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Data Usage Error- iPhone reports using 4GB sent & 4.1GB received??

My iphone 4 reports having Sent 4GB and received 4.1GB of data. There's no possible way I could've used that much data, especially sending that much. I hardly use 3G and I remain on WiFi where it's available. I also reset my usage statistics at the start of billing cycle so it's not accumulated. I contacted AT&T knowing that that amount of data would cost a fortune seeing that I'm only on the 200 mb plan. I figured it had to be an error of some sort because I never received an alert for reaching the half or full data limit. AT&T replied that I have only used 75 mb. What a relief! I remained on the phone for another 40 minutes trying to find out why I got an error. However, they weren't able to help me.

To avoid being stuck on the phone for another 40 minutes, I went to the Genius Bar. The "Genius" there had no idea why the phone reported that amount. He claimed that the amount was accumulated, I replied that there's no way I could've used that amount of data since July and I have reset the counter on 10/4/10. My send data is always 1/10th of what I receive. He claimed that the data counter includes Wifi usage. I stressed that the counter says that it is "Cellular Network Data" again and again seeing if he might correct himself. His final solution was to just restore the phone.

I went home, reset the usage counter, connected to wifi, downloaded and an app, and voila! the data usage says 0 bytes received proving that my wifi has not been running up the counter. Apparently Apple needs restaff that store.

I've discovered a few ways to accurately check my data through AT&T:

1) Get AT&T's myWireless app (which I am unable to access because I am not the AT&T account holder.)

2)*3282# receives an alert on data usage.

3) simply call AT&T

Here's my question: How could the counter come up with that outrageous of a number? I wouldn't want it to someday send that data amount to AT&T and bill me for it.

iPhone 4, iOS 4

Posted on Oct 20, 2010 4:06 PM

Reply
70 replies

Nov 30, 2011 5:55 AM in response to Detortugo

I normally use around 200-400MB of mobile data per month and my carrier gives me unlimited data with a 1GB fair usage policy. My billing date was 15 days ago and my carrier tells me I've used 138MB so far this billing month, which sounds about right.


I reset my iPhone 4's built-in data counter 9 days ago, which was 6 days after my billing date. I've just checked the data counter and it shows that I've sent 4.0GB and received 4.1GB. I don't use iCloud and I haven't used that much data even via wi-fi.


From my experience and reading from others' experiences in this thread, the bug seems to be that 4GB is suddenly added to the existing sent and received amounts. Therefore in my case, probably 90% of my 138MB recorded by my carrier was received data, i.e. 124MB. Consequently 124MB + 4GB = 4.1GB. If it happens a second time, it would go up to 8.1GB and so on, which is why others have reported figures of 8.1GB etc. It is disappointing that Apple have not fixed this bug over a year after it was first discovered.

Nov 30, 2011 5:39 PM in response to Detortugo

This post has saved me from a very embarassing phone call to my dad... 'Dad, my phone bill will be around £80 more than usual and I have no idea why but I am sorry'...
Thank God it's not only me it's happened to! I was going out of my mind wondering where I'd suddenly used all this data. I was beginning to think that using Google maps for 10 minutes had caused it.


APPLE PLEASE SORT THIS OUT BEFORE MORE INNOCENT PEOPLE HAVE PANIC ATTACKS!


*wipes beads of sweat from forehead*

Dec 7, 2011 10:06 PM in response to rhespanna

I've just experienced this on an iPad 2 with iOS 5. My usage went from about 200MB down and negligible up a few days ago to 8.2GB down and 8.0GB up today. Given my plan allows for a total up+down of 4GB, that would put me 4 times my quota- and thousands of dollars in the hole.


I certainly hope this is a bug in the measurement and reporting of usage and not a rogue application that has actually used that much data - which would indeed be a serious rogue, because the iPad is on WiFi 90% of the time.

Dec 13, 2011 6:11 PM in response to Detortugo

I just got the same error in Hong Kong. I used to regularly check the cellular data usage (in order not to skyrocket my phone bill), and I found my data usage to had burst from 300MB to 8 GB (4.0 GB in + 4.1GB out) in 3 minutes! And I wasted 30 mins in calling the CS of my mobile service to resolve the phone bill. Sorry but I think Apple Inc. should pay the bill for my cardiac surgeon when I pay the bill for my mobile service.

Apr 19, 2012 12:35 PM in response to AJ5354

AJ5354 wrote:


My friend is having the same problem and AT&T shut off his phone because he went over 50 gb of data and his billing cycle is barely half way thru. does any body know how to fix this because AT&T says that apple is the only one who can tell if he actually used that much or not


If AT&T actually said that, you had an idiot of an AT&T rep. Apple has absolutely no way of knowing how much data your friend used over AT&T's cellular data network. The only way Apple could know this is if they broke into AT&T's network and stole their billing and usage records for your friends account. AT&T runs AT&T's network, not Apple. So the only people who can possibly know just how much cellular data your friend actually sent and received over AT&T's network (and/or via their roaming partners) is AT&T.


It's like saying only the manufacturer of your car can tell you how much gas you actually used last month. How on earth could they even know such a thing?

Sep 12, 2013 3:10 PM in response to Michael Black

Go to your carrier's web site, find their privacy policy which will (in the USA only) allow you to opt out of their data mining for advertising. It works, honestly. I was on a limited data plan and started going over for no reason--mostly in the wee hours of the morning, if you can believe the carrier's data. After talking to Apple and the carrier, I decided to research on my own. Forbes magazine had a nice article about this problem. Opt Out. Problem solved.

Data Usage Error- iPhone reports using 4GB sent & 4.1GB received??

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