Weird Data usage at 2am -- leakage? overcharge?

jyang · ‎07-28-2010

So I had to switch wife's plan to higher minutes, she had to give up unlimited data plan, since she is not a heavy data user, I didn't think it would be a problem. I signed her up with 200mb initially and have been monitoring her usage.

I notice something very strange. This is iphone 3G, no unlock, no jb, running 4.0. Every day between 2AM - 3AM, there is always a 5-6mb worth of mobile data usage... but we are home with WiFi so if anything, data shouldn't be going out through 3G or EDGE. There is also no subsequent usage for hours following or before it. And, this is the largest single transaction of data for the entire day! The normal data usage would be sending and recieving emails....

What's more strange, I notice simliar patterns on my own 3G iphone! running 3.2... I have unlimited so I don't really care but I never monitor data usage until I switched.

Anyone else noticing this strange data usage pattern?

Benz350 · ‎07-24-2010

When your iPhone is in sleep mode for about 30 min it auto. Turns off wifi and goes on edge or 3G. Once you turn it on wifi comes back on. And if you have set up your email address with push that's what it does it auto. Checks emails every hr or so which you set it up to. The only solution for you is too turn off your email push. Hope that's hellos you out

crispichickn · ‎07-26-2010

that has been happening for everyone. if you google "Iphone night data usage" it comes up.

People have called AT&T and Apple and they both point fingers at eachother.

some people have been getting up to 250 Mbs for one night, however no one has found a solution to fix it.

josephz2va · ‎08-10-2008

Re: Phantom Data Usage? Riddle me this, AT&T.... - Page 3 - AT&T ...

News: U.S. iPhone users reporting phantom data usage - AT&T , Apple

Be glad we're not on Verizon:

Verizon Wireless Phantom $1.99 Data Usage Fee - Carrier continues ...

crispichickn · ‎07-26-2010

josephz2va wrote:
Re: Phantom Data Usage? Riddle me this, AT&T.... - Page 3 - AT&T ...

News: U.S. iPhone users reporting phantom data usage - AT&T , Apple

Be glad we're not on Verizon:
Verizon Wireless Phantom $1.99 Data Usage Fee - Carrier continues ...

i think i would rather be on verizon. they charge a 1.99$ flat fee - usage does not count where as im paying for a 25$ 2 GB that get sucked up because of this Nightly Data usage and i'm not able to do that much actual surfing.

Aparently according to this site (i have read that turning off push and forward does not work) this lowers the "Phantom data charges at night"

http://www.thinq.co.uk/2010/6/18/phantom-data-sent-sleeping-iphones/

It also states that

"AT&T has even refunded a small number of users who have seen unusual an unexplained activity on their data accounts."

so if you see any unexplained data usage that is really big and or makes you go over monthly limit give at&t a call and tell them to take it off.... other wise we could do a class action lawsuit just like verison had over phantom data charges.

its really up to at&t.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/02/26/verizon.said.charging.2.dollars.for.unused.data/

sandblaster · ‎08-15-2006

Two things. The time on your bill does not necessarily match the time when the data was actually downloaded/uploaded on the phone. Also, the entry on your bill could be an aggregation of multiple downloads/uploads done at different times.

I am an AT&T employee and the postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent AT&T’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Bloodkip · ‎03-06-2010

I would say the

Weird Data usage at 2am is when you turn off your phone it stops going on wifi and automatically go to 3g/edge to get phone calls and such.

dwill05 · ‎04-06-2005

I've reset the statistics on my phone before going to bed and I do see some data usage while asleep, even though I have wifi, but it's been around 7KB up and about the same down. No MB data transfers shown on the phone overnight. Also checked the data usage on my AT&T Wireless app and it's at 334MB for day 17 of the 31 day billing cycle, which puts me on track for around 600 MB for the month, which is normal.

I am seeing some phantom data usage at night, but not the MB numbers others are seeing.

crispichickn · ‎07-26-2010

dwill05 wrote:
I've reset the statistics on my phone before going to bed and I do see some data usage while asleep, even though I have wifi, but it's been around 7KB up and about the same down. No MB data transfers shown on the phone overnight. Also checked the data usage on my AT&T Wireless app and it's at 334MB for day 17 of the 31 day billing cycle, which puts me on track for around 600 MB for the month, which is normal.

I am seeing some phantom data usage at night, but not the MB numbers others are seeing.

do you have a lot of applications on your iphone? and do you use the internet and stream a lot in 3g?

I think the more applications you have on your iphone the higher the nightly data charges are .

also iphone 3 or 4?

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

It's actual usage, just getting billed in the middle of the night.

I have 3 iPhone 4s, all with 2GB data plans. 11 days left in our billing cycle:

total for each phone:

phone1: 4.76 MB (hardly ever leaves wifi coverage)

phone2: 15.89 MB (sometimes leaves wifi coverage)

phone3: 20.51MB (all over the map, but wifi @ home/work)

If you're doing anything with data and you're not on wifi, the meter's running. The reporting times may be all over the map with AT&T's web site, but the actual data reported is data you've used.

GeekBoy · ‎11-06-2008

You really want to start a "conspiracy theory"?

There was another user who recently posted in this forum that she returned her PIXIE (Palm device not Apple iPhone) due to phantom data charges in the middle of the night... Hmmm, that's hardware from a different vendor/maker that seems to be showing the same "unexplained" cellular data usage in the middle of the night. But according to AT&T it's an Apple issue...

