT&T, got a brief explanation of 'AT&T does updates between 1-2' and suggested to move to 2GB. I did this. After researching online, talking to 2 Apple Geniuses and another AT&T rep (actually, a social media/customer care rep, @ATTRevor), I have slightly more insight but NOT satisfaction. Like most every other customer here, I'm on work wifi during the day and home wifi at night. Perhaps my Pandora usage sent me over the 200MB edge while making the short commute to and from work a few days last week.

But like everyone else, I want to know:

1. What is the explanation for the numerous and late night data histories/exchanges when wifi is available?
I got a generic response along the lines of 'Data usage is delayed, once you get past a full cycle, everything should be ok.' I don't know if the rep was talking about my overall usage bar (the visual) or the specific data usage details. I think he meant the bar visual. Basically, he really could not give me a straight, clear answer to my 1st question.

2. Why then can AT&T not give a straight and clear response?
Is it due to technology restrictions, shady and/or accidental business practices, or lack of rep-level knowledge? Maybe a mix of both.

3. Why does the iPhone 4 go to 3G when in sleep mode? (This is I learned from this forum as well as from @ATTrevor.)
Rep said iPhone 4 this is by ‘design’. I pointed out that a) I thought the phone conserves energy when on wifi, so why would it automatically switch to 3G, especially if it is clearly within a wifi network? He agreed with me. b) In my opinion, it seems to benefit AT&T if, consumers are unknowingly being kicked back to 3G and happen to have apps running but phone is asleep (i.e. Pandora), therefore customer burns through data = AT&T collects usage charges. Rep suggested I seem to be saying there is a conspiracy theory, to which I laughed. I said no, but from a business standpoint, I could see how a phone maker might say 'we believe that by design, this is the best option for our consumer' and phone carrier might say 'ok that works for us, because then the customer will be on our network and it will help to meet our financial objectives'. I’m just sayin’…

4. Why can we not be shown our specific data history? (i.e. 10/26 50KB Facebook app 5 pgs)
This is something I've seen repeated in this thread and it's a valid question. Rep basically said 'We can't track the system...there's no way for the system to grab our actual account. The only way to get specific information [I was talking about indicating actual app, web pages/sites matching the data usage] would be by subpoena...it'd be too difficult for AT&T to orgranize/do...the bill would be so long, we'd have to list all of that...oh I bet it's possible but right now we just can't do that.'
(Does anyone smell dog poo, because I do.)
I said, I understand that it would be a lengthy process, but why would, I, as the PAYING customer, be barred from seeing MY usage. (We can see who we call, webpages we view on a computer...) @ATTrevor agreed, saying 'Hey I'd like that, too'. (However, I had the feeling he wasn't trying to help me help him.)

My strategy going forward is to keep Cellular Data to OFF as much as I can, and monitor my data usage. (So I, physically, and my phone ‘mysteriously’ cannot send data via 3G)

Upgrading to 2GB and paying an extra $10 pales in comparison to what we, the collective confused and dissatisfied consumer feels. What bothers me is not the money, but the principle of how AT&T charges and cannot provide a clear explanation of these unknown or unclear charges.

To repeat what a previous customer said, where is the transparency?

As someone who works in customer satisfaction for a large corporation, I understand the importance of a great client experience. How ironic that I get to be yet another irked AT&T customer. And, I left Verizon for AT&T.

I’ve shared this forum on Twitter, if anyone wants to track my Tweets. @courtneykuehn

Same story here - was alerted (at the time I went over, received no warning notifications) on Wed 10/27 via text that I had gone over my 200MB. The next day I called AT&T, got a brief explanation of 'AT&T does updates between 1-2' and suggested to move to 2GB. I did this. After researching online, talking to 2 Apple Geniuses and another AT&T rep (actually, a social media/customer care rep, @ATTRevor), I have slightly more insight but NOT satisfaction. Like most every other customer here, I'm on work wifi during the day and home wifi at night. Perhaps my Pandora usage sent me over the 200MB edge while making the short commute to and from work a few days last week.

But like everyone else, I want to know:

1. What is the explanation for the numerous and late night data histories/exchanges when wifi is available?
I got a generic response along the lines of 'Data usage is delayed, once you get past a full cycle, everything should be ok.' I don't know if the rep was talking about my overall usage bar (the visual) or the specific data usage details. I think he meant the bar visual. Basically, he really could not give me a straight, clear answer to my 1st question.

2. Why then can AT&T not give a straight and clear response?
Is it due to technology restrictions, shady and/or accidental business practices, or lack of rep-level knowledge? Maybe a mix of both.

