Mysterious Data Usage and it's outside of current billing cycle

[jice]

Recently, I've noticed some unusual data usage.  It seems wrong and I'd appreciate any help.

Background:  I'm an iPhone 3GS user on the 200MB ($15 month) data plan since December of 2011.  I've never gone over this limit (come close, but not over).  I rarely stream audio (and never video) when not on wifi.  My billing cycle starts on the 5th of the month.

At the beginning of this cycle, I checked the My AT&T app on my phone to verify that I had not gone over usage for the cycle that ended June 4th.  I had not (total of 163.1 MB). 

At that time, it was only June 5th and I was surprised to see almost 45MB already used for the new cycle.  I confirmed these numbers by viewing online. This is really odd, for a number of reasons:

• Usage was indicated to have occurred between 6/1 and 6/4.  That should have been part of the previous billing cycle.
• I don't recall any abnormal data usage on those days (45 MB is 4 days is a lot for someone who uses under 200 MB per month). 
• iPhone reports total cellular network data usage since December (never been reset) as 937 MB total sent and received which agrees with keeping it under 200 MB per month.
• All the data in my usage report is indicated as "Sent" none as "Received".  Perhaps this is a normal limitation of the detailed report as that's all I've ever seen listed.

How do I check that these usage items are accurate?  And, why should out of cycle usage show up?  How would I correct if this causes me to go over my allowed data usage?

Here are some images to illustrate:

Thanks in advance for your help.

[jice]

Now, my bill that ends after June 4th has been generated.  This bill includes (different) data charges on June 1st, 2nd and 3rd. So, it's still perplexing why some charges on a date (more than 3 days before the new billing cycle starts) show up in one cycle and some show up on the other.

If I go over my July budget by a few 10's of MB, will AT&T allow me to count charges from 6/01 - 6/03 toward my previous cycle (since there are already other charges from those dates on that bill)?

[imstef]

Usage is billed in the cycle that it is reported in. Usage can be delayed by 24-48 hours, sometimes more. It happens with minutes and messages as well. If you have usage on the 4th, cycle ends on the 6th and the usage is reported on the 7th it will come out of the new cycle. To help keep track of data as its used, download the My Data Manager app. It tracks your data usage on WiFi and on the cellular network ad its happening and will even break down your usage by app. It won't prevent usage from being reported in the new cycle, but it will help you. You can also make sure to fully power off your phone at night, you can turn it right back on, but when you power off the phone it disconnected from the network and can help that data usage be reported a bit more quickly.

[jice]

My Data Manager is nice, but not useful for this situation.  This app is unable to determine which cycle the data usage is counted against.  It tells me that I am not over given my usage, but ATT tells me that I am over becuase it counted some data usage from 6/1 until 7/3 all in one cycle.

We need an app that is more well integrated with ATT and will show the usage in the correct cycle according to ATT.

As a related note, it's quite frustrating that the data usage for ATT is not on the website for some period of time.  For instance, now I can view data use for my previous bill.  Or, I can view my current usage (since the current bill).  However, there is no way to view the data usage for my current bill.  I'm assuming that this is becuase the billing cycles and the wireless cycles don't line up and ATT updates what is considered current usage a few weeks before a bill is generated.  But, it's frustrating not to be able to see the usage details during this time.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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jice wrote:

My Data Manager is nice, but not useful for this situation.  This app is unable to determine which cycle the data usage is counted against.  It tells me that I am not over given my usage, but ATT tells me that I am over becuase it counted some data usage from 6/1 until 7/3 all in one cycle.

We need an app that is more well integrated with ATT and will show the usage in the correct cycle according to ATT.

As a related note, it's quite frustrating that the data usage for ATT is not on the website for some period of time.  For instance, now I can view data use for my previous bill.  Or, I can view my current usage (since the current bill).  However, there is no way to view the data usage for my current bill.  I'm assuming that this is becuase the billing cycles and the wireless cycles don't line up and ATT updates what is considered current usage a few weeks before a bill is generated.  But, it's frustrating not to be able to see the usage details during this time.

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No data app will be able to determine what cycle the transmitted gets billed to, as it states on the account information - data reporting maybe delayed

[jice]

Thank you; that's kind of my point.  There is no way for a app to figure it out and there is no way for the user to figure it out.  Pretty lame.  

I get charged for data used on the 1st all the way to the 4th of the following month in one billing cycle.

My billing cycle starts on the 5th.  The bill is generated on the 20th.  That's not enough time for ATT to figure out that data used on the 1st belongs in that cycle?  

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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jice wrote:

Thank you; that's kind of my point.  There is no way for a app to figure it out and there is no way for the user to figure it out.  Pretty lame.  

I get charged for data used on the 1st all the way to the 4th of the following month in one billing cycle.

My billing cycle starts on the 5th.  The bill is generated on the 20th.  That's not enough time for ATT to figure out that data used on the 1st belongs in that cycle?  

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then itis pretty lame for every carrier - my sprint and verizon phones have the same situation. The only one that is accurate is the globalstar sat carrier

You cycle ends on the 5th, anything that is posted after that date is the next months cycle - it has nothing to do with when the electronic copy of the bill is generated and emailed to you or mailed

[snakster]

To your original point about strange amounts of data showing up, I ran into this a couple months ago too.  Overnight, in my house, my wife's phone suddenly showed 60MB used overnight while we were sleeping (sent not received).  All of our phones are on wifi in the house.  I called CS and complained about this.  She of course read the script about sometimes even when not using your phone, some data may be used, blah blah blah.  I told her I understand that but...A) we were in the house and on wifi, and....B) it was SIXTY MEGABYTES.  I don't think she grasped how much that is and what would need to be done to generate that in your sleep..

