I spent almost two hours on the phone today with various AT&T reps, and they all claimed I'm the only person to complain about this issue. All but one of them tried to educate me on how to use my iPhone 4s. (Of course my phone dropped the call the one time I had somebody willing to listen.) In the 15 months I had my iPhone 4, I consistently used approximately 75% of my 2gb data plan. The first month of iPhone 4s usage ended with almost 4gb used. I'm on pace to exceed my data plan again despite turning all cellular data off when I am not using my phone. Nothing has changed in the way I use my phone since upgrading, but nobody at AT&T sees the correlation. If this continues, it would almost be more beneficial to have a basic camera phone because if I can't leave my data on, I do not receive photo messages or voice mail. Congratulations to anybody with this problem who is able to get actual help from a service rep.

---

boredom_line wrote:
I spent almost two hours on the phone today with various AT&T reps, and they all claimed I'm the only person to complain about this issue. All but one of them tried to educate me on how to use my iPhone 4s. (Of course my phone dropped the call the one time I had somebody willing to listen.) In the 15 months I had my iPhone 4, I consistently used approximately 75% of my 2gb data plan. The first month of iPhone 4s usage ended with almost 4gb used. I'm on pace to exceed my data plan again despite turning all cellular data off when I am not using my phone. Nothing has changed in the way I use my phone since upgrading, but nobody at AT&T sees the correlation. If this continues, it would almost be more beneficial to have a basic camera phone because if I can't leave my data on, I do not receive photo messages or voice mail. Congratulations to anybody with this problem who is able to get actual help from a service rep.

---

Not sure what AT&T can actually do for you.  This seems to be a rare problem.  Probably all they can tell on their end is that your phone is using X amount of data at a certain time and a certain date.  They can't tell what app on your phone is calling for and using the data, where the data is going, and so on.  Probably the only way to figure out what's going on is for someone to take your phone in hand and do some kind of software and hardware forensic analysis to determine what function on the phone is using the data and why.  No CS rep sitting at a computer terminal in some call center has the capability to do that.  AT&T in general probably wouldn't do that.  To get into the guts of the phone, they would probably send you to Apple.

My 4s started sucking data right after Apple upgraded the iOS to fix the battery drain problem. I spoke with tech support at AT&T with no help until I asked for a manager who directed me to turn off cellular data and only use Wi-Fi which I have at home. They also upgraded me to the four gig plan temporarily for this month. I typically use about 1.5 gig a month previously. This Month The phone is on pace to use more like five or six gig. I've been keeping a close watch on my cellular data ever since. Last night I forgot to turn off cellular data before I plugged it in to charge and it used 800 meg Overnight. I do not have iCloud installed and have turned off every other app that may be draining data including location services. I'll probably take the phone to Apple today to see if they can figure it out. The 4s is great unfortunately I'm afraid to use it.

I to turned off cell data for a few days and that verified that It was not an erronious billing. Something is actually being sent. As soon as I turned on the cell data smaller groups of  data stated reporting every few hours. As of yet I dont have any GB size reported. I have been in my wifi range the entire time and purposly did not acess any email though the email previews did update but that should have been on WIFI

12/03 12:41 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 18KB

12/02 01:41 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 42KB

12/02 01:41 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8KB

12/02 01:40 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 6KB

12/02 09:41 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 94KB

12/02 08:56 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB

12/02 08:49 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 7KB

12/02 07:39 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 11KB turned on cell data 7 AM

11/28 10:27 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 9KB

11/28 12:18 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 194KB

11/27 12:18 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 348KB

11/26 12:12 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 297KB

11/25 02:12 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 73KB

11/25 08:50 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 41KB

11/25 12:15 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2586KB

11/24 12:15 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 8598KB

11/23 01:15 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2043KB

11/23 11:30 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 112KB

11/23 12:30 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 2222KB

11/22 12:30 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 3304KB

11/22 12:27 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent 6KB

Was your phone on the charger during the time the above data was sent? If the phone went to sleep, the WiFi radio turned off and any data sent/received went over the cell network, even if a WiFi signal was available. When the phone goes to sleep, the only way to keep it locked on WiFi is to keep it on an external power source.

from 6PM to 6AM it was on charger but it sleeps when on charger too. Are you certain that it wont use 3G when asleep on charge?

