iOS5 data usage

The saga continues. Last night I tested a few iPhone versions to see if data usage was uniform for streaming 3 videos.

After not finding any culprits, I turned the data and wifi on, Let my daughter use her phone like normal. She decided to use the download function from itunes (purchased but not downloaded) Downloaded 70 songs she said. This morning she had accumulated 200 MB usage while at home. The data usage as presented by ATT.com is at 7:15 pm. She did her downloads around 9. So that is inconsistent.

I asked myself, did the wifi disconnect? So I went to her room and tested my wifes phone and wifi stayed working. I tested her phone for 20 minutes playing 3 videos, then dowloading 2 songs. Stayed on wifi and used vitually no cellular data.

Tonight I will reset cellular data usage then tell my daughter not to use it at all for media consumption.

Still more questions then answers.

whats the setting in her iphone in Settings/Store? Does she have Automatic Downloads for Music and Apps on? In the same panel, does she have "Use of Cellular Data" off?

This is insane. My data usage has skyrocketed since I got my 4S. I NEVER had a problem with my 3GS. Never ever never never never had a problem. I have not changed my data habits at all either. Sorry I don't have anything to add to this discussion but ******* and moaning. This issue so non-Apple-like. It is frustrating. I paid extra money to use an Apple product to avoid this crap.

I'm on my third day after I temporarily turned off all the items I thought could be sending/receiving unintentially data (see list below) and so far I did not get any large burst of data usage. I do however get a trickle of cellular data usage in both directions (about 150 KB ea) that I can not figure out where is coming from, unless is the clock or something like that.

When I turn off the cellular data though (Settings/Network) the usage dissapears 100% in my case.

I plan to start using the phone away from the WiFi for Safari searches and then turning things on, one at a time, to see if I find out what feature is causing MY problem. I stress MY, because I think that there might be a lot of different problems.

Given the complexity of the software, not just from iOS5 and iCloud but also the possible interactions with third party ones like Facebook or Skype apps, I think it's possible we have multiple issues. Some might be legitimate charges coming from the variety of settings available, that some people might not be aware they have turned on (ie. Show Traffic in Maps). I think that people might see large data usage after switching to iOS5 due to a poor choice on the default settings in the wide variety of features included (ie. iCloud/Documents & Data, where Use Cellular Data default is ON).

List of (my temporarily) dissabled features (starting from the top in Settings):

Notifications, set to manual. In notification center, I left only Phone, Messages and WhatsApp

Locations Services, set to off

General/About/Diagnostics & Usage, set to Don't Send.

Siri, set to off

Cellular Data set to ON but Data Roaming set to OFF

Bluetooth set to OFF

Date & Time, I just set "Set Automatically" to OFF to see if it affects that trickle of data

iCloud, I have only Mail and Documents & Data on. But in Docs and Data I set Use Cellular to off. Find my iPhone is off.

iCloud Backup is OFF

Mail, Contacts, Calendars/Fetch New Data/Push set to OFF. But in addition, I went to the next panel and set to changed each of my three mail accounts: Mail, Contacts, Calendars/Fetch New Data/Advanced/iCloud, Verizon and Gmail all set to Manual

Store, I turn off Automatic Downloads, and also set Use Cellular Data to off

In addition, in the Maps app itself (open Maps and tap on the lower right page-flipping-icon) I set the traffic feature to "Hide Traffic".

I do not have a Facebook app, and I just deleted Skype to see if that was causing the small trickle. I know in the laptop Skype is a power hog that causes my laptop to heat up, and that's one of the reasons I try to use FaceTime when I can.

Thought I'd share a data jump experience I just witnessed a few minutes ago, while its fresh in my mind. Was watching a TED video (using the TED app) on wifi. My data usage monitoring app (DataMan Pro) popped up a notification about half-way through the video indicating I had used 652% of my "daily allowance" for a 200MB/mo plan, which amounts to ~65MB of data used within 10 or so minutes. The culprit, as usual, was wifi switching over to 3G at some point while streaming the video. This sort of behavior never ever occurred before upgrading to iOS5.

I tend to agree that multiple problems might be occurring here and so makes it difficult to track these things down and provide a cut-and-dry reason that adequately explains all of our varying reports here on this forum. But I think the cause for my particular issue is pretty cut-and-dry and solely related to this video issue.

@jhnstn00: I don't trust the timestamps for AT&T's data usage statistics on their website. I've noticed similar discrepancies in times as well. Plus it takes a while for their website to even update to the latest usage for my phone. Using an app like DataMan is much more consistent and up-to-date for diagnosing these types of problems, IMO.

tg_andersen wrote:

Thought I'd share a data jump experience I just witnessed a few minutes ago, while its fresh in my mind. Was watching a TED video (using the TED app) on wifi. My data usage monitoring app (DataMan Pro) popped up a notification about half-way through the video indicating I had used 652% of my "daily allowance" for a 200MB/mo plan, which amounts to ~65MB of data used within 10 or so minutes. The culprit, as usual, was wifi switching over to 3G at some point while streaming the video. This sort of behavior never ever occurred before upgrading to iOS5.

