iphone 2am unauthorized data usage

Sandblaster wrote:

You understand what "aggregation of data usage during the day" means, right? For example, say you download something at 10pm, something else at 11pm and something else at midnight but your bill only shows one item at 2am, not the individual downloads at 10, 11, 12. That is the aggregation people talk about and of course you would be charged for those downloads. Bottom line is your bill shows everything that was uploaded/downloaded over the cell network and of course everything listed is being "charged". The bill does not show any data uploaded/downloaded over wifi

Sandblaster,

I understand what aggregation is. I also understand the difference between data received and data sent. The usage statistics have the bulk of the data in the "sent" category, not received.

So even if the aggregation of data received is accurate, it does not account for the huge amount of data sent. And, it does not explain why this 2 am usage changed on June 16 when I ordered the iphone 4. Previously, the nightly sent shown was about 16K not 3 to 7MB!

http://www.everythingicafe.com/att-explains-late-night-data-usage/2010/07/29/

"This is a routine update of your daily data activity on your device to ensure the accuracy of your data billing. Customers are not charged for data usage, given that no data session is generated. It’s not uncommon for devices that are ‘always on’, like iPhone, to process data event records for billing purposes after a certain amount of inactivity or after long periods of time. It’s also separate from how our system lets you monitor your data consumption."

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i still dont see how this is possible and or if you really are not being charged due to the fact that it raises your data when you check data under account. If this really is the reason why however, at&t should take it off the total data usage so when i look i know how much i ACTUALLY have left over rather then how much it calculated with the update.

EDIT: this actually could be the case. after searching people without iphones had this problem occur also.

Samsung impression :

http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/Samsung/Samsung-Impression-Random-data-usage/td-p/1823460

Palm Pixi:

http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/Palm/Pixi-Plus-strange-Data-Use-at-night/m-p/1947014

Droid?:

http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/Samsung/magical-data-being-used/m-p/1983658

BlackBerry:

http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/Billing/Weird-data-charges-in-the-middle-of-the-night/td-p/1894092

Samsung Blackjack:

http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/Samsung/Data-Question-Blackjack/m-p/1268421

HOWEVER -- the owner of the samsung impression stated that they have never used data so why it would show up does not support it being the "Total data accumulated throughout the day"

Also they got charged for it on their bill while att says it is not charged.

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@signem wrote:

 

Sandblaster,

I understand what aggregation is. I also understand the difference between data received and data sent. The usage statistics have the bulk of the data in the "sent" category, not received.

 

So even if the aggregation of data received is accurate, it does not account for the huge amount of data sent. And, it does not explain why this 2 am usage changed on June 16 when I ordered the iphone 4. Previously, the nightly sent shown was about 16K not 3 to 7MB!

 

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Usage on your bill only shows as "sent", however it includes both received and sent.

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@signem wrote:

I actually took my iphone back after 4 days because of this issue and no obvious resolution. I went back to my original 2g iphone and they gave me back my unlimited data plan.

 

In just under one month, they have calculated 81MB of data. Most of those days I was on wi-fi. And, because those overnight calculations are mostly sent data, rather than received, they are clearly incorrect to say the least.

 

The highest month I ever had before this was 50MB during a Florida vacation. Other than that month, my usage is in the 20-30 MB range.

 

I have not changed my habits using the iphone. As a matter of fact, I think I am receiving less mail now.

 

Since much of this data transfer was on days that I was never off wi-fi, I think that ATt is including wi-fi in the data charges which is clearly against to their stated policy.

 

ATT and Apple seem to be in total denial over all of this, but someone needs to step up soon before someone figures it out and initiates a class-action lawsuit.

 

BTW, since I reverted to my original iphone, I am definitely not participating in any program to provide Apple with feedback of any kind.

 

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Again, data usage on ATT's site shows everything as sent but it does include sent and received. I doubt you will believe me but there is no way they are including data sent over wifi. Sounds to me like you had your new phone set up to send the diagnostic data to Apple but since you returned it, no way you'll ever know for sure.

Just curious, you say you went back to your old 2G, which means you had the option to keep unlimited data with your iphone4. Did you not do that? Seems there would be no issue had you kept unlimited data.

Yes, I went back to the old iphone and got my unlimited plan back.

I continue to monitor usage. I would like to switch to the 200mb plan because it is cheaper. 

And why wouldn't I care? It does not matter if it is not an immediate issue for me. What is not right is not right. 

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@wingrider01 wrote:

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@signem wrote:

Yes, I went back to the old iphone and got my unlimited plan back.

 

I continue to monitor usage. I would like to switch to the 200mb plan because it is cheaper. 

 

And why wouldn't I care? It does not matter if it is not an immediate issue for me. What is not right is not right. 

 

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curoius how you got your unlimited plan back since they state that once you leave they will not reinstate it.

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Unlimited data is the only data plan available for the 2G (original iphone). Had his old phone been a 3G, he probably wouldn't have been able to get unlimited data back.

I guess you are right...It was a waste of time calling ATT...

Rep: "Apple sends out updates every hour to update your phone to make your phone work better..."

Me: "I undestand...but...20 MB...."

Rep: "...Aggregation..."

Me: "Do you know how to stop automatic updating"

Rep: " You can't..."

Me: "..."

Me: "So when you look at my data activities, you think it's normal??"

Rep: "Well. every phone is different.."

Me: "I don't have any app installed..i only had it for a month and didn't even change any settings..."

Rep: "These numbers are just an estimation"

Me: "...."

I guess the easier way is just to return the iphone 4...

wonders what would happen if you shut it down specifically at that hour?

I currently have an original iPhone which I use on T-Mobile. If I start a plan with AT&T with the original iPhone, will I be able to choose unlimited or only the limited ones?