The iPhone 5 uses Cellular Data over WiFi?

I am going to post this again..

My daughter had iphone 4s, did ios6 update in Oct 2012; by Nov, serious data "sent" from iphone which ATT charged us for, plan for 3GB being used up in two weeks max...there was absolutely no change in the way she used the phone, no streaming, no videos,etc. My son's phone did NOT have same pattern of problems when he updated to ios6. My daughter got iphone5 in Dec 2012 when tired of dealing with Apple/ATT (both point the finger at each other). Same problem occurring with her iphone5. Many discussions with senior tech support and executive offices from Apple (after two FCC complaints) and ATT promises (also two FCC complaints) except for not charging for data overages if I call every month and complain.

Bottom line: son's phone on ios6 works, my daughter's doesn't. Now a third iphone 5 on our account is starting to do same, 63,000 KB Internet/Media Net SENT...for what???? to who???? ATT denies any ability to decipher. oh, except, "turn off your cellular data"...why do we have smartphones then???

I've been reading this board since near the beginning of it. My wife's phone (on Verizon) doesn't have the problem. It seems to me that everyone on ATT should vote with your feet and switch to Verizon. That should get someone's attention.

Do I have to do that even if I don't have the problem?

Ewitter,

You may already aware of this guide.

Here it is anyway: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4203?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

When I first upgraded to iOS 6, on a new iPhone 5, I had serious Cellular data usage issues.

Telstra Australia acknowledged the behaviour, and confirmed the need to ensure the iPhone settings were optimum for my use. That worked for me.

The other observation is the behaviour of your home WiFi network. If it is a little flakey or signal is weak, some App's you may have left running may opt to connect via 3G/LTE.

As a habit, I turn off all Apps that are running in the background [except DataWiz] before retiring for the night.

Here is another User's comment...

When your phone locks it automatically disconnects from WiFi and uses Cellular Data 3G/LTE and fetches data for you. Like email etc. I've had it much worse at about 200mb per day. I went though settings and changed the fetching data on email and maps, as well as location. There are countless threads about it bling att even a lawsuit for it if I remember right. I went through **** and back to get it working properly.

And another...

I've resolved the issue: Turns out Gmail using Exchange Activesync is quite inefficient, especially with syncing and receiving push notification. Also, I believe icloud was a factor but to a much lesser extend.

So I removed my Gmail account from ios mail. I also deleted (logged off) from icloud. Icloud does not back up up much for me anyways as I store important stuff on gmail, and I can always login an do a full backup once every once a week or so with the Cellular tuned off.

So to get the same functionality as before, I installed gmail app for mail. Also used CardDav for ios contacts sync with gmail contacts, and used imap for syncing gmail calendar to ios calendar, and for backing up ios notes app.

Result: I used 8kB in 6 hours last night!

Right now, after some light use and 2 push emails notifications on the road, my cellullar data usage for the past 12 hours is 27kB...

Hope you get sorted soon...

Thanks, we are aware and have tried pretty much all the fixes. Wifi at home is via Airport Express, is strong and not an issue, and connecting has not been a problem. Have asked my daughter to monitor her connection more closely but a ninteen yr old is not terribly motivated to pay attention to these details. But I am. She says she closes all apps when not using them. She has gone through app settings with various techs from ATT and Apple to turn off data users.

What I don't understand is why so much data gets sent from her phone. Nothing is received. At least according to the ATT billing.

Sorry you are incorrect, see my previous post. I have reset my phone as a brand new phone with no apps or connections installed at but it still used 10kb of cellular data in approximately 5 mins whilst on wifi. This has nothing to do with any installed apps or configuration... It is simply IOS for some reason using cellular rather than Wifi for its own services. Backing up and fresh install is not a resolution for this issue

You do not have to to this extreme.. If you set up the device as a brand new device and don't set up any mail accounts or anything else, the device will still end up using cellular data rather than wifi sometimes.. It is built into ios6 for some reason and this is the fundamental problem... It is an Apple problem... Nothing to do with gmail or any other app. We need Apple to sort it out.

