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The iPhone 5 uses Cellular Data over WiFi?

The first two days after I received my iPhone 5, I racked up 400MB of Cellular Data. 99% of the time I was using my phone, I was connected over WiFi. So I ran a test on my own by watching a YouTube video over WiFi and then looking at my Cellular Data under the Usage menu. Sure enough, it had went up by around 10MB. I called into Apple Support and asked them what was going on. They thought that it might have been a problem with my phone or my house's WiFi connection. After them walking me through a series of test and restores, the lady semi-acknowledged that it could be a problem with how their phone interacts with the new LTE network.


If you guys out there could keep an eye on your Cellular Usage Data, that would be great. Maybe it's a problem with my iPhone 5, or maybe it's a much larger problem. Seeing as I used to have unlimited data with Verizon, being charged with everything above 2GB would be very costly for me...especially when it's not even my fault.


Hopefully we can get this issue sorted out.


Here's how to enter the Cellular Usage menu: Settings->General->Usage->Cellular Usage

iPhone 5

Posted on Sep 24, 2012 1:47 PM

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1,208 replies

Jan 2, 2015 4:23 AM in response to jessbro403

If the phone is asleep WiFi is turned off.


If the phone is asleep there are still apps that run in background and can use data.


If the phone is asleep and there are apps that use data they will use cellular data, not WiFi.


All of the above has been posted over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over over and over in this thread and other threads.

Jan 14, 2015 9:34 AM in response to DJPlayedYA

I Have called apple 6 times regarding this problem hoping I could get someone on board who could tell me why I am using data every 3 hrs while wi-fi connected. Each person suggested turning off notifications fetching, updating until everything on my phone is turned off. none of that worked. I have resorted to only turning on cellular when needed which means never at home. Finally data usage every exact three hrs, 3am-6am-9am-12pm-3pm-6pm-9pm-12am is not happening. do you think apple and our carriers are up to no good?

Jan 27, 2015 4:22 PM in response to Itsmethebee

Hello,

I know this is an old problem. I have read forum posts at Apple and Verizon. But it is a new problem for my house. We had 5 Androids. We switched two to the iphone 5s. Over the weekend one of them went nuts--11GB of data in 12 hours. I spent hours on the phone with Verizon. And hours more with Apple, hours trying to educate myself on forums, reset the phone, switched everything off. grilled the kid about what they were doing. I understand that the data isn't USED at 3 am when the phone is shut off, it is COMPILED at that time hours after it is used. I understand some things that I didn't before. Wifi was never a part of this picture.


I have two questions for this thread.....

--in a post mentions a Verizon fix that was issued a long time ago. I have read about 20 pages of this 75 page thread and haven't found that fix. Can anyone direct me to it?

--I am aware of the function on the phone that tells you what apps used your data since the last reset. Ours must not have been working because the reset date was over a month ago and the list only showed about 0.5 GB of data usage (not the 11.5 GB) -- Verizon could see the 11.5 GB but couldn't/wouldn't tell me where it went. Have others had problems with that data tracking function?


I truly believe the kid is innocent (I have other kids that I would not believe) I think the phone burped (big burp). I just want to know how to avoid it in the future and since I can't tell what used the data, I don't know what to fix

Thanks,

Chris

Jan 27, 2015 5:15 PM in response to clkaiser

The usage in Settings/Cellular should be what you actually used, or close to it. Verizon cannot tell you what data was used for (they have no way of knowing*), but if it was last reset a month ago and it is only showing 0.5 GB on the usage screen then there is no way the phone could have used 11.5 GB. if it said .6 GB I would call that rounding error, but being off by a factor of 20 just isn't reasonable. I would take screen shots of the Usage and the Reset date and escalate it with Verizon. It has to be a problem in their reporting or billing system. Escalate the issue with Verizon if necessary.


For the future reset the usage at the start of your billing cycle.


*As you may have read in yesterday's NY Times (http://nyti.ms/1EJPqQJ, as well as other sources, Verizon tags all of your data usage with a "super cookie" showing what you accessed and where you were physically located when you accessed it. They then sell this information to advertisers. They COULD use this information to tell you what the data was used for, but they will probably deny that they can. The Times article actually was about how other tracking companies are using the super cookie data to restore cookies that you deleted from your browser. Perhaps this would be useful information in negotiating with Verizon.

Apr 22, 2015 11:52 AM in response to Apple_mock_customers

Apple_mock_customers wrote:


I tell you why there is no solution, Apple is paid by network operator to keep this problem(use mobile instead wifi), there is no logic behind this stupid behaviour and lack of reaction! The only way to give them a reaction is to stop buying theirs products until they will listen us.

And of course Android phone manufacturers are NOT paid by network operators? Give me a break!


As iPhones still outsell all other smart phones by a wide margin that is still getting wider, you have a tough row to hoe to get people to buy other phones.

The iPhone 5 uses Cellular Data over WiFi?

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