Unexplained 02 Data Allowance Drain at Midnight

Hi All,

I see the latest post on this was last month. I have the same issue after recently upgrading. I am being charged every night at midnight. Again I have had the iphone since the first model came out and have never had this issue. O2 have been completely useless so far which is unacceptable given they are clearly aware of the issue.

Has there been any progress?

Frankly, I don't see why we should pay as I would class this as a fault with the phone.

Just to add me to the list. I have 3 iPhones on Vodafone UK, and they all have a considerable midnight data download. Every single night for months.

I spoke to Vodafone, and their answer was 'switch off cellular data'!

Someone on this thread suggested that it doesn't happen if the phones are plugged in to charge. That is incorrect.

There must be someone who can explain this problem.

I've just received the same text from 02 80% after 3 days! It's a joke. Just switched off weather and stocks widget not that I have any confidence that this will resolve the issue despite running mainly on wifi. A trip to the O2 shop after the holidays O2/Apple resolve this or loose customers!

Hi. I'm a Vodafone customer so def not an O2 only issues. I notcied recently a build up of data usage at midnight. Fella at Vodafone was lovely but genuinely acted like I was the first person to mention it to him. He thought it was Facebook, but it simply cant be. I have read every thread / reply and no one has mentioned i-Cloud. I think midnight is when all data is backed up to i-Cloud. Is that a coincidence? Perhaps turn this feature off and see (to be fair, i-Cloud only gives you an additional 5GB of storage free) - I use i-Cliud only for photos.

Having read everything, funnily enough there has been no solution!

Thanks everyone - I am not alone!

This has absolutely nothing to do with iCloud, because this has been happening way before IOS 5.0

However since I added my voice to this forum, my data usage has dropped dramatically, and I never switch my phone or my 3G off

O2 took note of my threat to go to the BBC watchdog

Just to let others know my experience.

I upgraded to an iPhone 4S and immediately saw huge data usage over 3G at night (00:00 - 03:00) despite the phone being plugged in and connected to wifi. I contacted O2 and after changing a load of settings (at their request) still the same end result - 500mb being used in fewer than 10 day (before the 4S I used just over 100mb in a month).

So, I took the phone to the Apple store and they suggested a full restore by entering the phone into DFU mode (told that I must restore using DFU) and it appears to have solved my problems. I set the phone up as a new phone (didn't use an old backup) so I don't know if that made a difference. Now I'm back to just over 100mb a month and I'm a happy bunny.

In summary, restore from DFU mode solved my unexplained data usage, and I hope that it works for others also.

Just wanted to add another voice to the complaints. We have just experienced the same thing. My husband got a text message from o2 this morning warning that he was about to exceed his data limit, something that has never happened in four years of owning an iPhone. I checked our account and every few days for the past two weeks there has been a big data drain at midnight, despite the phone being connected to wifi at that time.

Interestingly, last night my husband inadvertantly left his wifi turned off on his phone (iphone 4) and the midnight data download was huge at over 248,000kB - ten times bigger than the mystery downloads when the wifi was on.

I've logged a report with o2 via their website, drawing their attention to this thread, before they start telling me it's an isolated problem. Here's hoping they start to listen.

Hi,

I too am having issues with O2 and unexplained usage. Has anyone managed to make any progress on this matter?

Currently I have various conflicting explanations being afforded by way of excuses but ultimately they are adamant that I am using the data - my iphone usage and various apps suggest otherwise.

Can I repeat what I wrote back in September?

When you ring the O2 help desk, avoid the numpties and ask to speak to the iPhone team, as they are a little more clued up. If the numpties try to deflect you insist on it. The iPhone team are a little more sympathetic, whereas the numpties will stick to the script (It's your fault, not ours). The iPhone team are aware of the problem.

Make sure you turn off 3G and Data at night, and close all apps that could potentially use data. For some reason, when the iPhone 4 goes to sleep, it reverts to 3G. If you turn off 3G then it appears to stay in WiFi

(To close apps, double click the home button, which opens a task bar. Hold the first app until a red circle with a white bar appears and press that on all the apps until the task bar is empty - apologies if you know how to do this, but many don't)

It's worth doing a reset on your phone, as it worked for me. The iPhone team will tell you this anyway.