---

brum wrote:

from 6PM to 6AM it was on charger but it sleeps when on charger too. Are you certain that it wont use 3G when asleep on charge?

---

If your wifi is on and associated, it will not drop wifi when on charger even if it "goes to sleep"

 

If you want to prevent cellular use, turn off cellular data in settings.

---

boredom_line wrote:
I spent almost two hours on the phone today with various AT&T reps, and they all claimed I'm the only person to complain about this issue. All but one of them tried to educate me on how to use my iPhone 4s. (Of course my phone dropped the call the one time I had somebody willing to listen.) In the 15 months I had my iPhone 4, I consistently used approximately 75% of my 2gb data plan. The first month of iPhone 4s usage ended with almost 4gb used. I'm on pace to exceed my data plan again despite turning all cellular data off when I am not using my phone. Nothing has changed in the way I use my phone since upgrading, but nobody at AT&T sees the correlation. If this continues, it would almost be more beneficial to have a basic camera phone because if I can't leave my data on, I do not receive photo messages or voice mail. Congratulations to anybody with this problem who is able to get actual help from a service rep.

---

for the 4s

* turn off iCloud completely

* turn off wireless sync

* turn off error reporting

 

The last one is standard, but you may have inadvertantly enabled it on the new device. The other two are "new" iOS5 features which may consume data.

 

Since upgrading all three iPhone4 devices to iOS5 in my home, data use seems pretty consistant, but none of us use any of the iCloud or wireless sync stuff.

 

You also need to realize Siri does use a lot of data shipping your voice to the siri server...

From this thread I am so glad I have unlimited data....Geez.....

As a test I turned off cell data and as expected the data went to zero so it was not a billing problem. I also turned fetch mail to manual but it still seems to fetch mail whenever I wake up the phone. Furthermore I have started to delete all read mail on the pc so I doesn’t get loaded again but that may not eliminate it completely since it is then in the trash folder thayt the phone can access.

 

Next I blocked a sender on my email that was sending a lot of stuff with pix. Even though I didn’t open the emails on my phone, only the pc it made a big difference. Now my data use is much lower but the strange thing is that there is still data use when the phone is on wifi all day. The amount yesterday was 500KB. not huge by today’s standards but since it was never out of my home wifi all day it is still puzzling.

 

At this point my conclusion is that the phone somehow uses data when just loading but not opening email even though it is on wifi. More large data reports today( 5000KB) even though the wife’s iphone was on wifi all day. We watch for the WIFI vs. 3G symbol when using the phone but never see the 3g other that briefly when the phone wakes up. It is clear to me that the phone uses 3G at times when in a home wifi area.

That's odd!!  I have my cellular data turned completely off and have not used any data since doing so.  I check my usage every single day via my account on AT&T.  I have wifi at work and home, so I don't need the data on.  I did notice when the data was on, the phone would use data in the middle of the night while I was sleeping.  So I nipped that in the bud.

 

Did you disable diagnostics reports?

 

 

Also look at the apps that are running in the background, some of them will continue to transmit and recieve even when they are minimized, trapster is good for this unless you configure it not to

---

brum wrote:

As a test I turned off cell data and as expected the data went to zero so it was not a billing problem. I also turned fetch mail to manual but it still seems to fetch mail whenever I wake up the phone. Furthermore I have started to delete all read mail on the pc so I doesn’t get loaded again but that may not eliminate it completely since it is then in the trash folder thayt the phone can access.

 

Next I blocked a sender on my email that was sending a lot of stuff with pix. Even though I didn’t open the emails on my phone, only the pc it made a big difference. Now my data use is much lower but the strange thing is that there is still data use when the phone is on wifi all day. The amount yesterday was 500KB. not huge by today’s standards but since it was never out of my home wifi all day it is still puzzling.