Let's not forget the data usage when re-connecting to cellular data. I turn off my cellular data at home, and when I turn it back on (in or out of my WiFi range, doesn't matter) I see an IMMEDIATE data transfer from 20 MB to 90 MB. Every day. Can't stop it. That is a lot of data, if you think about it. For me, no matter what I do, I get huge data transfers every day.

Perplexing indeed... There are many people struggling with this issue, and yet, when you think about it, since most iPhone Users are not effected, it has to be related to how the iPhone and Service Provider are setup.

In my simplistic analysis, since you would expect all iPhones to be effected the same way, it would seem have a rot cause related to two factors...

a) the Apps the User has loaded, the way they are configured, and the services they are providing [Push etc], and the way they are being used [open in background, frequent Push Notification etc]

b) the Service Provider setup [seems to me that some Telco's are clearly pushing or pulling more stuff than others]

This is my conclusion, given that every iPhone is the same, and most are quite OK.

Hi,I'm new to this forum, but has anybody thought of a hack?It is odd this problem is not on all devices running this upgrade,and in certain areas.

Does this problem also exsist in a unlocked phone with a different carrier?That would tell you phone app./device or carrier problem.If it changes on a different carrier,such as T-Mobile.Then AT&T has a problem.Maybe a network hack.

If it is the device,no change on high use.Apple has the problem.I think that is called class action suit?

Data in Data out with wifi and cellular?Just kind of odd.

Not sure why there are cellular data issues while on wifi, could be a number of different reasons. I know voice mail only comes over cellular, and I've heard of problems before of iPhones going to cellular when in sleep mode. Think I've figured out my particular problem of high data usage with some experimenting. The syncing of my iCloud calendar, contacts and reminders was causing the problem. While I had them in the on position in my settings, my phone was using 5MB of cellular data every three minutes, tested this twice, and when I turned them off, no data usage. Thought iCloud was only supposed to sync over wifi, guess not. Still not sure why it would come in big spikes of 50 MB some days and not others.

So my 10 year-old son's phone somehow used 300mb of data from 11:30p - 12:45a Sunday night while 1) he was in our house asleep with his phone in my room and 2) connected to our home wifi. Complained to AT&T and here was their BS response:

Thank you for choosing AT&T for your wireless needs!

This email is in reference to a case that was filed on your wireless account on 4/8/13, regarding the data usage on the line ending in 8857.

As requested, we have thoroughly reviewed the data usage on the line. At this time, we are unable to find any evidence of a billing error. You usage was linked to the equipment on file with normal download volumes. To reduce the amount of data transferred over the network, we recommend that Wi-Fi be used while streaming media or completing large download. Some common causes of high data usage are listed below; however this is not an all-inclusive list:

· Streaming or downloading music; streaming Pandora, iHeartRadio or XM Radio apps; downloading mp3s.

· Streaming video/audio, such as YouTube or Netflix.

· Downloading large files, like books, magazines, Apps and Podcasts.

If you have any further inquiries regarding this case, you may contact me directly at 800-517-4890 ext. 3831 or you may contact Customer Care at 1-800-331-0500 for assistance.

I have this scam well-documented and now talking to a Dallas reporter about adding my info to her story. Wish an attorney would step up and file a suit.

Total BS is a pretty good assessment. I had my iPhone on a desk 2 feet away from my WiFi antenna, streaming Pandora. My cellular usage during that period was over 300 MB.

What I have been told (and my troubleshooting confirms) is that when the iPhone goes to sleep (screen shuts off) the phone shuts off WiFi to conserve battery life (staying connected to WiFi requires a lot of power, apparently). You can see this when you turn your phone back on and you see the network symbol instead of the wifi symbol for a few seconds. Thus, if you stream music from the Internet over the phone and your phone's screen goes dark your wifi will shut off and all data transfer will be shifted to cellular data. To counteract this, it was recommended that phones streaming music should be plugged into an external power source which should bypass the default power saving setting and keep wifi on.

The iPhone does not turn off WiFi when it is streaming music regardless of whether it turns off the screen or not. This will not result in the use of cellular data.

What you have heard about the iPhone turning off WiFi is inaccurate.