The iPhone 5 uses Cellular Data over WiFi?

I noticed a similar condition. Some one in this thread said that as long as cellular data is on, even while connected to wifi, the phone will poke the cellular network on occasion but the pokes should be small. In my case it's like .03 KB pokes about 5 times a day (rough numbers).

I have the probleme here with my iPhone 4 since i updated to IOS6. Normally i have 300MB the whole month, since IOS6 (iPhone4) 300 MB in 1 day. For example iTunes Match seem to use 3G in the background even at home, when WiFi is on...

There was a switch "WiFi plus Cellular" in the beta of IOS 6. It seems, that Apple removed the switch, but left the function as always on by accident....

Sunday, Oct 7th Update:

So here we sit hoping Apple will respond with a software update to fix this enormous “data suck” issue. If you leave “Cellular Data” ON, the iP5 will use your AT&T or Verizon data even if you’re connected to a wifi network. This puts a huge dent in your data plan on an hourly basis, unless you manually turn off cellular data when you’re at home or work, and want to preserve your data plan for times you are NOT within wifi.

Having set up a problem report and spoken to Apple myself yesterday (Sat Oct 6th), my Apple rep denied any knowledge of such an issue — even though Verizon has already released a software update to solve the problem on their networks (it doesn’t completely work, according to recent Verizon user responses on this Apple support forum). My AT&T rep’s solution is simply to turn off cellular data when you walk in the door at home. How convenient! How non-automated! I assume this is a corporate placebo answer currently being dished out to customers until Apple figures out what the eff is going on.

For the last 2 years, my AT&T data plan was for 200 megs per month. Reason: My iPhone 4 used less than 50 megs of AT&T data in a month’s time.

My new iPhone 5 uses more than 50 megs a DAY, and that’s with almost everything turned off — LTE, location services, notifications, email push, blah blah, and without even using Safari or other things that require data. I'm just talking about the bare-bones phone itself continues to suck data and refuses to switch to wifi on its own. I have proven that my new phone does not USE my wifi when in range, and prefers to communicate with the AT&T mothership for everything my wifi has done in the past.

I was forced to increase my 200 meg/month data plan to 1GB/month just to avoid costly overages. And, I’m still turning off cellular data when I walk in the door at my home. Ghastly error which is going to blow up when folks get their monthly usage bills and find out the data their iP5 has been using. Not a great thing for Apple’s PR group.

Murky Wacky Conspiracy Theory: AT&T and Verizon are tickled pink that millions of new iPhone 5 owners will be forced to manually turn off cellular data when in wifi range, and thus become aware of our responsibility to throttle our own personal data usage. Yes this is off-the-wall crazy, but until Apple publicly admits there is a problem, we new iPhone 5 owners have lots of time to think of reasons why we’re being treated like addled senior citizens who don’t understand technology. As someone who just spent over $4k for a new Retina MacBook Pro this summer, along with 2 iPad 2′s, Apple TV, and 2 Apple Airport Extreme wifi routers within the past 12 months, I’m ******.

(Update to my previous posting above)

Sunday 10/7 12pm ET

Just spoke with another Apple rep about my issue. "Abby" admitted that Apple does indeed know about the problem, worked with Verizon on their carrier solution, and is working with AT&T in a similar fashion. When asked if this was a hardware, software, or carrier problem, she admitted that Apple cannot put 100% of the blame on the carrier(s). She is leaving my case open, in case I decide to return my phone to Apple if the problem is not fixed before my 30-day return ability has expired.

Finally...somebody at Apple who admits the problem exists, and calmed me down with that admission. Sometimes in customer service that's all the customer wants to hear...an honest reply.

Sometimes 'I don't know' is an honest answer. I've been in touch with a senior level advisor for the past week. He said originally that he hadn't heard anything and needed to look into it to see when it 'trended'. My experience is much like yours. Yesterday he gave me an update that the issue is definately being worked on (just short of an actual admission of a problem), and that he would contact me as soon as he hears of an update. Basically meaning I will find out when everybody finds out. I have definately been the squeaky wheel on this one. AT&T will credit any overages, just like Verizon did. I just hope Apple and AT&T don't ignore the 4 and 4S as also affected, as Verizon did. ( actually unsure if Verizon iphone users had this issue as well, I know my wife's AT&T iP 4S definately had cell data suckage on wifi.

Yep...this appears to be an os6 issue. The Verizon fix did not go on the 4s. My wife is having the same problem with her 4s and Verizon. Luckily she is on an Unlimited plan. My 4 on AT&T has same problem but I have Unlimited also. Consequently all us "older" adopters are killing all the networks with overusage at no cost to us.

My ATT iPhone 5 has the same issue. I don't think it's just a problem with Wifi. If I'm not on Wifi, and not using anything, the Cellular usage runs faster than it should be. With Wifi, the problem is easier to quantify. It should be "zero" on the usage. When not on Wifi, it is more difficult but if I pay attention, there is a data overage.

For me, I'm lucky to get one at the release date. Now I have to see whether I have to return it if 30 days clock comes.

Soooo....as an update: I have turned off AT&T LTE and have been using the "4G" setting for the last day or so. I am still getting a respectable 5 Mb download speed which is more than adequate for browsing (Tampa Bay)...during this time, my phone drains a lot less while on 4G while on standby....and the datawiz app is showing much less cellular usage. So....using less data while on 4G has also been good on my battery while using less data....even in standby...leading me to think there is some sort of data "leakage" as others have termed it, while on LTE.

The cause?...who knows. As always, YMMV...but on my phone in Tampa Bay, FL At&t market, on 4G mode my phone sits in the 90's battery percentages most of the day with no usage whereas on LTE I would be in the 60's...no doubt caused by whatever data seepage is occurring. I'm baffled. As others have said, I don't think this is an Apple issue or an iOS6 issue, but a "carrier setting" such as the Verizon issue, and related to LTE and the chip used in the iPhone 5. Now, apparently others are having issues on 4's and 4S's with iOS 6....not sure if its the same problem (which would relate to iOS6) but in my case....LTE seems to be the culprit.

What say you ???

I just tried. Turning down the LTE on Wifi with cellular data on. Still leaking on my ATT phone.

Monday Oct 8th

Cellular data has been off since yesterday afternoon (Sunday). I "called" the ATT Data Usage number from my phone (*3282#). Msg says my data usage = 41.43 MB, what it was yesterday.

Turned my cellular data back ON. Almost every "data drain" activity is turned off...location services, Siri, etc.

Went out for a 30 minute walk. Came back in, called the *3282#, and I've now used 60.52 MB. That's nearly 20 MB in a half hour, or 40 MB per hour. or 960 MB in 24 hours.

[I had just upped my previous 200 MB/month data plan last week to the 1 GB plan to cover my butt due to these overages.]

Were you using any maps app on your walk?

I left cellular data off all night at home while I was on wifi, obviously when I woke up, it was at 0 bytes. I turned cellular data back on after I left my house to go to work. I just unlocked my phone for the first time since turning cellular data back on and checked the usage. 550MB. I only received one email all Morning, and that was just letting me know there was a post on here. That's insane.

Oh wow, and just now I reset it, nothing running on my phone except the browser this is on, after resetting it I went back and back in usage, it was already at over 7.5 mb.

http://i46.tinypic.com/ubvkj.jpg

In two minutes.

My overage is not as serious as yours but is still threatening my 200 MB plan. I already turn every possible setting down so all apps should be using Wifi and I have only a few apps. My previous Android averages about 60 MB per month.

Are Verizon users good with the patch? I am not going to up my plan. It's a question of when to ditch iPhone.