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Q: Unknown data usage early morning
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Nov 3, 2010 7:34 AMby Bill Bard,I have checked my bill, that's where the info came from. There was a data usage (20 or so kB) at 9PM or so and then the 12:30AM data usage. When at home, my wife generally doesn't use her phone. If she had, it should have used wifi. If it's doing some data transfer at night while sleeping and using the cell network, sending 2MB of data is a major data transfer to be doing while sleeping.
I suspect the phone is not that smart, but we usually leave our phones charging overnight and so battery usage while sleeping would not be a concern. -
Nov 3, 2010 7:56 AMby Lawrence Finch,Bill Bard wrote:
I have checked my bill, that's where the info came from. There was a data usage (20 or so kB) at 9PM or so and then the 12:30AM data usage. When at home, my wife generally doesn't use her phone. If she had, it should have used wifi. If it's doing some data transfer at night while sleeping and using the cell network, sending 2MB of data is a major data transfer to be doing while sleeping.
Except, as I said, it may not actually be doing a transfer at 12:30 AM; it might just be reporting transfers from earlier, summing them, and putting them as a single item on your bill at 12:30 AM when the batch billing cycle runs. You can check this with the app DataMan, which records the time of all transfers and whether they were cellular or WiFi. the app is not free, but it is inexpensive. -
Nov 3, 2010 9:29 AMby debruin13,I have had similar "late night" data transfers, but none of mine have been very large. My wife's iPhone on the other hand has experienced this quite frequently. The first time we passed this off as the phone downloading all her emails right after we go it. Most recently there was a data transfer at 7:45am of 225,297KB!!! This is almost her entire monthly limit of data (we have the 250MB plan), which is rediculous. We were at home during that time, in bed, not using our phones, and we have WiFi at home. I did read the posts about WiFi not being active when your phone is locked, so I can even understand a small amount of data being recorded when you're somewhere that has WiFi, but nothing that I can think of would cause that amount of data to be transfered. She is not into games, doesn't watch videos on her phone, and doesn't have many apps (I know AT&T has claimed that these transfers are apps updating).
I called AT&T, and they offered to change the data plan to the 2GB plan for this month (so I would only pay $25 instead of the 2 $15 charges). She tried to make it sound like she was saving me money. How dumb do they think we are? Since this data transfer shouldn't have even happened, I should only be paying my original $15, so they were actually going to cost me $10, not save me $5! I turned down their offer and requested a $15 credit which she said she could do "1 time only".
Again, as everyone else has said, they offered no explanation and even though she admitted that this was a rediculous amount of data, she insisted that data was transfered by us at that time. We have been paying AT&T over $150 a month since the first iPhone came out. Do they really now think I'm trying to scam them for $15? AT&T and Apple need to get this figured out, and quick. My patience is running thin...
p.s. All notifications, push email, etc, etc, are off on the phone in question. -
Nov 3, 2010 11:30 AMby simplyshervin,I've found the solution to the data usage, after having phantom data transfers when turning the iphone on. Any app, phone, contacts, games, clock anything running in the background will cause the surge.
Double click on the home button everytime you use any apps, including the standard apps that are on the iphone, ie phone contact, ipod, clock etc.. and turn the apps OFF by holding your finger on any app till the minus symbol appears, click each minus to turn the apps off.
After 2 months of doing this, the phantom data transfers are gone. I had left few open and had 53mb transfer last month.
I've spoken with the office of the president at ATT, they are aware of this thread and I've told them the solution.
Try it, it worked for me. -
Nov 3, 2010 11:51 AMby BackPacker57,I think you are right - this is out of control.
I don't think there is a solution listed that is viable or explanation that really details the issue.
The iPhone behavior and AT&T's billing is in question.
Thus far, I've gotten my iPhone data usage down to 18MG last month and I thought that was outrageous for my usage. Is what I've observed:
Apps - my Apps (App Store) icon ALWAYS has the App update queued to my iPhone and I must approve the update and provide the iTunes store password for the App to update. AT&T telling clients it's the Apps or Apps updating--- sorry, I don't buy it. Are the Apps doing something in the background full time? Maybe Apps like SKYPE but I don't have them or others previously mentioned.
HourGlass - the iPhone HourGlass is something I've noticed "spin" since getting my iPhone in 2007. It spins and spins even after email is sent or a webpage is completely loaded. Could this be linked to phantom data usage?
