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7enderbender

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 11, 2012
513
12
North East US
So I finally did it and went from my old Blackberry to the iphone 5 on T-mobile. So far I can say that there are a bunch of things that I really like - and a bunch of others (and i knew that) not so much, like the way the mail application works and the fact that it has a touch screen for typing. Oh, well.

The other thing I had to leave behind is my decade old plan including (true) unlimited data. Not that I used a lot of it but I never had to watch it. Now I only get the 500MB at high(er) speed rates and then it drops to whatever.

So I've actually watching it over the last two days and I already racked up 100MB. Probably from initially setting up things at the office without wifi turned on, etc. But I'm still a bit puzzled how the iPhone 5 and/or T-mobile handle the data priorities. I've been on my own wifi network since Friday evening and it looks as if I'm still adding data to the plan. The phone shows "T-Mobile" on the left and a wifi signal on the right. Under "general" I turned now off "cellular". What if I don't do that? Will it prioritize my wifi network and not use the "4g" coverage then? Is there another way to set that up? Are there shortcuts or "profiles" for these settings?
 

Demonface

macrumors 6502a
Mar 13, 2012
696
71
Jersey/Miami
So I finally did it and went from my old Blackberry to the iphone 5 on T-mobile. So far I can say that there are a bunch of things that I really like - and a bunch of others (and i knew that) not so much, like the way the mail application works and the fact that it has a touch screen for typing. Oh, well.

The other thing I had to leave behind is my decade old plan including (true) unlimited data. Not that I used a lot of it but I never had to watch it. Now I only get the 500MB at high(er) speed rates and then it drops to whatever.

So I've actually watching it over the last two days and I already racked up 100MB. Probably from initially setting up things at the office without wifi turned on, etc. But I'm still a bit puzzled how the iPhone 5 and/or T-mobile handle the data priorities. I've been on my own wifi network since Friday evening and it looks as if I'm still adding data to the plan. The phone shows "T-Mobile" on the left and a wifi signal on the right. Under "general" I turned now off "cellular". What if I don't do that? Will it prioritize my wifi network and not use the "4g" coverage then? Is there another way to set that up? Are there shortcuts or "profiles" for these settings?

I just got my phone yesterday, and I already went through 50 + MB . Might have to switch to the 2GB .
 

7enderbender

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 11, 2012
513
12
North East US
The iPhone will always use wifi over your cellular data when available. No need to totally turn off cellular data.

Just tried it again. Even though I've been on my wifi network for the last few hours data on my T-mobile account creeps up very slowly. About 0.1MB per hour. That's 72MB a month for just "data leakage" or whatever while on wifi.

I'll have to talk to T-mobile about that but wanted to see if anyone else has that issue.
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,119
10,106
Just tried it again. Even though I've been on my wifi network for the last few hours data on my T-mobile account creeps up very slowly. About 0.1MB per hour. That's 72MB a month for just "data leakage" or whatever while on wifi.

I'll have to talk to T-mobile about that but wanted to see if anyone else has that issue.

You can't use the T-Mobile website for accurate data usage. That is updated randomly through the day and will always be off. Best bet is to get a data usage tracker app in the app store.

I just got my phone yesterday, and I already went through 50 + MB . Might have to switch to the 2GB .

I go through 50MB in ten seconds by running a speed test. iPhone 5 will use more data because of LTE. It had a lower ping and higher bandwidth so any video playback will be in HD if supported. On my 4S I average 1.5GB a month, on my 5, I'm averaging closer to 4.5-5GB a month.
 

Tallguy93

macrumors member
Dec 14, 2012
48
0
Just tried it again. Even though I've been on my wifi network for the last few hours data on my T-mobile account creeps up very slowly. About 0.1MB per hour. That's 72MB a month for just "data leakage" or whatever while on wifi.

I'll have to talk to T-mobile about that but wanted to see if anyone else has that issue.

This used to be a problem when the iPhone 5 was released, but Apple sent out an update that took care of the issue. Interesting to see that you are still having this problem months later. Are you on 6.1.2 or later?
 