 

At this point my conclusion is that the phone somehow uses data when just loading but not opening email even though it is on wifi. More large data reports today( 5000KB) even though the wife’s iphone was on wifi all day. We watch for the WIFI vs. 3G symbol when using the phone but never see the 3g other that briefly when the phone wakes up. It is clear to me that the phone uses 3G at times when in a home wifi area.

---

A previous poster explained to you that the phone reverts to cellular data use while the phone is asleep, unless plugged into the charger.  If you are seeing the 3G icon when you wake the phone up, that lets you know that the phone was using cellular data while it was asleep. 

 

Do you have other apps that will update information, such as Facebook, Twitter, Calendar, stock quotes, newsfeeds, television listings, etc.?

none of those and the apps wait for approval to update. It seems to be a poor design that would use 3g data without permission.

If your data is completely off, then there is no way possible for the phone to just switch back to data. I've had my data off since last Friday and no data has been used...nada, zip..

There has to be something still on...dig for it

 

 

Picture is of my Mom's iPhone data usage (200mb plan); she went over this month (never has before), so I looked into it. She only has like 3 apps installed.  She was home, connected to wifi, 4 of the 5 days listed above, and she leaves it plugged in charging most of the time, so it should stay connected to wifi.

 

Come to find out, my iPhone has also been sending out similar amounts of data...Saturday night, at 9:50 PM, it send out 87***KB; I was home all day Saturday, connected to wifi (plugged in), and asleep most of the evening. 

 

My thought is some app is sending back data via 3G...the only app we both have in common is Facebook.

 

Without reading this entire thread, can someone bring me up to speed on what's causing this?

---

therealHERSHEY wrote:

 

 

Picture is of my Mom's iPhone data usage (200mb plan); she went over this month (never has before), so I looked into it. She only has like 3 apps installed.  She was home, connected to wifi, 4 of the 5 days listed above, and she leaves it plugged in charging most of the time, so it should stay connected to wifi.

 

Come to find out, my iPhone has also been sending out similar amounts of data...Saturday night, at 9:50 PM, it send out 87***KB; I was home all day Saturday, connected to wifi (plugged in), and asleep most of the evening. 

 

My thought is some app is sending back data via 3G...the only app we both have in common is Facebook.

 

Without reading this entire thread, can someone bring me up to speed on what's causing this?

---

If you are both using SIRI - that is a data hog also. we are tracking about a 35 or more percent increase in data usage on the Iphone 4s as compared to a iphone 4

 

If I recall correctly facebook is a multi-tasking app, if you just minimize it to the background it is still communicating even though it is not being displayed, you need to verify it is not running in the background

I finally gave up and increased my data plan which I guess is the Apple/ATT objective, more money.

  The iphone as it works on ATT is just a data hog unless plugged in to force 3G off and the APS aren't designed to have a low or only when used data update. If you turn off cellular data the problem does go away but who wants to always have to turn it on and off? The iphones design that creates such a mystery for so many users is not user friendly despite the Apple reputation.

I will be looking at droids for my next phone as I am truly surprised at the indifference shown by ATT/ Apple to their users on this issue.

And I will point you to this, about how much data Siri actually uses, and this, how the iPhone manges backgrounded apps.

 

I highly doubt my mom even remebers how to access Siri; my dad probably uses it more than either of us, and his data is currently sitting at 54mbs, halfway though the month, just like the last 3 months.

 

As far as I know, Facebook does not run in the background; any notificiations are sent via push, and are not pulled via background checks.

 

From reading though most of this thread, I suppect it's either a problem with AT&T, or iCloud, but then again, we all three of us have the exact same iCloud settings turn on.

Ever since I've been tracking my data use, first on my 4 and now on my 4S, I've only cracked 1GB a couple of times, and then just barely. Most times I'm around 700-800 MB, and that hasn't changed even when I went to the 4S. I've had diagnostics turned off since day one, make sure I close my apps after use, always had push email off, and never turned off my cell data. I don't agree there is a problem with either AT&T or the iPhone. I do agree that many people don't understand their phone and how and when it uses data. I don't think that's AT&Ts fault at all and only partially Apples fault for not making clear things like WiFi turns off when the phone goes to sleep. I think a lot of it is on people not understanding that apps use data or how much they use. Even if there was a giant manual explaining in great detail each and every app and how much data it uses, few people would bother to look at it. Most people just get the phone and use the fun stuff with no thought to how much data they might be using.