Security - after AT&T fixed a security issue my iPhone data usage dropped significantly. But 18 MG is still a lot for my use, Are the iPhones vulnerable? What about AT&T - when they were hacked, my .mac email address started getting SPAM.
Explanation - the mystery continues unless someone has something concrete. The wee hours phantom data billing has changed from 2:00 am to 12:xx am right after midnight and that tells me AT&T or Apple changed something--- and AT&T did change the online review of reports and the fields. -
Nov 3, 2010 11:56 AMby Peter A.,Just got off the phone with AT&T which i refer to as my new career, talking to AT&T. They are unaware of any data problems with the iPhone! I'm sending this thread to customer service. In September my daughter's phone "sent" 100MB of data while sitting idle in the minivan. This month its my wife's phone, SENDing 25MB of data while she is discarding e mail sitting in the carpool line. Will try some of the suggestions in this thread, noting this question "has not been answered." Agree with several of you, talking to AT&T (or e mailing) only wastes your time and raises your blood pressure. -
Nov 3, 2010 12:27 PMby ToddBradley,simplyshervin, I'm glad that worked for you. But until I hear an explanation of why these apps (especially the clock and iPod) are transferring hundreds of megs of data in the middle of the night, I don't think we're at the bottom of it yet.
Also, it would be a lot more believable if you did some kind of double-blind test. How do you know the data transfers didn't stop for some OTHER reason? For instance, I have also found that my nightly data transfers stopped a few weeks ago, but I did NOT do what you suggested. -
Nov 3, 2010 1:14 PMby BulaRae,Sorry to say that this is FAR from a "solution". It does nothing to explain the discrepancies between what the phone reports as usage and what carrier billing is charging us for (like I had my phone showing 28mb and was charged for two transfers totallying 528mb).
And furthermore, if we have to go through and force-quit every running app every time we use the stupid phone, that's insane. That would be the equivalent of having to close/quit every app on our computers every time we walk away from it for a few minutes. -
Nov 3, 2010 3:32 PMby bradley.ryan,Does anyone else have such an absurd discrepancy between settings/general/usage/cellular network data and their AT&T charges?
Again, my phone has recorded 86.4 MB this billing cycle and AT&T claims I've used 940 MB.
I'm wondering if I have a different problem then most of you.
Any ideas about this incredibly wide gap between the two? -
Nov 3, 2010 5:48 PMby BackPacker57,I filed a complaint with FCC-- (copy below)
The Apple iPhones & AT&T service have an issue. AT&T shows high data usage while my actual data usage is low. The AT&T online tool shows data usage at odd times in early morning hours when the phone is not in use. AT&T usage vs actual usage are never accurate. AT&T & Apple cite the other & give many excuses for the issue & community forums have invalidated their reasoning. This is not a dollar complaint it is a credibility complaint. AT&T does not substantiate a customers data usage. Some users must upgrade their data plan and or pay overage charges.
I'm anxious to hear their reply. I encourage everyone to keep posting and to include details as to carrier, model of iPhone and what's happening with your data usage and of course to file an online complaint with the FCC. Maybe with enough online complaints the wheels will get greased. -
Nov 3, 2010 6:11 PMby ToddBradley,BackPacker57 wrote:
I filed a complaint with FCC-- (copy below) [...]
I'm anxious to hear their reply. [...]
BackPacker57, the only reply you'll likely get is a nice letter from the FCC acknowledging that they received your complaint, and letting you know they will contact you if they want more information later. That's what I got, anyhow. -
Nov 3, 2010 6:15 PMby Peter A.,I filed a complaint with the FCC as well. I've had discussions and e mails with AT&T regarding the problem with an iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G on our family account. The 3G had the inexplicable data in August/September and my wife's iPhone 4 doing it in October. AT&T customer service is hit and miss, most often miss. Its a waste of time e mailing. Those are the real dolts. Once in a while you get a sharp person on the phone that can help you. Today I wasn't so lucky. At one point I said I couldn't be the only person experiencing the data issue. She said I was the only person. I checked this forum and discovered the 59 page thread dating back to June of this year (prior to the iPhone 4 release). I sent the link to AT&T via e mail and asked that they forward it to he CSR I spoke to today. Why I waste my time like that I don't know. So I figured filing a complaint with the FCC might wake up someone at AT&T (or Apple, their partner after all) to look at this problem. I hate AT&T. Everyone should file a complaint.