At any rate, she put a note in the file to follow up in case it pushed her over her limit (it did) and we received a credit for the overage charge.  That still does not explain the sudden large burps of data usage though.

[sandblaster]

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snakster wrote:

To your original point about strange amounts of data showing up, I ran into this a couple months ago too.  Overnight, in my house, my wife's phone suddenly showed 60MB used overnight while we were sleeping (sent not received).  All of our phones are on wifi in the house.  I called CS and complained about this.  She of course read the script about sometimes even when not using your phone, some data may be used, blah blah blah.  I told her I understand that but...A) we were in the house and on wifi, and....B) it was SIXTY MEGABYTES.  I don't think she grasped how much that is and what would need to be done to generate that in your sleep..

At any rate, she put a note in the file to follow up in case it pushed her over her limit (it did) and we received a credit for the overage charge.  That still does not explain the sudden large burps of data usage though.

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One possible explanation for that 60mb usage in the middle of the night is the time and date you see on the bill does not necessarily equate to when the phone actually downloaded (or uploaded) the data. That entry could have been an aggregation of multiple data downloads/uploads that occurred over many hours.

[jice]

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then itis pretty lame for every carrier - my sprint and verizon phones have the same situation. The only one that is accurate is the globalstar sat carrier

You cycle ends on the 5th, anything that is posted after that date is the next months cycle - it has nothing to do with when the electronic copy of the bill is generated and emailed to you or mailed

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In addition to the inherient lameness unkowable factors deciding which and how many dates are in any given cycle, the usage viewing on the ATT website is not very good, and that seems to be dependant on bill generation date.

In my case, between the 5th and the 20th, I cannot review detailed usage for my just finished usage period.  If I select to view the previous bill, I  see the data usage that was billed on the 20th of the previous month (which covers up to the 4th of the previous month).  If I select to see the usage in the current cycle (since the last bill), I see the data usage from the 5th of this month onward.  

There is no way to see the usage for the billing period from the 5th of the previous month through the 4th of the current month.  It's not until the bill is generated that I can view that data usage (sometime after the 20th).  

BTW, I checked the above on the 21st of this month (July) and that was my experience; no way to view detailed data usage for the period ended July 4th.

Is this a bug or intentional by ATT?

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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jice wrote:

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then itis pretty lame for every carrier - my sprint and verizon phones have the same situation. The only one that is accurate is the globalstar sat carrier

You cycle ends on the 5th, anything that is posted after that date is the next months cycle - it has nothing to do with when the electronic copy of the bill is generated and emailed to you or mailed

---

In addition to the inherient lameness unkowable factors deciding which and how many dates are in any given cycle, the usage viewing on the ATT website is not very good, and that seems to be dependant on bill generation date.

In my case, between the 5th and the 20th, I cannot review detailed usage for my just finished usage period.  If I select to view the previous bill, I  see the data usage that was billed on the 20th of the previous month (which covers up to the 4th of the previous month).  If I select to see the usage in the current cycle (since the last bill), I see the data usage from the 5th of this month onward.  

There is no way to see the usage for the billing period from the 5th of the previous month through the 4th of the current month.  It's not until the bill is generated that I can view that data usage (sometime after the 20th).  

BTW, I checked the above on the 21st of this month (July) and that was my experience; no way to view detailed data usage for the period ended July 4th.

Is this a bug or intentional by ATT?

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like any corproation in the world - they is a billing cut off date and a statement printing date, have the same thing with my paid televeision provider, cycle ends on the 15th of the month, the bill is printed on the 20th, if I order any PPV prior to the 15th that is uploaded to the system AFTER the 15th by the device, the billing charge goes on the next months bill. Plus I don;t see the charge on my online account access till the statement is processed.

There is a wayt ot view past usage - at least for the primary account holder it appears, under wireless usage details that si a drop down that shows the last year of data and voice - MyAtt --> Wireless Usage Details, it is specific to the phone number for both talk and data. If you want specific days - you look at the data tab and wlak through and add up every entry, there is even a hyperlink in the right corner that allows you to download the data. A

[mjen]

I'm experiencing the same weirdness.

I wish I knew what was going on, because two users on my family plan are experiencing this and the data shows up in large quantities and some at odd times in the night.

The phones are always connected via WiFi, so unless the WiFi is being bypassed and the mobile network is being used, that is unfair.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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mjen wrote:

I'm experiencing the same weirdness.

I wish I knew what was going on, because two users on my family plan are experiencing this and the data shows up in large quantities and some at odd times in the night.

The phones are always connected via WiFi, so unless the WiFi is being bypassed and the mobile network is being used, that is unfair.

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if you phone goes to sleep and it is not plugged into the charger, the wifi will be disabled to conserve battery power

[bl911turbo]

So basically AT&T data usage tracking is useless because it doesn't update in real time. You never know when there might be data that might not be registered yet. I also have large transfers every night between midnight and 1am even though I'm asleep and my phone is on wifi. If that data is a aggregate of previous data from others times, why give a time stamp of a specific time? So basically data usage is never reliable because you don't know what may not be registered yet and the data that does happen to register appears to be from a different time. Why even try to show us detailed usage when basically it doesn't mean anything?