I tend to agree that multiple problems might be occurring here and so makes it difficult to track these things down and provide a cut-and-dry reason that adequately explains all of our varying reports here on this forum. But I think the cause for my particular issue is pretty cut-and-dry and solely related to this video issue.

@jhnstn00: I don't trust the timestamps for AT&T's data usage statistics on their website. I've noticed similar discrepancies in times as well. Plus it takes a while for their website to even update to the latest usage for my phone. Using an app like DataMan is much more consistent and up-to-date for diagnosing these types of problems, IMO.

If the switch NEVER occurred before 5.0 how do you explain all of the reports in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2450738?

As to AT&T timestamps, in that same thread you will find that the timestamp on AT&T data usage is the time the usage was reported to the billing system, NOT the time the usage occurred. The usage could have occurred any time in the previous 24 hours.

It's great that you caught it red handed! But upon reading your report again, I wonder how are you sure there was a jump and not that your app started on 3G from the begining? Not that that is not a problem in itself...

Did you have this app for some time? Did you update the iOS since getting it? If you know the problem is new after upgrading iOS5, I would suggest to check for updates on that app in case something changed that is creating some sort of incompatibility that Apple should do something about. Perhaps like removing the app from the App store until it's fixed?

I would like to find out if that WiFi-3G switch (or WiFi failing to connect from the start) can happen with the iCloud backups or with other features of the Apple environment that should work exclusively over WiFi.

I know is a bit tedious but I would open a case in Applecare. The other day I did it myself, and even though I got nowhere yet, it was easy to do. They call me at the preset time after booking on https://expresslane.apple.com

If the switch NEVER occurred before 5.0 how do you explain all of the reports in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2450738?

Like I said above, I suspect multiple problems may be occurring here and it's difficult to provide a one-size-fits-all sort of answer. I don't claim to provide an explanation for everyone's problems, just a reasonable explanation for my particular issue in the hopes that it helps others. I can tell you is that I've had my iPhone 4 for over a year (heavily using video almost all that time in similar manners as I describe above) and literally had no problems like this until a couple days after upgrading to iOS5 and ever since. To me that seems very fishy.

I should also emphasize that it's not like this problem occurs all the time; most the time I watch video it does fine. But if it hiccups like this even just a couple times a month at 75-100MB per occurrence, I'm faced with data overages in no time flat with my 200MB/mo plan.

Another thing to note is that this problem has occurred over several wifi access points (home, office, friend's house) who's equipment has proven stable over time and not been changed or modified over this whole timeframe, so I'm very hesitant to blame wireless equipment or ISPs on this.

As to AT&T timestamps, in that same thread you will find that the timestamp on AT&T data usage is the time the usage was reported to the billing system, NOT the time the usage occurred. The usage could have occurred any time in the previous 24 hours.

Yeah, I noticed AT&T's website has a footnote that says something similar as well. That's why I think using an app that monitors data usage on the device itself is handy for these sorts of issues where you are trying to track down precise usage times to determine whether its something the user is doing when these data spikes occur, like was happening to me while watching videos.

tg_andersen wrote:

As to AT&T timestamps, in that same thread you will find that the timestamp on AT&T data usage is the time the usage was reported to the billing system, NOT the time the usage occurred. The usage could have occurred any time in the previous 24 hours.

Yeah, I noticed AT&T's website has a footnote that says something similar as well. That's why I think using an app that monitors data usage on the device itself is handy for these sorts of issues where you are trying to track down precise usage times to determine whether its something the user is doing when these data spikes occur, like was happening to me while watching videos.

I agree; it is essential to monitor usage yourself; Dataman is an excellent app for this (although it does put a noticeable dent in battery life).

But upon reading your report again, I wonder how are you sure there was a jump and not that your app started on 3G from the begining?

I watched several TED videos over the course of maybe 45 minutes that most certainly started on wifi, as indicated by DataMan's usage stats (it breaks down between wifi and cellular usage in ten minute intervals and all data was on wifi for most of this time). I cannot say with 100% certainty that the very last video I watched before this all occurred started on wifi, simply due to the fact that I didn't remember to notice the 3G icon in the status bar until after I got the data overage notice; and because the stats in DataMan show both wifi and cellular usage for that last 10 minutes and so I can't break it down further...am I asking too much to now I want a data usage app that monitors usage per minute? 🙂 I'll try to now catch this red-handed.

Did you have this app for some time? Did you update the iOS since getting it? If you know the problem is new after upgrading iOS5, I would suggest to check for updates on that app in case something changed that is creating some sort of incompatibility that Apple should do something about. Perhaps like removing the app from the App store until it's fixed?

I downloaded the TED app after upgrading to iOS5 but also had apps like Team Coco (Conan O'Brien) and CNN before/during/after the iOS5 upgrade. Nothing like this occurred till after the upgrade. Team Coco released a new version after iOS5 came out but this didn't change anything with the problem I've been having. CNN might have also made a new release available after iOS5 but I don't remember.