3. Why does the iPhone 4 go to 3G when in sleep mode? (This is I learned from this forum as well as from @ATTrevor.)
Rep said iPhone 4 this is by ‘design’. I pointed out that a) I thought the phone conserves energy when on wifi, so why would it automatically switch to 3G, especially if it is clearly within a wifi network? He agreed with me. b) In my opinion, it seems to benefit AT&T if, consumers are unknowingly being kicked back to 3G and happen to have apps running but phone is asleep (i.e. Pandora), therefore customer burns through data = AT&T collects usage charges. Rep suggested I seem to be saying there is a conspiracy theory, to which I laughed. I said no, but from a business standpoint, I could see how a phone maker might say 'we believe that by design, this is the best option for our consumer' and phone carrier might say 'ok that works for us, because then the customer will be on our network and it will help to meet our financial objectives'. I’m just sayin’…

4. Why can we not be shown our specific data history? (i.e. 10/26 50KB Facebook app 5 pgs)
This is something I've seen repeated in this thread and it's a valid question. Rep basically said 'We can't track the system...there's no way for the system to grab our actual account. The only way to get specific information would be by subpoena...it'd be too difficult for AT&T to orgranize/do...the bill would be so long, we'd have to list all of that...oh I bet it's possible but right now we just can't do that.'
(Does anyone smell dog poo, because I do.)
I said, I understand that it would be a lengthy process, but why would, I, as the PAYING customer, be barred from seeing MY usage. (We can see who we call, webpages we view on a computer...) @ATTrevor agreed, saying 'Hey I'd like that, too'. (However, I had the feeling he wasn't trying to help me help him.)

My strategy going forward is to keep Cellular Data to OFF as much as I can, and monitor my data usage. (So I, physically, and my phone ‘mysteriously’ cannot send data via 3G)

Upgrading to 2GB and paying an extra $10 pales in comparison to what we, the collective confused and dissatisfied consumer feels. What bothers me is not the money, but the principle of how AT&T charges and cannot provide a clear explanation of these unknown or unclear charges.

To repeat what a previous customer said, where is the TRANSPARENCY? (AT&T, be fair and open with your customer and we'll respect you.)

As someone who works in customer satisfaction for a large corporation, I understand the importance of a great client experience. How ironic that I get to be yet another irked AT&T customer. And, I left Verizon for AT&T.

I’ve shared this forum on Twitter, if anyone wants to track my Tweets. @courtneykuehn

Courtney Kuehn wrote:
4. Why can we not be shown our specific data history? (i.e. 10/26 50KB Facebook app 5 pgs)
This is something I've seen repeated in this thread and it's a valid question. Rep basically said 'We can't track the system...there's no way for the system to grab our actual account. The only way to get specific information would be by subpoena...it'd be too difficult for AT&T to orgranize/do...the bill would be so long, we'd have to list all of that...oh I bet it's possible but right now we just can't do that.'
(Does anyone smell dog poo, because I do.)

There is in fact, no way for AT&T to tell you the specific information you're asking for unless your iphone reports it to them (that a particular app consumed x amount of data). They know where the data came from (your phone) and where the data is going to (server w.x.y.z) but it is impossible to tell just by looking at the data which app it came from. They could tell you which website (and which page) you downloaded and at what time (because HTTP requests have a fixed format). However, (I don't know that they don't already store this) I'm not sure I want AT&T to try to figure out what apps I'm using and what webpages I'm visiting and storing that information. It seems there might be a significant number of people who feel this way too.

They could also increase the granularity at which they report your usage (I wrote about this earlier in this thread). I've heard (I'm a relatively recent AT&T customer) that a while ago, they used to report data usage at much finer granularities. This meant though that a customer's data usage report could take up multiple pages per month. So, instead of reporting every session (which could come say every 5-10 minutes), they aggregate data usage and report it at certain intervals.

I agree it would appear more transparent if they reported data more regularly. At the same time, I'm not sure what the magic number is - should they put a new line in your usage report every hour for data used in the past hour? Or every 10 minutes? Surely a line every minute is overkill.

Message was edited by: Lawrence T.

I can't answer everything, but here's what I've been able to gather:

1. What is the explanation for the numerous and late night data histories/exchanges when wifi is available?
I got a generic response along the lines of 'Data usage is delayed, once you get past a full cycle, everything should be ok.' I don't know if the rep was talking about my overall usage bar (the visual) or the specific data usage details. I think he meant the bar visual. Basically, he really could not give me a straight, clear answer to my 1st question.

The only delay I can think of is that I've heard data usage gets consolidated for billing once the session is closed. That session can close when you switch towers or when the phone is turned off. (Though my understanding could be off.)

2. Why then can AT&T not give a straight and clear response?
Is it due to technology restrictions, shady and/or accidental business practices, or lack of rep-level knowledge? Maybe a mix of both.

I think because customer service reps don't know the whole picture. It seems like AT&T shifted to a metered data plan without preparing their reps to answer questions about it. This is plainly obvious with the stories of "It's an app updating," when apps don't have permissions to update without user knowledge.