You are correct people don't know what data they are using until the get the bill.

 

---

brum wrote:

You are correct people don't know what data they are using until the get the bill.

 

---

can't say much for the iphone usage becasue my iphone is corporate so I don;t care, but I know exactly what my personal android uses daily in both wifi and cellular

---

brum wrote:

You are correct people don't know what data they are using until the get the bill.

 

---

I have no problems with data use, nor do my wife and daughter. Perhaps we're just really lucky?

I (think) I figured it out on my Mom's phone.  Documents and Data syncing via Cellular was on, which was fine, until she started using Facebook on her iPhone a lot, which caused it to sync with Facebook on her iPad.

 

Might wanna check that option out if you have two iOS devices syncing with iCloud. 

i got a text msg from AT&T saying i was almost in the top 5% data user. this is for the 2nd time, i use WiFi at work and home. i use 3G when i am  out but only to check my ebay sales and i get on facebook.  maybe it's time for my to move my family to another carrier. this text msg says i can move off the unlimite data plan to keep my data speed higher only if i get rid of my unlimited data....AT&T is starting chase me away.  BOO BOO AT&T **GREEDY NOW**

---

graphite07 wrote:

i got a text msg from AT&T saying i was almost in the top 5% data user. this is for the 2nd time, i use WiFi at work and home. i use 3G when i am  out but only to check my ebay sales and i get on facebook.  maybe it's time for my to move my family to another carrier. this text msg says i can move off the unlimite data plan to keep my data speed higher only if i get rid of my unlimited data....AT&T is starting chase me away.  BOO BOO AT&T **GREEDY NOW**

---

What does your usage show for the current billing period?  [Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].

We ran into the same problem with my son's new iPhone 4s -- please see my post at the end of this thread.  Every month we have been hit with charges for hundreds of megabytes of mysterious data transfers, often in the middle of the night.

 

A suggestion: Onavo has a solution that will track data use, and identify the application that is sending / receiving data.  Their system also compresses data, to reduce usage charges.  (You can also turn off compression and just use the reports.) 

 

We also tried DataManager Pro.  It provides useful alerts, but does not identify the app that is responsible -- so we switched to Onavo.

 

Some of the posts also noted that the iPhone apparently reverts back to the celluar connection when the screen shuts off -- even if you enabled WiFi to avoid cellular charges!  (According to an inside source at Apple.)  So... it is a good idea to turn your iPhone completely off at night. 

 

I am currently monitoring usage for the new billing period, to compare what Onavo reports to the AT&T bill.

 

Mark

 

[edited for privacy]

 

The phone reverts to 3G when it goes to sleep and then reconnects to WIFi when it wakes up to conserve battery life. However, if you leave it plugged into a charger, it will stay connected to WIFI.

---

MarkHays wrote:

Some of the posts also noted that the iPhone apparently reverts back to the celluar connection when the screen shuts off -- even if you enabled WiFi to avoid cellular charges!  (According to an inside source at Apple.)  So... it is a good idea to turn your iPhone completely off at night. 

 

---

Of course, if receiving phone calls is important, turning off the phone is not an option. However, you do not need to turn the phone off to stop cellular data. You can just turn off celluar data. Even if you leave the phone plugged into the charger and on wifi, the phone could still revert to cellular data if your wifi drops, so the best way to ensure no cellular data is consumed is to either turn celluar data or the phone off.

---

sandblaster wrote:

 Even if you leave the phone plugged into the charger and on wifi, the phone could still revert to cellular data if your wifi drops, so the best way to ensure no cellular data is consumed is to either turn celluar data or the phone off.

---

While this is certainly true, it's pretty unlikely. I've had three iPhone4s in the house for 18 months now, and every night they're on the chargers (and connected to wifi) with nary a blip of usage. Perhaps that's due to my 99.99% uptime (yay, comcast business class and decent SOHO wifi gear) but for most people it's sufficent to just plug the thing in at night if you want to stay on wifi.