iphone 2am unauthorized data usage

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@signem wrote:

I have attempted to have an open-minded discussion with the readers of this forum, but several people have their minds absolutely made up that the chunk of data at 2am is some kind of tally for the rest of the day. Even if it were a tally when I was using push, why did it go away when I turned push off.

 

If the explanation is that push has an absolutely gigantic data overhead that disappears when you don't use it, so be it.

 

But, people should be warned that having push turned on could eat up half of their 200MB allotment. And, the other thing that people should be told is that even though they think they are on wifi, as soon as the iphone sleeps, it turns wifi off and any activity while sleeping is charged to the data plan.

 

So, the only real way to conserve data usage is to not only turn push off, but also turn off any automatic checking of mail so that the only time you check mail, the phone is awake and, if using wifi,  wifi is enabled and used to get mail.

 

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Well if you don't think it's just a tally since the last time AT&T posted how much data you used, then riddle me this--do you really believe that your phone was pulling data just ONCE a day from 7/28 thru 8/2?

Or put it another way--can you honestly say you remembered using your phone just once on say, 7/29...or are you trying to imply that on 7/29 the only time your phone was using data was at 2:08 AM, and that it somehow didn't use any data for the rest of that day?  Even you'd have to admit that sounds quite farfetched...

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@the gryphon wrote:

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What do YOU believe is happening at 2am?

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Well,  I was seeing nightly transmissions in the 1:30-3:30am time frame almost every night.  They ranged from a few hundred KB to a few MB (always seeming to be 20MB or fewer).  After I reset my warning and selected not to send my diagnostic data to Apple,  I still see some transmissions in that time frame,  but now they are almost always 200KB or less,  sometimes even in the 8-10KB range.  Previously I did not see them every night, and that is still the case,  they do not happen every night.  My first full billing cycle with my iPhone 4 started on July 20th, and as of today, I've used a little over 95MB of cellular data.  I leave my phone on 24x7, I leave wifi on 24x7, I leave 3G data on 24x7, I leave push on 24x7.  I do nothing special at night other than plug into the AC Adapter to recharge the battery (even though it's seldom below 50%).  With my iPhone 3G, I was averaging about 400-450MB/month on my data usage,  with my low month being about 150MB, and my high month being about 700MB (or was that 800MB?).

whatever the reason is, since no one really has a clue I figured a way to avoid it and that was to turn off 3G data, I will only turn it on if away from wifi and really need it.  So far this morning was the first I didn't have data transfer.

still confused about this. Have kept a extra iphone on my desk that has no applications on it, the phone was reset on 06/30/10

Sent  - 1.1MB

Recieved - 3.4MB

Phone has been used only for incoming and outgoing calls and a occasional text message

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@wingrider01 wrote:

still confused about this. Have kept a extra iphone on my desk that has no applications on it, the phone was reset on 06/30/10

 

Sent  - 1.1MB

Recieved - 3.4MB

 

Phone has been used only for incoming and outgoing calls and a occasional text message

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I think this pretty much proves that the middle of the night transactions have some correlation to the amount of data used.  However, the real issue is that no one knows exactly what they really are.

Out of curiosity, are you seeing any transmissions of data in the middle of the night?  I'd expect them to be on the order of a few KB if anything.

Before I turned off push, I had charges during the day when I was out and charges at 2:22 am. If the nightly charge is a total of all the charges for the last 24 hours, then why do I also have individual charges during the day. And, why did my standard usage for over 2 years go from 30MB to 90MB after June 16.

I'm not sure what happened. Perhaps I was on manual email check before June 16 and some kind of software update changed it to push. But why would that happen on the very day that I ordered the iphone4? Then after getting it, being disappointed, taking it back and going back to my old iphone, I had these ongoing high data charges.

I think that I am now understanding what has happened after reading the variety of input from everyone. Early on I stated that I thought I was being charged for usage while on wi-fi. And, was told that that could not possibly be the case.

Well, I'm afraid that the wi-fi data use is definitely what is being charged, but it is not something I can control unless I turn data use off altogether. My iphone sleeps after sitting for a few seconds. If it automatically checks for mail during that time, my data service gets charged. The only time when wi-fi is free is when you are sitting, holding the iphone and actively using it. Other times, the wi-fi turns off and relies on cell data.

