How to Track Personal Hotspot Usage

Question

How to Track Personal Hotspot Usage

This month I signed up for a 5 gigabyte tethering (personal hotspot plan) with AT&T.

As of today when I look at:

Settings:General:Usage:Cellular Usage

I get

Sent 326 MB

Received 2.6 GB

-----

When I go to:

Settings:Phone:AT&T Services

and choose *3282#

I get a message stating:

Data (MB): 5120 of 5120

Overage: 29

So AT&T thinks I have used approximately 2 gigabytes more data than has been tracked by my iPhone.

What is up with that???!!!

For what it's worth, most of the tethering was done in Southern Massachusetts over LTE and 4G with a mediocre but usable cellular signal.

I have looked at some iPhone data tracking apps, but probably won't buy one until I'm confident that it tracks tethering traffic. I just saw a review of one of the better ones, DataMan Pro stating that it does not track tethering traffic.

I have an open case with Apple Tech support regarding these issues, but they want me to basically wipe the phone and start fresh to see if the problem persists. iOS is known to control the apps' access to low level resources quite well, so I'm dubious that they are getting around the tracking of bits coming in and out over the cellular data network.

Does anyone know of an app that reliably tracks tethering data? I'm suspicious that AT&T has overcharged me based on a very rapid rise in data usage that did not seem to correspond with my actual usage.

Suggestions and discussion appreciated!

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Jun 24, 2013 3:16 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 24, 2013 8:52 PM in response to Ocean20

Ocean 20---- thanks but not so relevant for my situation. The report that AT&T gives me when I ask for a data usage report is based on activity that occurred up until 2-5 days before now. So, the only way I could be successful doing the test you propose is to turn my phone off for 5 days, then get a report from AT&T. Then turn my phone on, activate tethering and access some data with a tethered device, then turn off the phone again and wait 5 days before turning it back on to get the next report from AT&T. Other than the small overhead of starting up the phone and making the connection with AT&T, that would give me a measure of whether AT&T recorded tethering accurately (assuming I had an independent way of measuring data used). As a user, it is nearly impossible to verify the amount of AT&T data I am using.

This is not an easy question. That is why I am seeking an app which *CAN* measure data use while I am using it.

My original question still stands.... Is there an iPhone app that reliably measures AT&T data used while tethering?

(Note that I'm not making any assumptions that Verizon or a carrier in Australia measures data usage the same way. I just want to know about AT&T right now.)

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Answer 2

Jun 24, 2013 3:41 PM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

You can try the OpenSignal app, it is very accurate with data tracking in general and does not require location services to be always active.

Plus, iOS should have a separate data counter for the personal hotspot/tethering.

So should at&t, you should have data used by the phone, and data used by tethering.

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Answer 3

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,407 points

Jun 24, 2013 3:40 PM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

How often do you reset the numbers on your phone? You would have to do that at the beginning of your billing period. As far as the phone's counter, I'm not sure if the counter retrieves the information from the personal hotspot. Someone else that uses it should be able to answer that question.

Not trying to defend AT&T, but they have been extremely accurate with my data usage on the 4 iPhones we have here in our household. I don't use any of the apps, since all the phones have the unlimited plan, that is why I can't answer if the counter for the cell usage takes into account tethering or not. Good luck with your quest for an app.

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Answer 4

Jun 24, 2013 7:28 PM in response to chattphotos

Thanks for taking the time to respond chattphotos. It is an open question whether it tracks tethering data. On the iPhone, there is no separate tracking of data for personal hotspot/tethering. I agree that there should be separate tracking but I don't see an app that does that.

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Answer 5

Jun 24, 2013 7:36 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

ChrisJ4203 - Thanks for replying. Yes, I reset the phone's cellular data to zero when I activated tethering. The 5 GB of the tethering plan begins when it is activated and ends and the end of the plan month. Exactly right about whether tethering activity is tracked.