Satnam1989

macrumors 65816
Nov 16, 2011
1,200
0
Illinois
iPhone does not prioritize WiFi, I live in a small apartment (1bed room) have my own WiFi setup in my living room. (My router is a D-Link Dual band WiFi-N)

My iPhone 5 if left sitting for a few minutes will switch to "4G" when I have 4-5bars, but sticks WiFi if signal if lower.

I have tested this in bigger homes as well and its the same.

Leave your iPhone sitting for about 5-10 minutes and then hit the home button while looking in the top left corner you will see "3G/4G" icon change to WiFi bars quickly.

Therefore all the things going on in the background (Push Emails, messages of any kind coming through any apps) will use your data plan. Only way around is when you are home you can turn cellular data off if you find that your background apps are using way too much data....I used to live on 250MB Data/month and the trick was to never use anything besides social apps and web browsing...I changed my email settings to manually so it would only check for emails when I launch the app.

You can do it just have to be cautious! and as for iPhone data usage...well you have to expect it compared to a blackberry esp an old one its far more feature packed, uses a full screen...higher resolution = more data...
 

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,119
10,106
iPhone does not prioritize WiFi, I live in a small apartment (1bed room) have my own WiFi setup in my living room. (My router is a D-Link Dual band WiFi-N)

My iPhone 5 if left sitting for a few minutes will switch to "4G" when I have 4-5bars, but sticks WiFi if signal if lower.

I have tested this in bigger homes as well and its the same.

Leave your iPhone sitting for about 5-10 minutes and then hit the home button while looking in the top left corner you will see "3G/4G" icon change to WiFi bars quickly.

Therefore all the things going on in the background (Push Emails, messages of any kind coming through any apps) will use your data plan. Only way around is when you are home you can turn cellular data off if you find that your background apps are using way too much data....I used to live on 250MB Data/month and the trick was to never use anything besides social apps and web browsing...I changed my email settings to manually so it would only check for emails when I launch the app.

You can do it just have to be cautious! and as for iPhone data usage...well you have to expect it compared to a blackberry esp an old one its far more feature packed, uses a full screen...higher resolution = more data...

In order to save battery life, WiFi will go into standby mode when the phone is locked or sitting for an extended period of time. As soon as the phone comes back online, WiFi will do the same. Because nothing is running in the background the phone knows it is safe to put WiFi into standby without the risk of using cellular data.
 

swoosh0217

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2007
579
0
NW
You guys are not alone. I recently signed up with the value plan that comes with free 500MB data. I got a text from T-Mobile a week after signing with the plan, saying I'm about to reach my limit with 414MB already used.

So I called T-Mobile and spoke with a rep. She said their data usage have not changed from before But I told her I swear my usage shot up pretty fast in just about a week and I always try to use wifi as much as I can. So I ended up signing up for the extra 2GB for ten dollars extra.
 

mamon343

macrumors member
Feb 12, 2010
81
0
North America
Here as well.

It has been only 17 hours since I got the iPhone and I'm already up 130 MB . I have to admit that I ran a few speed tests on 4G but it shouldn't be that high.

My old Samsung GS2(4G) which had tripple the speeds, was much less "data hungry" as this.

I have the 2GB Unlimited Plan. ;)
 

xmaseve

macrumors regular
Oct 24, 2007
111
1
Here as well.

It has been only 17 hours since I got the iPhone and I'm already up 130 MB . I have to admit that I ran a few speed tests on 4G but it shouldn't be that high.

My old Samsung GS2(4G) which had tripple the speeds, was much less "data hungry" as this.

I have the 2GB Unlimited Plan. ;)

A speedtest can use anywhere from 5-50MB per test, depending on how fast your speeds are. On LTE, it's more near the 50MB mark.
 

7enderbender

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 11, 2012
513
12
North East US
There is an thread on the Apple support forums where people are finding out the hard way that the iPhone in many situations will use data over WiFi.

I can confirm what someone pointed out above: once it goes into "standby" it shuts off my wifi connection and goes back to "4G" - have yet to see the LTE logo but based on all I've seen so far I'm not keen on that and may keep LTE just turned off. I don't really need speed but reliability.