When I changed from push to check every 15 minutes, my 2:22 am nightly charges disappeared, but I got like 16KB every 15 minutes (even that does not add up to the huge nighly charges while on push).

Although everyone seems to be having a slightly different experience, I hope that my input will help get to the bottom of what is happening in your case.

I'm giving up on the iphone and switching to a Blackberry later this week. What is nice about the blackberry is that you can set it to automatically power off at night and power on in the morning so that it is not running all night long. I don't want to have to be bothered to do that manually along with all the other parameters that I would have to set on the iphone to keep it under control.

Oh well...

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@donsgirl wrote:

Just an FYI with the night time data usage....

 

I have just spent an entire weekend fighting with AT&T, not only do they make excused for the data usage, but when asked about 4g in my area as the coverage map shows it quite prevalent, I was told that it is not ready to access and wouldn't be until the end of 2012...

OK, so that was all bad considering that I ordered my phone on 7/23 and it didn't show up until 8/6, that I found it as a walk in and then customer service wouldn't let me cancel my backorder.. that they tried to charge me with a restock fee when I turned those phones back in.. and finally that they lied to me when I did question the 4g and told me that no network has access yet..

 

Well, AT&T after the entire weekend of listening to excuses and lies, I have been with you for over 6 years and I am dumping you.  Nothing against the iphone 4, but everything against AT&T.

Just to let your CSR's know that Sprint is currently running on 4g and has been for some time....

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Okay.  Not really sure what to tell you.  While I do agree that the data is a bit sketchy (especially since it's not 100% clear what's going on), the 4g issue is much more cut and dry.

The iPhone 4 does not support 4g.  It is not the "iPhone 4g", it's the "fourth generation iPhone".  The CSR is correct.  AT&T has not rolled out a 4g network.  And even if they had, the iPhone 4 would not be able to access it.

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@signem wrote:

Before I turned off push, I had charges during the day when I was out and charges at 2:22 am. If the nightly charge is a total of all the charges for the last 24 hours, then why do I also have individual charges during the day. And, why did my standard usage for over 2 years go from 30MB to 90MB after June 16.

 

I'm not sure what happened. Perhaps I was on manual email check before June 16 and some kind of software update changed it to push. But why would that happen on the very day that I ordered the iphone4? Then after getting it, being disappointed, taking it back and going back to my old iphone, I had these ongoing high data charges.

 

I think that I am now understanding what has happened after reading the variety of input from everyone. Early on I stated that I thought I was being charged for usage while on wi-fi. And, was told that that could not possibly be the case.

 

Well, I'm afraid that the wi-fi data use is definitely what is being charged, but it is not something I can control unless I turn data use off altogether. My iphone sleeps after sitting for a few seconds. If it automatically checks for mail during that time, my data service gets charged. The only time when wi-fi is free is when you are sitting, holding the iphone and actively using it. Other times, the wi-fi turns off and relies on cell data.

 

When I changed from push to check every 15 minutes, my 2:22 am nightly charges disappeared, but I got like 16KB every 15 minutes (even that does not add up to the huge nighly charges while on push).

 

Although everyone seems to be having a slightly different experience, I hope that my input will help get to the bottom of what is happening in your case.

 

I'm giving up on the iphone and switching to a Blackberry later this week. What is nice about the blackberry is that you can set it to automatically power off at night and power on in the morning so that it is not running all night long. I don't want to have to be bothered to do that manually along with all the other parameters that I would have to set on the iphone to keep it under control.

 

Oh well...

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A shame about the wifi not working if you're not actively sitting there using the phone.  I'm still using my BlackBerry Bold right now (waiting for my iPhone to arrive) and when I'm connected to wifi at home, I'm always on wifi.  It doesn't drop the wifi connection when it goes to sleep and I register very little data usage when around a wifi hotspot. 

Depending how things go, you may want to wait until the 12th and get the new BlackBerry Torch that's being released.  You have a full 30 days to return the iPhone so perhaps that would be the best solution.  I know that if the iPhone doesn't work out for me I'm waiting to get the Torch.  The only bummer is the 10% restocking fee on the iPhone.

Good luck!