If you are interested, here is the post I referenced: Palm Pixie with data usage

Helenr1966 · ‎11-30-2006

I turned "cellular data off," and have had NO data use since I did. I have WiFi at home, and do not use the phone during the day while at work.

If I need to use some data while out of the house, I will simply move the setting to turn "cellular data" on.

FIXED!

I can tell that when I am in my house, if "cellular data" is on, and I open Echofon or something, the cell data will kick in before the WiFi does, and use data before it switches over to WiFi.

So with the "cellular data off" setting, I needn't worry about that!

torino · ‎07-28-2010

I did some research and read apples user agreement and noticed they securely send data, Diagnostic Data , (which requires 3G) to submit their data research on your phone and you may not remember, like me, when you downloaded 4.0 you agree to send your data to Apple. If you go into ITunes and reset all warnings and sync your phone you can select to opt out of this data harvesting and reduce your usage. I dropped all of the unknown usage and I am back to regular usage to date.

Good Luck, what worked for me might not work for you. If you would like to research it for yourself before you try it go to your ITunes under Help> ITunes Help>Search and search for Sending Diagnostic and usage information and also read your user agreement. Good Luck your on your own.

xpogipn0yx · ‎08-23-2010

funny thing is I've got 2 gb data plan, and before i went to bed that night i check my e-mail and my data usage ( about 500 mb), in a single night my data goes over 2gb (while i'm sleeping), called at&t but cannot help me w/ this one. now they want me to pay for extra data that i have'nt use! this is SUCK!!!!

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

2gb overnight? Wow. Neat. I'm guessing you used it during the day, and it posted overnight.

2gb is impressive. Did you watch a couple hours of streaming HDTV?

mightyjeeper · ‎06-23-2010

sandblaster wrote:
Two things. The time on your bill does not necessarily match the time when the data was actually downloaded/uploaded on the phone. Also, the entry on your bill could be an aggregation of multiple downloads/uploads done at different times.

/thread

As an AT&T employee, the postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent AT&T’s position, strategies or opinion.

xpogipn0yx · ‎08-23-2010

i dont know what happen but i was @work for the whole night and haven't even get a chance to check my phone while @work and when i got home all i did was check my e-mails and went to bed, next morning i recieved a txt msg from att saying that i've used 100% of my data plan allowance. Called att right away but there's nothing they can do but for me to pay extra $10. I was thinking if somebody can hack your account on att or there's a mistake on att's record, i dont know.... right now i turned off my 3g and data completely......

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

xpogipn0yx wrote:
i dont know what happen but i was @work for the whole night and haven't even get a chance to check my phone while @work and when i got home all i did was check my e-mails and went to bed, next morning i recieved a txt msg from att saying that i've used 100% of my data plan allowance. Called att right away but there's nothing they can do but for me to pay extra $10. I was thinking if somebody can hack your account on att or there's a mistake on att's record, i dont know.... right now i turned off my 3g and data completely......

Sigh

Did you agree to send diagnostic data?

Did you, perhaps, use the Maps app, Facebook, IM, eMail, or any other app? Did you install an app from the App Store? Update an App? Watch a youtube video?

You're no doubt on the 200MB plan, which is not even close to sufficent for the iP4 unless you're going to run with cellular data off all the time.

No one can hack your account. You CAN use data quite easily, and quite a bit of data.

I would switch to the 2GB plan, backdated to the beginning of the billing period, and stay with it for several months until you figure out how much data you will use regularly each month.

xpogipn0yx · ‎08-23-2010

i do have 2 gb plan and my cut off period is every 14th of the month and when i received the message from att is on the 18th so it's like only 4 days, and for the past month i dont even go more than 500 mb of data usage. No i haven't watch video or download any apps. I know my yahoo msgr and facebook automatically receiving msgs but nothing else. When I'm @home I do have wifi and my phone automatically switch to wifi

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

Well, you used the data somehow. I have no way of knowing how, only you know what you did, and when.

I can assure you you've used it. What does the usage say on the phone itself (settings/general/usage) under data?

BrianfromNO · ‎03-16-2006

Nobody hacked your account, and this isn't a mistake on AT&T's part. If your phone is recording that much data used, that's how much you used. Keep in mind with iOS4 that minimizing an application doesn't end it like in prior versions of the OS. If you were using something that streamed data and you minimized it, the program might keep streaming data.

xpogipn0yx wrote:
i dont know what happen but i was @work for the whole night and haven't even get a chance to check my phone while @work and when i got home all i did was check my e-mails and went to bed, next morning i recieved a txt msg from att saying that i've used 100% of my data plan allowance. Called att right away but there's nothing they can do but for me to pay extra $10. I was thinking if somebody can hack your account on att or there's a mistake on att's record, i dont know.... right now i turned off my 3g and data completely......

mav1021 · ‎09-29-2010

I was shocked to find out when I got a message from att that I used 1.3 gb of data last month though most of the time, I have wifi at home when I'm using my iphone 4. I don't use iphone for youtube. I only use it to check my mail (don't look at attachments), and yahoo messenger. I checked my data usage on the iphone and it only says 280 mb. I am now wondering which data tracker is correct, iphone or AT&T.

johninsj · ‎07-07-2010

They are both correct. You control when you reset yours, so that's the only variable. That, plus of course the reliability of self reporting on the internet.