The other issue is that since this morning the "icloud" email is not acting like a push mail service. That's not acceptable either.

I know that T-mobile is new to the game and they are probably activating a ton of these over the weekend. But if this remains an ongoing issue I may return it and make this my final attempt to like and use Apple devices. The mail application is by the way close to useless anyway for a guy who relies on it.
 

hexonxonx

macrumors 601
Jul 4, 2007
4,610
1
Denver Colorado
I can confirm what someone pointed out above: once it goes into "standby" it shuts off my wifi connection and goes back to "4G" - have yet to see the LTE logo but based on all I've seen so far I'm not keen on that and may keep LTE just turned off. I don't really need speed but reliability.

The other issue is that since this morning the "icloud" email is not acting like a push mail service. That's not acceptable either.

I know that T-mobile is new to the game and they are probably activating a ton of these over the weekend. But if this remains an ongoing issue I may return it and make this my final attempt to like and use Apple devices. The mail application is by the way close to useless anyway for a guy who relies on it.

Yes, it appears that this is strictly an iPhone 5 problem. I have a 4S on T-mobile with the $30 5GB plan, I keep the phone on 3G with WiFi off 24/7 because T-Mobiles data is excellent where I am. I still have 1.5GB data left with four days till my new month.
 

bozzykid

macrumors 68020
Aug 11, 2009
2,430
492
The iPhone will always use wifi over your cellular data when available. No need to totally turn off cellular data.

Not for iMessage. There are several scenarios where it prefers cellular data over wifi.
 

AppleFanatic10

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2010
2,801
295
Hawthorne, CA
So I finally did it and went from my old Blackberry to the iphone 5 on T-mobile. So far I can say that there are a bunch of things that I really like - and a bunch of others (and i knew that) not so much, like the way the mail application works and the fact that it has a touch screen for typing. Oh, well.

The other thing I had to leave behind is my decade old plan including (true) unlimited data. Not that I used a lot of it but I never had to watch it. Now I only get the 500MB at high(er) speed rates and then it drops to whatever.

So I've actually watching it over the last two days and I already racked up 100MB. Probably from initially setting up things at the office without wifi turned on, etc. But I'm still a bit puzzled how the iPhone 5 and/or T-mobile handle the data priorities. I've been on my own wifi network since Friday evening and it looks as if I'm still adding data to the plan. The phone shows "T-Mobile" on the left and a wifi signal on the right. Under "general" I turned now off "cellular". What if I don't do that? Will it prioritize my wifi network and not use the "4g" coverage then? Is there another way to set that up? Are there shortcuts or "profiles" for these settings?

You'll get used to the touchscreen typing pretty easily. I also went from a VZW Blackberry 9560 to a iPhone 4 in 2011. The transition was actually pretty easy. The only thing I missed was the notification light that was on my blackberry. I've read that if you have a gmail account, you can make the iPhone give you instant notification if you set it up as a microsoft exchange account. You can do that in the setting app on your iPhone.. hope this helps a little.

----------

So I finally did it and went from my old Blackberry to the iphone 5 on T-mobile. So far I can say that there are a bunch of things that I really like - and a bunch of others (and i knew that) not so much, like the way the mail application works and the fact that it has a touch screen for typing. Oh, well.

The other thing I had to leave behind is my decade old plan including (true) unlimited data. Not that I used a lot of it but I never had to watch it. Now I only get the 500MB at high(er) speed rates and then it drops to whatever.

So I've actually watching it over the last two days and I already racked up 100MB. Probably from initially setting up things at the office without wifi turned on, etc. But I'm still a bit puzzled how the iPhone 5 and/or T-mobile handle the data priorities. I've been on my own wifi network since Friday evening and it looks as if I'm still adding data to the plan. The phone shows "T-Mobile" on the left and a wifi signal on the right. Under "general" I turned now off "cellular". What if I don't do that? Will it prioritize my wifi network and not use the "4g" coverage then? Is there another way to set that up? Are there shortcuts or "profiles" for these settings?

