The iPhone 5 uses Cellular Data over WiFi?

It is not just the iPhone5. It is any phone using iOS6.x

Verizon seems to have done something about it, though we don't know what, and we don't know how effective it was.

ATT customers still have the problem.

Note that it is perfectly normal to use cellular data when the phone is asleep and not plugged into power. When you wake it up, it is normal to see it switch back from cellular to WiFi if you are in Wifi range. What is NOT normal is to see cellular data being used in large, multi-MB chunks while the phone is plugged in (should remain on Wifi even when asleep) or when actively using the phone in Wifi range.

Actually, it is not just an iOS6 problem either. As I posted before, my wife and I both have iPhone 4's with iOS5 using AT&T and are both having problem with our phones using cellular data when we are on WiFi. So it seems to be iPhone 4 and 5 as well as iOS5 and iOS6.

I'm sorry that I don't recall your original post, though I have read this entire thread from the beginning (at least once, long ago!). All iOS phones use some cellular data when in WiFi range for some housekeeping items it seems. And when asleep on battery power in Wifi range, they will, by design (for battery maintenance purposes) use cellular for any comms it needs. If you are experiencing several MB's of usage when in Wifi range, you're the first IOS5 users that I recall saying so. Most folks were (obviously) on iOS5 before switching, and it was only after the switch ti iOS6 that the problems started.

Does anybody else have a *real* data leak on iOS5?

Yesterday night I kept both of my iphone 4 & 5 running on iOS 6.0.1 with the wifi and cellular data ( 3g ) on and with the same settings on both the phone. The next morning I checked the data usage. Both iphones had consumed the same amount of data except for some couple of data here & there on iphone 5. The consumption was not huge. So I think this may or may not be a problem with iOS 6. The only problem now I am having is when I switch on the 3g on iphone 5 ( Vodafone prepaid connection ) the network goes off to no service and back to normal network
( everytime ). This is not the case with iphione4 ( Vodafone postpaid connection ). Does anybody have noticed anything like that or its a hardware issue.

How much data leak is a data leak ?

iPhone 5 iOS 6.01 user in Ottawa, Canada.

My LTE use in one day - Dec 10 - was 3.25 gig. I'm on Rogers. Roger's tech told me its a device issue with Apple newest iOS. Also told me it was happening with all carriers in Canada, Telus and Bell too.

Rogers account team put me on data unlimited for 2 months! At LTE speeds!

Crisis? What crisis?

>> How much data leak is a data leak ? <<

I would define it as, "after updating to iOS6, I'm now using more data in a few days than I ever have in a month with iOS5 or before."

Seriously, if you are on WiFi using the phone, and multi MB's of cellular are being used, that's a problem. If you are on Wifi and the phone is alseep but plugged in, and multi MB's of cellular data are being used, that's a problem. The part that is NOT a problem - that folks still seem confused about - is when the phone is asleep and not plugged in. In that situation, it is normal for it to be on cellular (even in Wifi range) and it is normal to use a few KB of data here and there for housekeeping tasks. But if in this (sleep on battery power) situation the phone is also showing multi MB's of cellular data used... that is also in the problem category.

If they say its a device issue then y didn't they replaced your product or gave your cash back ?

As far as I am concerned its an iOS issue. So no problem because they will come up with the software update some or the other day.

I have an unlocked iPhone 5 which I purchased directly from Apple. Roger's stance in this case seems to be that they acknowledge that there is a problem that is not my faullt and that an upcoming iOS update will address the issue. They specifically said that Applw is working on a solution but they haven't seen one yet.

I will add my voice to the chorus. Upgraded to ios 6.0.1 2 weeks ago. Last night a 4.4 gig file was sent from my phone while I was driving my car. Never have I gone over 1.6 gig in a month prior. I am 5 days in my wmonthbilly sttemnt and I am at 5.6 gigs. Just spent 42 minutes on hold and was disconnected...

calling back....

I only use iCloud for contacts, calendar and mail. No data push. No photo stream. I do not watch movies or stream music, etc, etc,

...back with Apple. They told me to restore and re-install each app as they are blaming on of them. Not the IOS. Of course this will consume more data....

We have succeeded in taming this on my wife's iPhone somewhat by shutting off iCloud altogether, including in particular for mail, which it seems was waiting for a cellular connection instead of a wireless one, and then re-sending emails with photos attached over and over again. The biggest chunks of cellular usage were always occurring the day after sending a number of photos via email.

Since then, our cellular data usage is way down. In looking at the netstats, it seems as if the app Intelligent Life (for The Economist; "int.life.iphone") has some kind of leakage issue as well, because it sends 3x as much data as it downloads, all on cellular even though my wife only uses it when around the wireless. So we'll need to play with the settings for that and see if that will help.

It's the same problem with T-mobile also, and with any wifi (at home or at work), iOS still uses cellular over wifi for email pushes, notification and iCloud.

Worse yet, it doesn't send SMS text message (which should not count as cellular data), but defaults to use iMessage (which uses cellular data instead of wifi) even when you try to send text message to someone.

iOS6 is a devolution, it removed FaceTime app, so you cannot launch an app, but instead forces you launch a document it uses (i.e., Contact) to FaceTime someone.

It takes away your ability to choose whether to select SMS or IM messages or FaceTime.

Why is Apple engineer so control freak by disallowing users to choose wifi over cellular, choose SMS over IM, choose FaceTime rather than the person you want to FaceTime with?

stopped getting messages from this discussion. I just have to keep remembering to turn off cellular data to stop leakage.

Based on the console log on error messages generated by iOS6, I suspect it is a bug with location turned on that interferes with wifi reception. Every time location wakes up from sleep periodically, I think the GPS signal causes wifi signal to fail, and then iOS falls back to cellular to connect instead of default to use wifi connection when it failed intermittently.