why is data being billed while on wifi

Question

Level 1

8 points

why is data being billed while on wifi

Will the 5S do the same thing that my 4 is doing below!!! Please HELP....I don't want to have to babysite my phone and data constantly!

your Iphone DOES choose cellular OVER wifi.....I have proof! my report clearly shows WHILE connected to wifi that data is being used....and i was told the ONLY way to stop this is turn off cellular unless you absolutely NEED it....that your phone will choose the 3g (mine is an iphone4) over the wifi because it does not have a STAY ON feature. so for example you r sleeping and your phone is sitting on the kitchen table....well there is an email coming through or a communication with verizon at 3am....well guess what you aren't ACTIVELY connected to wifi cause your phone is in SLEEP mode so guess what.....that uses 3G instead of WIFI! there goes a data charge....it's CRAZY....and i'm not sure which flaw IPHONE or VERIZON is causing this but its stupid.....you expect to be on your wifi network yet have all these crazy data charges. same thing if it's in your purse, pocket, or backpack....you think you are connnected to wifi but your phone is in sleep mode so NOPE....3G it is!

I just this out! I had been using an old droid phone and got sick and tired of it shutting down on me so i bought an iphone 4 and this is my first month with it attached to my plan and guess what.....using 3 TIMES the data that phone did! ***.....well now i hear the 5S is doing the SAME thing.....i really LOVE apple.....but this flaw is too hard to overlook!

iPhone 4, iOS 7

Posted on Jan 14, 2014 8:06 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 14, 2014 8:19 AM in response to dixensvixen

Easy now, slow down on the crazy

iOS 7 uses Multipath TCP.

For reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipath_TCP

Rule of thumb: Sleeping iPhone + power = always on wifi connection

Have you reset your network settings?

Have you re-negotiated your Verizon contract?

Have you considered switching carriers?

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Answer 2

dixensvixen Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 23, 2014 11:12 AM in response to chattphotos

ok i'm NOT crazy it is NOT using wifi at night. all hours of the night my iphone 4 and my husbands LG lucid are using data charges (just found out his is doing the same thing). i've shut my data off since i found out it was doing this....my phone has used .004 so far this month (7 days) and ONLY while i had the data on and was using it shopping (no wifi connection available)......my husband shut his off as well and only used around .012....but on the 21st of this month he forgot to shut it off and that night there were 15 data charges. starting at 9:45pm until 5:15am when he woke up and started using his phone. they clustered around midnight and 2:00am. it jumped from .012 to .034. overnight! so yeah there is something going on with verizon....they TOLD me to shut if off because my phone will choose data over wifi while connecting with certain "apps".....

no i can't switch carriers.....they are the only ones that we get service with in the BOONIES where half my family lives.

my network settings are "current' according to verizon.

I've seen the same questions being asked by AT&T customers....their iphones are doing the same thing. using data OVER the wifi.

I did alot more research after i wrote this....and unless you have an unlimited data plan you better keep an eye on your phone and keep if OFF data unless you NEED it.

my sisters iphone is through Verizon and hers is doing the same thing. she is home connected to wifi but getting billed data charges while she's sleeping.

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Answer 3

Jan 23, 2014 11:37 AM in response to dixensvixen

If your iPhone goes to sleep and it is not connected to a power source, WiFi will turn off. So, it would seem the obvious solution is to plug it in at night.

Best of luck.

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Answer 4

Jan 23, 2014 1:14 PM in response to dixensvixen

Like I said before and Meg has affirmed, Plug the phone in at night!

Make a case with Verizon to bump up your cap...

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Answer 5

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,333 points

Jan 23, 2014 1:24 PM in response to dixensvixen

How low is your data cap? I'm on AT&T. Have a data plan data plan that allows for 1GB of data shared between my wife and myself. We have gone over that limit exactly one time... That's when we had a week of vacation and were on the road away from WiFi nearly the entire time... Of course, my wife surfing facebook, watching everyone's videos, and doing facetime video calls over the cellular network didn't help that any... But one time... and we were barely over.

The numbers you cite. (" it jumped from .012 to .034. overnight!") are pretty much meaningless. What is that? Kilobytes? Megabytes? Gigabytes? Ounces? Degrees celcius? Without some reference, it tells us absolutely nothing.

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Answer 6

gwhiz228

Level 1

0 points

Sep 23, 2014 7:36 PM in response to KiltedTim

I was told by AT&T that your phone WILL use data while in sleep mode.. A little back ground. Our family went from using 10g of data a month for the last 5 Years to using 30g a data a month. I also switched to the family talk plan in Feb. I was complaining about my sons usage and she told me we needed to switch our data off while at home. She said it was something new AT&T was telling them.

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Answer 7

Sep 23, 2014 8:51 PM in response to gwhiz228

Gwhiz, I repost myself for your reference:

iOS uses Multipath TCP.

For reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipath_TCP

Rule of thumb: Sleeping iPhone + power = always on wifi connection

So in a nutshell, it can use data + wifi (when the connection is flakey)

Otherwise, turn off background app refresh.

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