There's also an app called Onavo. It helps compress data so you don't use as much, and it also helps by telling you which apps use the most data, etc. Here's the link for more information.
 

rockitdog

macrumors 68030
Mar 25, 2013
2,721
1,238
you guys are funny. You buy a $600+ phone and are on a 500 MB data plan. For me it's a no brainer to pay the $70/ month for unlimited data if you're already paying $50/ mo for your service. At the very lease, take the 2 GB plan. I'm actually getting faster speeds on T-MOs AWS/HSPA+ network than on my home wifi.

I was previously an AT&T customer and I always had a 3GB data plan with them which was enough but now I find myself using large amounts of data on TMO. I'm using my phone more but a ton more than I did on TMO and I'm using a lot more data. Already used 5287 MB this month and my cycle doesn't end until the 24th!

I'm not sure how TMO calculates data usage but it's different from other companies and I think they are calculation more than other companies do.
 

7enderbender

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 11, 2012
513
12
North East US
you guys are funny. You buy a $600+ phone and are on a 500 MB data plan. For me it's a no brainer to pay the $70/ month for unlimited data if you're already paying $50/ mo for your service. At the very lease, take the 2 GB plan. I'm actually getting faster speeds on T-MOs AWS/HSPA+ network than on my home wifi.

I was previously an AT&T customer and I always had a 3GB data plan with them which was enough but now I find myself using large amounts of data on TMO. I'm using my phone more but a ton more than I did on TMO and I'm using a lot more data. Already used 5287 MB this month and my cycle doesn't end until the 24th!

I'm not sure how TMO calculates data usage but it's different from other companies and I think they are calculation more than other companies do.


I totally get your point. I was expecting to eventually up the allowance especially after my corporate discount is approved (on top of what already is really a pretty good deal). I was hoping to get away with less though since over the last few years I have rarely gone over 300 or 400MB - and that's with tons of emails and reading the news every morning on the train. Just trying to feel it out and would still like to know where data is going to and from especially when I'm not using the phone or when on wifi (that last question has been answered and I can't say that I'm happy with that).
 

9th Wonder

macrumors member
Mar 24, 2013
35
0
you guys are funny. You buy a $600+ phone and are on a 500 MB data plan. For me it's a no brainer to pay the $70/ month for unlimited data if you're already paying $50/ mo for your service. At the very lease, take the 2 GB plan. I'm actually getting faster speeds on T-MOs AWS/HSPA+ network than on my home wifi.

I was previously an AT&T customer and I always had a 3GB data plan with them which was enough but now I find myself using large amounts of data on TMO. I'm using my phone more but a ton more than I did on TMO and I'm using a lot more data. Already used 5287 MB this month and my cycle doesn't end until the 24th!

I'm not sure how TMO calculates data usage but it's different from other companies and I think they are calculation more than other companies do.

T-Mobile's $30 plan with unlimited text/ 100 minutes / unlimited data on 4G speeds (well the cap is 5G but whatever) over anything T-mobile is currently offering
 

7enderbender

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 11, 2012
513
12
North East US
You'll get used to the touchscreen typing pretty easily. I also went from a VZW Blackberry 9560 to a iPhone 4 in 2011. The transition was actually pretty easy. The only thing I missed was the notification light that was on my blackberry. I've read that if you have a gmail account, you can make the iPhone give you instant notification if you set it up as a microsoft exchange account. You can do that in the setting app on your iPhone.. hope this helps a little.

----------



There's also an app called Onavo. It helps compress data so you don't use as much, and it also helps by telling you which apps use the most data, etc. Here's the link for more information.


I hope I'll get used to the touch screen. So far I'm not feeling the love and I have very many errors.

Great advice on the google as Exchange server option. I don't use it for email (can't stand their threaded view plus have my own domain anyway) but I really like the calendar. If I can get that to push instead of pull that would be another big step forward.

I just found Onavo this afternoon. That'll be interesting to see what's really going on.

Thanks for all the good advice and patience here!
 
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