How am I using so much data with iPhone 5?

laffertyinc wrote:

As it stands after the first five days of owning the iPhone 5 I am on pace to use 33 gigbytes of data this month. Over the past two years I have averaged under 2 gigabytes per month. I used 2.4gb in a single data transmission!

im experiencing a similar problem -- never used > 2GB historically since 2nd-generation iphone, so i stupidly switched to a shared data plan (giving up unlimited) and now ive hit 4 GB 3 days before my billing cycle ending. reviewing the detailed data use page and i see im using 2-4mb per minute when actively using the device.

i dont get it... even streaming audio should only use 500k/min per AT&T's own data calculator tool:

http://www.att.com/standalone/data-calculator/index.html

Laffertyinc...I just experienced a similar issue. I received my phone on Friday afternoon (6 days ago), and have used 3.5 gigs of data. I found out why.

Obviously I downloaded a fair amount of apps from the app store to get back to where I wanted to be without restoring from a backup. This takes data...Probably downloaded 30 apps, and at an average of 30mb, this is just under 1 gig of data. Plus data downloading my contacts, syncing my RSS feed reader, and other apps like instagram and facebook, etc.. I'm now up to 2 gigs of data with downloads and syncing.

Next, I have run a ton of speed tests with the speedtest.net app. THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES. I've run probably 30 separate tests over the course of 3 days. My average speed download is about 35Mbps. The calculation of how much data the speed tests have used is as follows: 30Mbps / 8 bits per byte = 3.8MBps * 10 seconds per test = 38MB * 30 tests = 1.14 gigs OF DOWNLOAD TESTS ONLY. now onto the upload test. I averaged 20Mbps for all the tests, and by the same calculations, I end up using 750MB of tests FOR UPLOAD ONLY.

The total usage from speed tests alone is 1.89 gigs, and coupled with data, that's a TOTAL OF 3.89 gigs usage.

******moral of the story: DO NOT USE SPEEDTEST.NET TOO MANY TIMES or you will use data like an animal. I hope this answers your question

The best way to stop excess data is to restore the phone. Corrupted iOS is the reason that the phone unnecessarily uses data.

this is most likely what caused my insane data consumption when listening to podcasts...

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/11/14/bug-in-ios-6-causes-multiple-downloads-of-po dcasts-is-fixed-in-6-0-1/

The audio streams that are being pulled down by iOS 6 through a variety of apps including Apple’s Podcasts and others are being increased in size by a huge factor. The streams are being downloaded multiple times as connection errors cause them to fire off a new session. And, the entire time that a stream is active, it is being downloaded over and over.

...looks like theyve fixed it now. shame the Apple support 2 guys didnt believe me about how a 60mb podcast should not consume more than...60mb. they kept saying "It's LTE...LTE uses more data! durrr!"

You can view your data usage for Celluar Data in settings>General>Usage.

This will show your total data usage, each month or bill cycle I would suggest resetting this so you can keep track of your usage.

Things that would use alot of data would be like Youtube, Pandora, Songify, any Music or video streaming sites.

Downloading Applications, updating applications. Currently carriers allow you to download applications that are up to 50MB which in reality is quite large when unlimited data plans arent common.

Follow the instrctuctings above and monitor your data. 😀

I have just gotten the iphone 5 after being on unlimited data with verizon. Had the same issue of using a ton of data (2GB) in only 12 hours when I was averaging under 1GB per month with unlimited. Verizon exchanged the phone after going in 4 different times. Becasue I was already terrbily over on data, I never even switched the data "on" on my new one. Well, guess what happened? I used a GB in less than a day without EVER turning the data on. This is a clear sign it is the phone, and obviously not the network as ATT users are experiencing the same thing. I did update to 6.1 today, and so far it seems to be helping, although it hasn't been enough time to see. Try that, if not I also spent about an hour on the phone with verizon national and they are looking deeper into the issue. Honestly, right now I would give anything to get my old, broken iPhone 4 back. This is unreal.

If you have cell data switch off, there is something wrong with data reporting. If I were you, I d trust that switch more then where you get your info.

Well not only have I gotten that data from the phone itself and MyVerizon, national Verizon sees it too. They agree it is a problem with the phone and/or the operating system. The point is, the phone is using data no matter what. Whether it has wifi or even if data is off.

My answer to you was meant to be helpful, regretfully you don't trust my opinion. When I try to research a problem I tend to trust technology more then people. Being those people from apple or Verizon or me and you for that matter. You can verify that very easy.

I'm experience a similar issue. I just bought my husband the iPhone 5 a few months ago. Since then he has been exceeding his 5GB plan every month. This month has been even worse with only 4 days in his plan he has already reached 4GB. He only uses the phone for email. He doesn't even have any additionsl apps downloaded. He doesn't stream music or videos and doesn't use the maps. I have the 4S and have had it for almost 2 years. I stream video, music, use it for emailing, send and receive tons of pics, have so many apps downloaded I can't fit anymore and use it for social media and do not come close to using 5GB a month. At most I use 3GB a month. There has to be an issue with his phone. It's also taking him 10 min or longer do stones to download a basic PDF email attachment and his flash light is not working on the phone.

I am experiencing a problem with my 4s. At work I have free wifi and use it for checking emails on my phone, check a few website (remember at work I have a laptop so rarely use the iphone). I no longer use imessage and stick to traditional texts. Yet since 01/01/2014 till 24/01/2014 I have downloaded 25gb of data??? I have checked my data usage on o2 website and I have used 186.88mb or 1gb in a month??? I am struggling to explain how this could have happened.

Life moved on. With iOS 7 you can see everything data is used for. Just check under settings - cell data.

I have looked and have a few apps using moble data. Generally I am always in wifi coverage either in work or home. Still can't see how my iphone would download 25gb of data when I only have a 16gb phone. I also never use my iphone for streaming as I have a ipad or laptop to use. Like I said I only really use my iphone for checking emails

My hotmail account is uing outlook and I rarely get emails into that account

My second Virginmedia email address uses imap and again very few emails

My main Virginmedia email address get plenty of emails daily but nowhere near 25gb and again it uses imap.

It has me thinking I have a issue with my phone. Going to monitor the usage of data at home and see if I am getting the same.

When I look in General->Settings I do not see a Cell Data.

I previsoudly had an iPhone 4 and then got a 5 last July. I never had trouble with my 2 Gb plan with ATT until last month. I figured it was because I streamed some olympic hockey games that month. I still made it without going over (reaching 95% on the last day of the billing cycle). My 5 was stolen on Sunday (March 2) so I got a 5s on Monday. Now today I got notices that I am 65% into my 2 Gb usage and I am only 8 days into the billing cycle.

How can I tell what is using up my data usage? I turned of photo streaming and data/documents on icloud and set it to only backup when plugged into my computer/itunes. Could that have been the problem? I think I had that turned off on my previous phones but then paid for it when my phone was stolen. I don't want to risk losing my photos, etc, but I can't go through 2 Gb in one week!