For some strange reason, the Data use is rounded up at Midnight by O2 and subtracted from your allowance. There are a couple of Apps like Dataman which will monitor your usage on a daily basis (if you get the paid for version of the app) and Onavo, which will cut your usage as you use 3G. It's worth getting one or both of them (Onavo is a free app, and has saved me 107Mb since I installed it)

Remember you can check your recent usage by going to the My Bill tab on the My O2 Mobile page (it's the 5th one down in the menu on the left). It's a good indication of your daily use, and if you have it to hand when you ring O2, it is hard for them to argue that you are at fault. The numpties will try to kill your argument, as they think they know it all and are patronising at best.

I had this problem in September, and after a reset and following the above advice, I've kept my Data Usage to under 100Mb per month. The last few weeks I've been laid up after breaking my leg, so the 3G was off more than on for the last 10 weeks, as I didn't leave the house much. Therefore I've not used much data. Of this months 500Mb I've used 21Mb since my last bill.

When I spoke to the iPhone team in September one of them admitted it was their fault, so it's worth speaking to them, rather than suffer the initial customer service person.

Hope this helps!

Ian,

Many thanks. I did see your earlier post and followed the advice you offered however over the past three months the issue has continued.

The issue first occured in October / November 2011. I've been an O2 customer since june 2010 with no previous issues regarding data usage between then and October 2011. I am currently dealing with the Executive Relations Office of 02 having been forced to email the chief executive directly as I had become frustrated by the clear lack of understanding on the part of the frontline staff / email support.

O2 thus far are adamant that their figures are correct despite my handset and other apps reporting a vastly lower rate of use (up to 50%). To that end I have invited them to supply to me the specifics of my usage in order that an independant third party might do a comparison to establish just whose records are most accurate.

My contention is that Apple and third party apps have no vested financial interest in misrepresenting my data usage. O2 contend that I simply must accept their assertions as to my usage yet they are thus far unwilling / unable to provide me with the methodology / breakdown of their usage gauge. To that end I have made a legal request (Subject Access Request) under the terms of the Data Protection Act requiring them to provide me with the data they hold in relation to my alleged data usage.

I'll update the thread accordingly as the matter progresses.

Mr A

ian185 wrote:

Make sure you turn off 3G and Data at night, and close all apps that could potentially use data. For some reason, when the iPhone 4 goes to sleep, it reverts to 3G. If you turn off 3G then it appears to stay in WiFi

The reason is that WiFi uses power continously, unlike cellular data (it is the way the WiFi protocol works; there's no way around it), so if WiFi remained on when the phone was asleep the battery would run down in a few hours. However, if the phone is plugged in to the mains charger WiFi will remain on when the phone is asleep.

For what it's worth, I'm havingthe same problem, for some reason my iphone's data usage jumped from 2-300mb a month to 1200mb!!!

I'm on Orange so can't see on my bill where or when this is ocurring.

I just got off the phone to orange who refunded me the overage costs to my plan but could offer zero assistance as to why this happened. So does that mean it's going to happen again?

The only difference I can think of is I signed up for icloud and started using match (absolutely hopeless btw).

I've hardly used it, perhaps once for an hour but it was so sketchy I haven't bothered with it.

Another weird thing, I've used 6mb of data today but haven't left the house and have been on wifi all day.

droow007 wrote:

The only difference I can think of is I signed up for icloud and started using match (absolutely hopeless btw).

If you are concerned about Match using cellular data, then switch off 'Use Mobile Data' in 'Music' until you need to use it when you're out somewhere.

yeah, i read that further up. So are we saying that the iphone connects to 3g when it's asleep? has it always done that?

If that's the case then it could be match/icloud then? If so, how to I get rid of it completely, from what I've seen of it so far the whole cloud/match thing is pretty bloody useless, I wish I'd never signed up for it.