I submitted a report with Apple a while back but haven't yet looked at the ExpressLane thing. Just jumping a small way into it, it looks like they want me to purchase an "incident report" for this. Seriously?

I have another data point to contribute. I've experienced these phantom excessive data transfers as well. This has occurred in the past, but most recently since I've upgraded to iOS5 on my iPhone 4. Last month, I noticed usage above my typical daily average. After much searching and troubleshooting, I discovered it was iCloud. This is the supposed "glitch" others have mentioned, where it's transferring data over 3G instead of Wifi. My transfers weren't as extreme as that reported by others though: tens of MB, not hundreds. After disabling all iCloud settings, *except* the backup, the usage was back to normal. Backup only occurs when the device is plugged in and on Wifi, so it wasn't affecting my 3G usage.

Fast forward to the past week, and I've noticed elevated usage again. My cycle was nearing an end, and I went from ~100MB to 150MB in 2 or 3 days. I didn't use 50MB of data in that time; like most others, I'm covered by Wifi 95% of the time, at home and work. So I began looking at recent apps and updates, deleting them one at a time. There were a few false alarms, where I thought I'd determined the offending app, but usage still seemed elevated.

When the bill cycle turned over, I began checking my phone's Cellular Data statistics for Sent/Received. Here's where I've found a bug: it appears if you obsessively check the stats (once every 30 mins or an hour), they stop updating. From last night to this morning I had 0 increase in either Sent or Received. I find it difficult to believe that overnight there weren't a few transfers for email checks and whatnot. Killing the Settings process and resetting the phone did nothing to correct this glitch and resume Cellular Data stats updating.

In addition to all of this, I reset my stats on the Phone at midnight of my cycle turnover date. Since the glitch with the iPhone Cellular data not updating, my phone stats no longer match AT&Ts: they show an extra MB (or so) discrepancy.

*Feature request:* Apple really needs an accounting system that shows data usage (transfer, not storage) per app, similar to the feature in Android Ice Cream Sandwich. This would provide a definitive way to narrow down to a specific offending app or system process, and would help in diagnosing this issue that several users experience.

I should clarify that the Cellular data does eventually resume updating the Sent/Received transfer stats. But there are windows of time when there are almost certainly transfers occurring that aren't being included in the tallies.

That is true. I've tried turning off Cellular data, but when I turn it on, it just downloads everything that is stored in the server. (MMS, etc) There is no point in turning off cellular data, if you are planning on using it later (MMS don't use WIFI, so still using data).

I don't know what is happening, but when I don't send/receive anything... data files that vary in sizes from 0.3KB~ as high as 8KB are constantly being sent out!! I know they are small, but it adds up!! I only have about 7MB/Month... but after that they stop charging. Still it racks up to the $75~$$$.

Just to clarify to you all, here are my phone settings (basically "dumbphone" settings):

iPhone 4 32GB (7.2GB available) with WIFI at home & Office:

Notifications: Manually (Phone, Messages, Reminders, DataMan)

Location Services: OFF

Carrier: SOFTBANK (Japan)

Cellular Data: ON (need mms messages from IU & Docomo friends)

Data Roaming: OFF

Spotlight Search: Contacts, Music, Notes, Events, Reminders

iCloud: OFF (Deleted) I removed all my accounts (icloud & Gmail) cause even though, they are all in manual things like calendar, notes get sync to those accounts (so I turned everything off/deleted).

So as you can see, my phone is almost a big iTouch!!! Only basic phone calls & SMS, that is it!!!

How can I possibly be going over my limit???? (roughly around 7-10mb/month, but is unlimited after that) 😠

Just doesn't make any sense! Why Dataman app keeps adding little bits of data in&out, if EVERYTHING is literally OFF???

Apple, I know this is YOU! Leaking data constantly! Because, sometimes my phone could go 1-2 hours with out using any data. After I check DataMan, some bits were leaked!

I also like to add. I don't have or use any social network apps such as Facebook, pandora etc. (not even the weather app). I only use Skype in airplane mode under wifi.

I really meant it when I said I use my iPhone as a dumbphone.

I am running 4s & iOS5 and experiencing this 'random' data gobbling also. Very frustrating as difficult to diagnose if a particular app is the culprit. I have had both an iPhone 3gs & 4 and never experienced any of current data issues, however, on iPhone 4 upgraded to iOS5 I did experience intermittent issues with wifi dropping. I also have full wifi at home and work and rarely use 3G. However, I have found that my cellular data has even been ticking over when connected at wifi locations and not in use! I am not running iCloud and have trimmed down all notifications/applications that could possibly contribute. Just when I think I have it sussed - bang - up goes the random data gobbling gremlin again. Turning off all the new features of the new iOS defeats the purpose of having the phone. I suspect a wifi connection/3G switching issue with iOS5.

I LOVE APPLE but this issue needs a resolution PLEEEASE!