The iPhone 5 uses Cellular Data over WiFi?

Olli66 made a very interesting comment about a setting in a beta version of ios6 "Wfi plus Cellular" that is no longer present BUT may have been left on. If you have spotty wifi and a big data plan, this would be desirable to smooth and enhance performance. The carriers would probably be ok with it too if their network performance is occasionally an issue. No doubt about it, 4g LTE is delightfully fast. It also means data leaks to cellular can chew up data very quickly. I would say, put the switch back so the user can manage it. It appears that the default iOS 6 settings are all set to enable cellular usage, so lots of things need to be examined for leakage until this is fixed.

In the meantime, the things I have done that seem to have helped:

Reset the network connection. This was done for me at the apple store. This seemed to be a biggie. Just be sure you have saved your various wifi passwords to log in again.

Turn off cellular for data when not needed. However, this may not be entirely successful, as there are other settings that seemingly may leak:

iCloud backup. Turn it off unless you need to do one now. Documents & Data has a use cellular data switch you can switch off.

Privacy, Location Services. Make sure only the apps you consider critical are switched on. System Services (scroll down). I switched them all off. Traffic is probably a hog.

Notification Center. What apps do you really need real time?

Siri.

About. (Scroll down). Advertising. Limit ad tracking ON. Diagnostics and Usage - Don't Send!

Also, for heavy data transmissions on wifi, switch to Airplane mode and go back and switch wifi back on while in progress.

If none of that works on your iphone 5, take the phone back for an exchange. It may be defective.

Best of luck!

Oh, I missed a couple switches in my previous post.

Music has a use cellular data switch.

iTunes and app stores has a use cellular data switch.

Mail has a push new data switch.

Check your other apps listed. For example BBC News has a a share statistics switch set to ON.

This is nuts.

David,

An excellent summary, thank you...

I ran thru to check all my settings against your list, and found I had, over time, turned most Off.

There were some others I had missed.

It is a bit daunting, I must agree.

My initial pass thru was guided by a very helpful Apple Shop employee in Perth.

Not at the Genius Bar, but maybe was one, since he certainly knew how to set up an iPhone to minimise Cellular Data Usage. I talked casually with him about the sudden jump in Cellular Data usage on iPhone 5 versus 4S, and he quickly worked thru most of these settings, and with my approval, turned stuff off as we went.

May I suggest you consolidate into a TextEdit document, and post that to this forum, so users can down load, print, and use it to optimse their setup.

My conclusion from this discussion is that this is an iOS 6 issue, and will effect iPhone 4S, 4, and iPad 3G users equally.

Thanks again...

Robert

OS 6 and iPhone 5 Users...

I have consolidated David, Olli, and my own recommendations on how to Optimise Cellular Data Usage on the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 devices in the attached document. You might like to save a copy, use it, monitor performance , and of course, and share it with friends...

My apologies, I cannot find a way to upload a pdf document.

This is a screen capture from my iMac.

Click on the image, and right click in the expanded image, and select Save Image As...

Robert

But this whole thing is stupid. On my iPhone 4 I was jailbroken and had 3G Unrestrictor installed and set to allow ALL data over 3G. So all apps had access to my 3G data ALL the time (when not on wifi). I never even went over 1GB in a month! On one day last week my iPhone 5 ate 1.3GB of data!!!

There is something wrong. Even over wifi there are reports of the iPhone using excessive data, so it does not appear to be restricted to cellular data. For most people that is not a problem because they have large or unlimited home broadband ADSL/cable plans. But we really notice it on cellular data because that can become very expensive. An extra GB with my Australian carrier would cost $1000!!!

I don't understand why Apple has not released an urgent press statement and iOS update, yet. This could cost some people a LOT of money. Imagine those people who do not check their data (don't usually need to) and don't get involved in forums, etc. They are going to be in for a BIG shock!

What's being insinuated here is stupid though.

Yes, there's a responsibility to monitor your data usage within reasonable expectation, but I shouldn't have to change my connectivity habits to babysit software that doesn't run correctly.

As I saw pointed out in another forum, this high data usage being reported is not widespread, nor is it happening to everyone, but it's happening and Apple needs to at least identify that it's occuring and let them tell us what we need to do to resolve the issue while waiting for a patch.

If Apple were to at least acknowledge the issue and offer a suggestion until a fix can be sent, we at least get something that identifies that there was a fault.

Neither Apple nor any of the carriers are going to be safe from any class actions that come about of unrelieved overages on bills, so at least the carriers are doing their part to cover their ***** by refunding people.

In the meantime, the suggested "fixes" are only reasonable if you haven't gone over or you haven't been throttled like I have, and only reasonable if you have an expected user who wants to constantly spend time twiddling with settings whenever you move around during the day. I don't do this and neither do other people. What works for you isn't a feasible option for me.

