iPhone 4s excessive cellular data usage

[ishmaelaz]

Sunday morning, I got a warning text that I had used over 90% of my 2GB cellular data.  I was surprised at that, so I dug through the information, and found something I can't sort out.

I've been using an iPhone 4 since they first came out.  I pulled up my data usage with AT&T online, and over the past year, I have an average data use of 285MB per month, and a peak month of 443MB.

I upgraded to a 4s on October 14, and between that date and November 5, AT&T says that I've used 1967MB in that 3 week span.  I'm using the same apps on my phone, no iCloud synchronization, email set to manual fetch not push, no tethering, I don't listen to music or watch videos on cellular (and rarely on WiFi), and yet somehow I'm suddenly using 6 times more cellular data as was typical before?  My WiFi is set up correctly as home, as I do see the phone switch over to it.  Even then, I mostly use my phone to check email, FaceBook, and text.

Things went particular out-of-whack last week, with 414MB on 10/31, 640MB on 11/1, and 687MB on 11/3.

According to the cellular usage in my phone, I've sent 27MB and received 225MB in the same time frame.  I'm included to agree with the phone, as that number is consistent with my standard usage patterns.

I expect some discrepancy between what my phone says I've used and what AT&T says, but 252MB versus 1967MB?

I spent over an hour talking to Apple looking for possible explanations, but the phone was already set correctly.  They handed me off to AT&T, but AT&T only told me that they just know how much data is used, not why, and couldn't explain things.

I've seen a few messages suggesting similar problems.  Has anyone seen similar issues and gone back to try to explain it, only to find similar major discrepancies?

Thanks.

Chris

[diesel_vdub]

Are you using Siri?

[ishmaelaz]

When Siri is actually working, I do use it, mainly for voice dialing.  When I was talking to Apple, I actually asked if Siri could account for an increase in data usage, and they indicated that it shouldn't account for anything like this.

When I had the largest spike to date on 11/3, Siri was on one of its "vacation days" where it wasn't working.

Chris

[youngjm]

You need to look at your apps that are running in the background.  Something is communicating with a server somewhere.  Double tap the home key to bring up the doc.  Press and hold one of the apps and close all your suspended apps.

[21stNow]

I would agree with you, youngjm, but why wouldn't this communication show in the data sent and received on the phone under usage?

[youngjm]

Not really sure but I have also never verified that what the phone shows as usage matchs with ATT sees?

[ishmaelaz]

I regularly do the double-tap and close out running apps. I'm not running apps, and short of being on iOS 5 instead of iOS 4, I'm running the same set of apps I've been using for months.  I've found similar threads over in the Apple forums, so I'l probably just watch over there to see if anyone comes up with ideas.

Chris

[21stNow]

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@youngjm wrote:

Not really sure but I have also never verified that what the phone shows as usage matchs with ATT sees?

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I have checked it a few times and it matched for me.  I haven't checked recently, and I'm still running iOS 4.x.

[johninsj]

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@21stNow wrote:

I would agree with you, youngjm, but why wouldn't this communication show in the data sent and received on the phone under usage?

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If it wasn't cleared, yeah it should match more or less (within a few %)

[Kajphotos]

I'm going through the same thing between mine and my wife's phone ..I have been getting killed with data I have everything shut off been on the phone with apple and AT&T tech .. It was told to me buy apple their is a problem with AT&T server s and the new iOS and they won't admit it .. All they keep doing is giving me credit but I have to call them evry 4 or 5 days .im now waiting for a manager to call me back

[ishmaelaz]

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@Kajphotos wrote:
I'm going through the same thing between mine and my wife's phone ..I have been getting killed with data I have everything shut off been on the phone with apple and AT&T tech .. It was told to me buy apple their is a problem with AT&T server s and the new iOS and they won't admit it .. All they keep doing is giving me credit but I have to call them evry 4 or 5 days .im now waiting for a manager to call me back

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I see that you have a separate thread over at http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/Apple-iPhone/Insane-data-usage-with-the-new-iPhone-4s/td-p/2952781... on the same issue, although unlike me, you made some progress with Apple.  I sent you a private message hoping to learn who at Apple helped you, especially since AT&T claims 140MB of data for my phone on Monday, which is completely insane against my actual use.  Others who are having this issue may want to move over to that thread as well so we can keep the issue together.

Chris

[aymee]

Same here...  

I have a 200MB plan and according to my data usage trend, my peak is at 162.4MB (only when we were out of town on vacation).  Otherwise, other months average at 65MB.  October was 79.7MB.  I never made any changes besides upgrading to IOS 5.  I always use Wi-Fi at home and at school, and I don't surf the web/use data at all when I drive between home and school.

Also, everything is set to manual, no auto push notifications, fetch, only 2 apps using location services but apps are closed.  I don't use iCloud, Twitter...bottom line - I did not make any significant behavior changes that would affect my data usage. 

However, I get these weird excessive usages:

11/08	05:13 AM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	10663KB
11/07	09:41 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	10218KB
11/05	09:52 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	20756KB
11/05	03:04 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	3704KB
11/04	09:37 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	30308KB
11/04	08:34 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	14651KB
11/04	06:37 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	3542KB
11/04	02:12 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	1485KB
11/01	07:09 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	2258KB
10/31	07:09 AM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	11150KB
10/29	01:44 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	29055KB
10/21	09:53 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	20457KB
10/21	03:04 PM	phone	Internet/MEdia Net	Sent	37963KB

Most, if not all, of these times I was using Wi-Fi at home/school (or was already sleeping or haven't gotten up in the am).

I chatted twice with AT&T Tech Support & they just went through the regular script that some apps use data even when you're at Wi-Fi, etc. and that the time stamp is not accurate.  Also, there's no way for them to check what the data are for.  I told them about all the forum discussions I saw but tech support claimed he wasn't aware of it and referred me to billing dept. instead.  It's frustrating.

I have 5.0.1 now; hopefully, it would help fix the problem.  I'll be happy to hear any progress on your end.  Good luck to all of us!

[dwill05]

Do you have Apple diagnostic data turned off? I think it used to be in iTunes, but now I think it's an option on the phone in the Settings somewhere.

[aymee]

I have "Diagnostics & Usage" set to "Don't Send"

[Ryan_ATL]

This has been discussed multiple times and is not specific to the 4S or any iPhone for that matter.

The device is not sending chunks or data at some strange time during the night.

AT&T simply bills data usage in blocks throughout the day, typically in the early morning hours.  Those large chunks of data are simply a total of the data used since the last time data was "billed" to your account.