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AT&T Custs - Higher Data Usage w/4S?

bowlerman625

bowlerman625

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
2,135
11
Chicago, IL area
First off, let me preface this post by saying I have the unlimited data plan. This isn't a big issue, but I'm curious if at&t customers who switched to the 4S have noticed much higher data usage on their first bill after switching?

My usage has always been pretty low. I still did not want to part with my unlimited plan in case my usage habits change. In a month, I was typically under 1GB in monthly usage. Every now and then I'd pop up over 1GB, but never got close to even 2GB.

In the first 14 days of October, with my iPhone 4, I used 776 MB of data. For the rest of the month, with my new 4S, I consumed almost 5.6 GB of data! The monthly total was 6.3 GB. I'm unlimited so I don't care too much. However I don't want to show up on the radar as a heavy data user either.

In reviewing my bill, I noticed there were some huge data transfers, one almost 1 GB itself. Some of these were time stamped overnight when I was asleep. There were a number of big ones around 11pm. I wake up at 4:30am so i was not up consuming data at 11pm.......anyone else see this on their first bill with the 4S?

Any other thoughts on why the spike?
 
bowlerman625 said:
In reviewing my bill, I noticed there were some huge data transfers, one almost 1 GB itself. Some of these were time stamped overnight when I was asleep. There were a number of big ones around 11pm. I wake up at 4:30am so i was not up consuming data at 11pm.......anyone else see this on their first bill with the 4S?

Any other thoughts on why the spike?
Click to expand...

When you're asleep, isn't your phone connected to your home wifi network? (making it even more fishy)

I'm trying to keep track of my data usage but the texts from *data# are really slow to update and I can't check online because I have to wait until the next billing cycle.
 
maclook said:
When you're asleep, isn't your phone connected to your home wifi network? (making it even more fishy)

I'm trying to keep track of my data usage but the texts from *data# are really slow to update and I can't check online because I have to wait until the next billing cycle.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's connected to wifi when I'm home. My billing cycle started on 11/1. Before that date I could not check usage with the new 4S until now.

On the 5th day of my new billing period, I'm at 307 MB of data. Like I said, I'm unlimited so it's ok. I'm just a bit curious what others have seen so far.

Yes, it's very fishy to me too......
 
I came across an article today but didnt have time to read it, other than a quick skim. It seemed to suggest Siri ads to data consumtion. See Ars Technica for the article. I'm unaffected since I dislike Siri & won't be using it.

It's just a gimmick as I see it. Nothing is so important I've got to use voice commands when driving or at other times. I'd rather focus on traffic & enjoy the drive. The audio system in my car is too nice to turn off so I can be on the stupid phone. :)
 
vitzr said:
I came across an article today but didnt have time to read it, other than a quick skim. It seemed to suggest Siri ads to data consumtion. See Ars Technica for the article. I'm unaffected since I dislike Siri & won't be using it.

It's just a gimmick as I see it. Nothing is so important I've got to use voice commands when driving or at other times. I'd rather focus on traffic & enjoy the drive. The audio system in my car is too nice to turn off so I can be on the stupid phone. :)
Click to expand...

I read the opposite. The article I read said something along the lines of if you use Siri 10 times a day, you'll end up using 5mb at the end of the month. I totally made up those numbers, but the point is that it's data consumption is insignificant. The OP's reference to mystery 1gb downloads are most definitely not related to Siri.
 
check this setting it has been known to cause it.
AF5F6FEB.jpg
 
bowlerman625 said:
I have cellular turned on, however most of the big data usage I saw is at night, when WiFi should be doing the heavy lifting! My Time Capsule WiFi and cable broadband is very reliable and always up.....
Click to expand...

yes but others have reported the same thing and this fixed it. you don't want it on anyway for the most part.
 
rgarjr said:
could be your backing up on iCloud.
Click to expand...

Backing up to iCloud occurs only if you are connected to Wi-Fi and the iPhone is plugged in. It's possible the phone is reporting wi-fi data as cellular data. I'd check AT&T's website to see what they are reporting the usage to be. I have about 90MB of data usage during the first 6 days of the month.
 
