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Mysterious Data Usage in Middle of Night

Each night, between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM, I've noticed data usage of approximately 20 MB's. As a result, I've been forced to upgrade to the 2 GB plan, which I'm OK with, I guess. However, 20 MB's times 30 days = 600 MB's! That's over 25% of my alloted usage for the month, completely NOT on my behalf! Ouch!

Unfortunately, in my line of work, I cannot simply turn off cellular data or turn off the phone entirely (as instructed by AT&T). I need to accept emails at anytime, day or night.

When I setup my phone, I specifically opted out of sending diagnostic data to Apple, in order to avoid any erroneous data usage.

Is anyone else noticing this? Is there any way to avoid this?

Thanks!

Posted on Jul 8, 2010 5:08 AM

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50 replies

Jul 8, 2010 5:34 AM in response to iDam

This is very interesting. When I got my IPad i got the basic data service of 250 MB. By the 10 day of the month I had used it all up. Mind you I was on Wifi all the time. On investigation with Apple Tech and ATT I found out that at 2AM on 3 consecutive days I was charge a significant amount of data until I reached 250MB. Than I Switched to unlimited and now my IPad has never gone over 50MB. Very strange. I realize this is an Iphone discussion but the situation is analogous.

Jul 8, 2010 10:07 AM in response to ramellam

Your 19858 number is interesting. Although I have several 4mb and 9 mb, I have several 19648k that happened at the same time on different days a couple of times and at different times other days. There is another one at the same time at 19536.

It appears that all this data is being pushed to my phone. When I checked the Settings/general/usage data on the iphone it showed the cellular network data as 13.1mb sent and 210mb received (Actual usages is almost 400 but I think this was reset when I had them reinstall the OS at the apple store as I tried to fix this problem.)

Jul 8, 2010 12:52 PM in response to Stephend7

I have verified that both Push and Notifications are off. I also called AT&T about the usage. They, of course, blamed Apple. I then told AT&T that they need to put me back on the $30 unlimited plan, if they're going to continue eating up 20 MB's a night. They wouldn't budge. I should have never removed the unlimited plan...

Jul 8, 2010 1:20 PM in response to Liz Skeris

Liz Skeris wrote:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2450738&start=0&tstart=0

some think it's an aggregation of the day's usage


I think this is the case. I just checked my bill online for the month of June and all the data entries for each day are between 1 and 3 am. I know I use very little during those times but I use a lot during the day.

Jul 8, 2010 9:48 PM in response to mooseski

It might be some form of aggregate, but I've had several entries on the same day that were large as well as some that are in the 11K to 500K range. Also, there is no way I'm sending and receiving that much data with my normal usage. Something is sending me data that I am not aware of. I've been very diligent about turning apps off. The only thing that could download that kind of data under normal use might be a gps app and I haven't used them THAT much.

Jul 8, 2010 11:29 PM in response to Stephend7

I wonder why they removed the unlimited data plan? Now we have to worry about going over the 2gb if thats the one we chose.. I remember when I had the first iphone right before it broke for some reason at&t took off the data plan on my phone and I received a $2,000 something bill from data, I called them and right away they removed that said it was an error on their part and for some reason my unlimited data plan was removed. I don't even know how much gb's I used, must have been a lot. lol

Jul 9, 2010 2:06 AM in response to ramellam

This is the number one reason I didn't change anything on my account when I upgraded to my iP4. Luckily the only option that would have appealed to me at all is the tethering option for when I travel and could then use my laptop in locations that do not have wifi, like my parents house. But they do have 3G.

After reviewing my monthly data usage I saw that my wife only every once in awhile goes over 250 mb. I however, routinely go over 300+ mb and since there is no 500 mb option I figured the unlimited plan with no tethering would benefit me more than 250mb or 2gb with tethering. Plus I did not want to have to pay technically twice for the same data that I would be using anyway, just on a larger screen.

What I would like to see though is maybe an option to add something like tethering for month to month usage for those times that it would be useful and then not pay for those other times it wouldn't be. Like pay for a month of tethering for like $5-$10 only for the time frame that I am going up to see my parents and then be able to cancel it when I get back home. All this without affecting my unlimited data plan.

I hear ya though with the downloading thing though. Test out the suggestions that they mentioned. Try the airplane mode option but leave wifi still on. Or try turning the celular data option in the Settings section off and see if it keeps doing it. Not exactly sure what constitutes as celular data though, is that voice and data or just data? either way it is an option to try. This way you can still receive phone calls and email.

I understand about having to get emails and phone calls at any time, but do you really wakeup in the middle of the night when you hear the little email ding and check it? If not then why not just set it up to either fetch hourly or manually. When you wake up in the morning just open the mail app and it should automaticaly start downloading or hit the refresh button and your mail will download pretty quick.

Make sure you have push notifications off, maybe turn off your Location Services option as well. Shut down safari if it is running in the background. Give those a try and see if it still keeps doing it.

Jul 9, 2010 5:57 AM in response to scottw03

My phone will be here today and I signed up for the 200 MB plan. I am new to the iphone and wasn't sure how much data I will be using.

Now, it seems that phones send/receive data all on their on and will cause many users to go over their limit. I talked to a friend who has used one for several years about how much data I would need before choosing a plan. We looked at his data usage and he was also sending/receiving data early in the morning. He has the unlimited plan so it doesn't matter. He called AT&T to inquire about this data and was told it was required by the phone/apple and that if he lowered his plan, that data would not be charged against his usage. This was close to the the first of June.

Has anyone on a limited plan actually gotten a bill and have been charged for going over their plan because of these early morning transfers?

Mysterious Data Usage in Middle of Night

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