What is a feasible option, is that I'm returning my 5 today since I still am inside my return window and go get a refund. I will switch back to my old iPhone 4. I am aggravated and dispirited over this whole situation. I've wanted LTE level speeds for over a decade on a mobile device, I finally get it in a form factor I like and it's poorly constructed and the best advice is to turn it off for now.

Considering that I'm sitting on the verge of having to pony up a $325 fee to tell AT&T "thanks but no thanks", I know when to cut my losses while Apple is sorting this mess out. Allowing Apple, AT&T or any one else who's dealing with heavy data usage reporting right now is an expensive habit to keep and a poor option in the face of a product less than 30 days old. All of you have the legal right to return your phones rather than face the ETF. When Apple addresses this issue, I will go back and then get a new phone, probably switching to Sprint in the process just to cover my butt.

Shame on Apple for not testing this adequately before shipping.

Their reknown for secrecy has clearly come at a cost of decreased product quality for this product.

For me the best way is to end my AT&T account, as it has expired. My 4 has been sending cellular data while on wifi since i went to os6. Although I am on unlimited it will get throttled also. Why pay for something when I have to shut it off when I am around wifi? I was about to leave AT&T as I get horrible service at home and go on my wife's Verizon account. However, I would get 2 gb, something I have never gone over in the 5 yrs I have used iPhones, and risk going over it.

Thinking on using my iPhone 4 as an iPod and go with a Pay as you go cell phone. At least till I am sure this mess is over. I dont travel enough to make the cellular usage worth it anyway.

Ajservo1, I share your frustration. This issue, along with the crippling of the iTunes music song-level functionality and the forced migration of podcasts to a crippled Podcast app functionality, have shaken my allegiance to apple. And, we're not allowed to go back to ios5 once we have "upgraded" to ios6.

The reason I left Microsoft windows for OSX many moons ago was having to constantly "pop the hood" to tune the software and operating system. Tight vertical integration of hardware and software has until now been a boon in terms of avoiding this issue, and I'm not sure Android is yet a superior alternative.

However, apple is in real danger of repeating the mistakes IBM made trying to do the same with OS/2, which cost them the whole desktop ball game. Apple: don't mold or limit your software to your desired or expected user behavior, to further your corporate objectives. Listen to your users. Let me use your appliance as suits me, without penalty. I am not an iSheep.

David I agree with you whole heartedly. We obviously go back to the same time (pre ibm and ibm jr.). I am hopeful this is just growing pains.

Apple's silence on product is totally understanding. Their silence on these kind of issues only hurt their dedicated and loyal customers. Consequently hurting themselves.

Anyone sitting in Apple (or appointed or self/appointed defenders) should look back at the GIANT IBM. They lost site of their customer base. Windows suffers currently that way also. Hopefully it will not happen to Apple.

I no longer blindly defend Apple after their iPhone 4 antenna debacle (which I own and suffer with). I am hopeful this situation will be TOTALLY fixed and not just a "free case" type fix.

I have had an iPhone for the past 5 years. I now have an iPhone 5 with iOS 6 and this is the first time ever that I have gone over my data plan.

Clearly something is wrong and it needs fixing ASAP!

Just got a callback from someone at AT&T after i posted an IM to a support rep on the support pages in a thread about this issue. Their official word? Not enough customers have complained about this issue, so it is not an issue as far as they are concerned. They will happily credit any disputed data you say is happening while on wifi. Yeah. Great. Burden's on me again. I explained I have crippled almost every conceivable data sucker and am purposely not using my data to try to crack what is happening, so I probably won't go over. I said that right before she called, I could see data coming off the phone while in wifi. And data coming off while the phone was sleeping in my pocket during my commute with all apps force quit. Nothing but silence from the other end.

NOT

ENOUGH

PEOPLE

REPORTING...

My wife is on a iPhone 4S and no longer cares, she just wants to use her phone without worrying about data. THIS is why AT&T will win. Most people will just sigh and go to a higher data plan.

as suggested by somebody in this discussion thread,

RESETTING all Network Settings to default seems to have fixed my crazy data usage while connected to wi-fi issue. I'm currently tracking using the DataWiz app and so far so good 🙂

Was the first thing I did while on the phone (different one) with a senior advisor at Apple. No change.

For what is worth, RESETTING all Network Settings to default seems to have fixed my crazy data usage while connected to wi-fi issue for me as well.

That's the first thing I've tried and it didn't have any effect. Neither did shutting off lte. Although I have been keepin an eye on data usage submitted to AT&T via the website, myAT&T app and "calling" data to get the text. DataWiz today shows that I used approx 47MB, which isn't bad cause I've actually been using the phone a bit here and there. The usage option in settings also shows the same data, but AT&T's website shows that so far today I've used over 73MB. Now I know apparently their site is an "estimate" as they claim, which I don't believe or else it should round a bit, and the times aren't exact but being the only data usage submitted today, other than a few KB's here and there with only wifi on all night, AT&T somehow thinks I used about 50% more data than the phone claims. And from what I did today on here, 75MB is more than I believe, I thought 50mb was stretching it. It was really just emails and this site.