3. Why does the iPhone 4 go to 3G when in sleep mode? (This is I learned from this forum as well as from @ATTrevor.)
Rep said iPhone 4 this is by ‘design’. I pointed out that a) I thought the phone conserves energy when on wifi, so why would it automatically switch to 3G, especially if it is clearly within a wifi network? He agreed with me. b) In my opinion, it seems to benefit AT&T if, consumers are unknowingly being kicked back to 3G and happen to have apps running but phone is asleep (i.e. Pandora), therefore customer burns through data = AT&T collects usage charges. Rep suggested I seem to be saying there is a conspiracy theory, to which I laughed. I said no, but from a business standpoint, I could see how a phone maker might say 'we believe that by design, this is the best option for our consumer' and phone carrier might say 'ok that works for us, because then the customer will be on our network and it will help to meet our financial objectives'. I’m just sayin’…

This one I can answer with certainty. While Wi-Fi uses less energy than 3G to use a connection, it takes more energy to maintain a connection. With Wi-Fi there is constant two-way communication for the router to know the Wi-Fi device is there. 3G uses a subcarrier signal and doesn't require the constant two-way communication that Wi-Fi does. So, to maintain battery life, Wi-Fi is disabled when the phone is put to sleep. This can be gotten around by having the phone plugged in or by turning off Cellular Data, but there are obvious trade-offs.

4. Why can we not be shown our specific data history? (i.e. 10/26 50KB Facebook app 5 pgs)
This is something I've seen repeated in this thread and it's a valid question. Rep basically said 'We can't track the system...there's no way for the system to grab our actual account. The only way to get specific information [I was talking about indicating actual app, web pages/sites matching the data usage] would be by subpoena...it'd be too difficult for AT&T to orgranize/do...the bill would be so long, we'd have to list all of that...oh I bet it's possible but right now we just can't do that.'
(Does anyone smell dog poo, because I do.)

I'm not so sure they do have that specific data. I'm not a network engineer or in IT, but it's my understanding that the carrier (in this case AT&T, but really any ISP) has no knowledge of what application requested data over the network. They basically only know the source & destination IP addresses, protocol (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc…), some basic header information, then the payload of the packet itself.
I know I'm not alone here… I think it would be very bad if AT&T (or any ISP) had such granular knowledge of our Internet activity. Granted, it could be revealed by assembling the packets they're transmitting (unless it's SSL traffic), but the overhead is too high. I personally don't want AT&T to have records of every web page I visit, every page/item I view on Facebook, every song I listen to on Pandora. I'm normally not a privacy nut, but it just seems like a bad idea to ASK ISPs to maintain these records.
However, I think it would be nice to be able to view this breakdown on the phone itself. Being able to go one level further in the cellular network usage by app would definitely be handy.

I said, I understand that it would be a lengthy process, but why would, I, as the PAYING customer, be barred from seeing MY usage. (We can see who we call, webpages we view on a computer...) @ATTrevor agreed, saying 'Hey I'd like that, too'. (However, I had the feeling he wasn't trying to help me help him.)

My strategy going forward is to keep Cellular Data to OFF as much as I can, and monitor my data usage. (So I, physically, and my phone ‘mysteriously’ cannot send data via 3G)

Upgrading to 2GB and paying an extra $10 pales in comparison to what we, the collective confused and dissatisfied consumer feels. What bothers me is not the money, but the principle of how AT&T charges and cannot provide a clear explanation of these unknown or unclear charges.

To repeat what a previous customer said, where is the transparency?

I think what bothers people most, as others have recently said, is the lack of transparency. From the responses I've seen and my own experiences with AT&T, it just seems that their data billing is unreliable at best, deceptive at worst, and somewhere in the middle is probably the truth. But the fact that none of the customer service reps even have a working knowledge of how their data billing system works is very worrying.

However, that being said, there's also been a few others chiming in on this thread who are on non-US carriers and seeing similar late night data items. So there's more to this story than just AT&T.

Lawrence, you do have a good point re: AT&T knowing what apps you use. Yet, I guess I am still unclear as to what I was doing at times when I was on wifi.

However, you (and others) have mentioned 'aggregated data'. I was trying to ask @ATTrevor about the process by which they are showing customers their data usage on ATT.com but perhaps I wasn't clear.

Let's say it's Friday night and I'm at a restaurant, where I use 3G. I open Safari and view a page. (Then I go back to Cellular Data OFF) Will I see this data (a few days later, as it isn't immediately available on ATT.com), but also timestamped at whatever time AT&T has collected/aggregated that data? So might I see that on Tuesday, say, during the day when I am on work wifi, that Friday/Safari usage documented? Does that make sense?

This is what I thought might explain these usages I've seen on my account so far. But all I heard was 'data usage is delayed' and I didn't completely understand what that meant or how AT&T manages this.

thanks!

@Paul - also, this was helpful, as I'm not familiar with the technical details you mentioned.

It is interesting that other carriers' customers have experienced similar issues.