Data usage doesn't match phone vs. carrier

I have the EXACT scenario as you, it is driving both me and my wife crazy. Near as I can tell, after hours of research and even a trip to the Genius Bar is that the new OS (5.0/5.0.1) goes to 3G as soon as the phone locks regardless if wifi is available. It seems to be a bug in the new OS as my previous phones (or OS versions) never did this. There's really nothing to be done except disable 3G in the settings. Also, file a bug report on Apple's site (please do to raise awareness) at http://www.apple.com/feedback

In our scenario I can see large chunks of data for times when one of us was updating apps which started on wifi but appear to finish on 3G after we let our phones lock. I'm also pretty confident that the new iCloud is contributing to the midnight data usage as well since that's all that is really new from previous OS versions.

I just want to add that I am having the same problem as you as a Verizon customer.

I am running iOS 7.1.2. iPhone 4S

iOS says my cellular data usage is 184 MB, for instance.

Verizon says that I have used 189.44 MB.

I read that iOS data tracking is buggy, so I downloaded DataMan, a data usage tracking app I was told that was good and accurate. According to DataMan, it says that I have used 185.2 MB.

It seems that either Verizon is overstating my usage, or iOS is so flawed that even third party data tracking apps are reporting inaccurate usage. I think the former.

2 Gigabytes is 2,048 megabytes. If a typical allowance is 2 GBs a month.

how long did it take to rack up the 185/189 mbs?

(you did notice the tread was 3 years old?)

Hi lizdance40,

Not sure how knowing how quickly I reached 185 MB relates to the discrepancy in reported data usage amongst data usage trackers, but for your info, it took me 20 days.

(Yes, I know this thread is 3 years old, but the topic is relevant to my issue. Replying here is better than starting a new thread on an old topic, don't you think? It worked, you replied.)

Cheers

accurate recording of data usage is a sticky issue, especially with Verizon. More customers should monitor as you are doing.

i Was with Verizon for 20 years. We left for AT&T price deal. But a bonus was how little data we are using now compared to Verizon, despite adding 3 more devices to the plan. With 5 devices we struggled to stay under 6 GB a month. With AT&T we go crazy with streaming music and using GPS navigation and we have trouble getting to 2.5 GBs .

with Verizon, I usually turned my mobile data off when away from wifi. Dumb huh? Why have a smart phone you can't use cause the carrier pads data?

i Guess I'm not impressed with such a tiny discrepancy. I am used to padding by 300% by Verizon

Whoa! 300% dats padding. That's crazy. I guess VZW padding by a few MB now means they have gotten a bit more honest over the years. Nonetheless, I've emailed Apple and VZW about it. I hope it will encourage Apple to tell VZW to quit making them look inaccurate and make VWZ realize that they better watch out trying to cheat their customers.