When you have an unlimited data plan (I had one but had to give it up due to changing plans for foreign travel), one doesn't have to track data use that much. When tethering, an active period supporting several devices can run up a lot of data. Here is the biggest problem: AT&T's reporting of data use can be 2-5 days behind so that you can have burned through the entire data plan before you can do anything about it. They do send notices about nearing plan limits, but those notices can be too late due to reporting delays. As I said above, my phone showed I had used 3 gigabytes when AT&T said that I had used 5. So who is right? How can I find out?

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Answer 6

Ocean20

Level 6

13,727 points

Jun 24, 2013 7:38 PM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

My carrier when I go to settings/phone/SIM applications has tow options, balance and recharge. I can use Balance there to have the carrier send me an SMS of data usage. I could do that both before and after hotspot use and I would have the answer

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Answer 7

Jun 25, 2013 3:50 AM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

There used to be two separate data counters, what happened to it? I'm not sure, I will have to investivate that.

Also, like I said before, check out the iPhone app OpenSignal, you can track your daily/weekly/monthly/total data usage.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/opensignal/id598298030?mt=8

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Answer 8

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,407 points

Jun 25, 2013 1:32 PM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

Well, I understand how AT&T measures data, and I know the difference in how the phone does it. If I was just comparing regular data usage, I would say the phone would probably be the closest, however since we are trying to look at data, which AT&T only seems to charge once or twice a day, I wouldn't know who could be closest, but I would have to guess AT&T would have to be, since they are the only ones measuring, albiet behind.

I am not aware of an app in the app store that measures data, although I know there are some. Given that, I'm not sure if any of them are of a quality that I would want to use to challenge AT&T and their billing.

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Answer 9

Jun 25, 2013 2:05 PM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

So far, no useful suggestions.

Does anyone know of an app that tracks tethering/hotspot data usage? Please no suggestions for apps that *might* track tethering activity. I'm looking for real answers.

I'm looking for a way to verify that AT&T's usage statistics and charges are correct. Note that there have been claims of data overcharging leveled against AT&T over the past couple years.

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Answer 10

Jun 25, 2013 2:45 PM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

DataMan is in the first photo, it works in realtime, and sends you alerts if start reaching your cap. I've used it while tethered and yes the data usage did go up accordingly.

This second photo is what OpenSignal looks like. Tethering usage is in there you just have to remember what you started with or track what you've used on a particular day.

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Answer 11

Jun 27, 2013 9:48 PM in response to chattphotos

Thanks chattphotos-

I contacted the developer of DataMan Pro who confirmed that tracking does happen for tethering usage. The amount used shows only in the phone network total data usage statistics. With the "Complete" option turned on under Display in the Themes setting, then it breaks down data down vs. data up. For me it made sense to set the Data Plan setting to Daily, even though I'm on a monthly plan so I can see the activity total summed on a daily basis.

So far, while in the Seattle area, the data usage all makes sense and it seems to line up with AT&T's statistics fairly well. Too bad I didn't have DataMan Pro running when I saw the sudden data usage increase as reported by AT&T. I'm betting that DataMan Pro would have shown the same level of activity as shown here:

Settings:General:Usage:Cellular Usage

I have one more day in my plan month and this figure shows 2.7 GB received and 333 MB Sent, as compared with AT&T's claim of 5120 MB (the 5 GB plan) and 127 MB overage used in the next 1 GB increment. This anomaly occurred in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. I'll run tethering there again at the end of August and will be prepared for more detailed tracking. The reception there was only so-so. I wonder if I was being charged for failed packets that had to be sent again.

I like the graph shown by Open Signal, but don't see that it gives me anything that DataMan Pro doesn't also give in the category of data usage tracking.

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Answer 12

Sep 23, 2013 11:37 AM in response to SeattleLonginTheTooth

This is a followup. This last month (Aug 2013) I returned to the same location where I had the original tethering data overcharge issue and once again activated tethering. This time I had DataMan Pro tracking turned on. I had it set to track data use one day at a time to make it easier to isolate anomalies. I compared the results with both Settings:General:Usage:Cellular Usage as well as Settings:Phone:AT&T Services:View My Data and Msg and they were all in quite close agreement. There were no unexplained spikes in usage.

Perhaps AT&T fixed a problem with their data tracking since I observed the original problem. At least they gave me a credit for the amount of the discrepancy.

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