Need help on this issue

AT&T is really putting the screws to us with my wife's 4s. Here is what AT&T claims her data usage is:

Date...Time......To/From..Type.................Direction....Msg/Kb/Min
11/11 12:19 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 212925KB
11/10 12:29 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 225892KB
11/09 12:08 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 343077KB
11/08 04:28 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 124116KB
11/08 12:45 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 20146KB

In other words, they are saying that she is SENDING from 100+MB's to 330+MB's per day. Yes, sending. Not receiving. Note that is just four days.

She doesn't use Pandora, stream Netflix (or stream anything else for that matter). She doesn't back up to the iCloud. She receives very few emails and has sent about 60 texts so far in this billing cycle. She doesn't use Siri. She doesn't to Facebook. Photo Stream is turned off. It uses the home Wi-Fi when at home.

Despite this, AT&T says she has used over 2 GB's of data in about two weeks - nearly all of which was SENT data.

They opened up a ticket to investigate it and concluded their records are accurate. They have no idea how she could be sending that much data, they just know she is and that I should pay accordingly.

I will check tonight to see if she has the "Use Cellular" checked for "Documents and Data" turned off. However, I think it is as I set her phone up the same as mine.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
I have this issue. My thread for it is here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1276911/

There is a hint as to what could be causing it posted there, essentially the phone is possibly defaulting back to 3G after the screen locks when it should remain on wifi.

Also, file a report at apple.com/feedback so that we can make some noise with Apple.
 
Hitch08 said:
...In other words, they are saying that she is SENDING from 100+MB's to 330+MB's per day. Yes, sending. Not receiving. Note that is just four days.
Click to expand...

Don't be too sure about the "SENT" part. Every single data transaction on my account indicates "SENT", even though I know most of it is Pandora, etc.

Do you show any data that does not indicate "Sent" on your account?
 
seanfranklin said:
Don't be too sure about the "SENT" part. Every single data transaction on my account indicates "SENT", even though I know most of it is Pandora, etc.

Do you show any data that does not indicate "Sent" on your account?
Click to expand...

I started to question the same thing last night as I was doing more research. My wife's 4s shows that she has sent a total of 51.1 MB's - since launch. AT&T has her sending over 330 MB's in a single day.

On the other hand, it does not appear that adding the "sent" and "receive" numbers from her iPhone equal the total that AT&T provides.

So, I am questioning the same thing. But, if that is the case, why wouldn't someone from AT&T mention it at some point during the hours that I have spent with them on the issue?

By the way, AT&T told me to download a program called Task Killer. They advised that it would quickly and easily close all programs running in the background. I mentioned it to the lady from AppleCare and she said she had heard of it and suggested I download it from the App Store. Well, I can't find it on the App Store. To the extent I found anything about it, it appears to be only available for Andriod and J/B iPhones. Threads here on MacRumors indicate that people have not been able to find any such program in the App. store.

----------
netslacker said:
I have this issue. My thread for it is here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1276911/

There is a hint as to what could be causing it posted there, essentially the phone is possibly defaulting back to 3G after the screen locks when it should remain on wifi.

Also, file a report at apple.com/feedback so that we can make some noise with Apple.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I found that thread last night after I posted here. I'll file a report later today.
 
Similar issues with my daughters phone. Notice that most of the times are around midnight. My daughter is rarely up and using her phone at this time. Also leads me to believe that yes, wifi shuts down and 3G kicks in, but how is it that so much data is going? I've heard someone say that the reporting is more of a combination of data from multiple times per day combined into one. Who knows

Hitch08 said:
AT&T is really putting the screws to us with my wife's 4s. Here is what AT&T claims her data usage is:

Date...Time......To/From..Type.................Direction....Msg/Kb/Min
11/11 12:19 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 212925KB
11/10 12:29 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 225892KB
11/09 12:08 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 343077KB
11/08 04:28 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 124116KB
11/08 12:45 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 20146KB

In other words, they are saying that she is SENDING from 100+MB's to 330+MB's per day. Yes, sending. Not receiving. Note that is just four days.

She doesn't use Pandora, stream Netflix (or stream anything else for that matter). She doesn't back up to the iCloud. She receives very few emails and has sent about 60 texts so far in this billing cycle. She doesn't use Siri. She doesn't to Facebook. Photo Stream is turned off. It uses the home Wi-Fi when at home.

Despite this, AT&T says she has used over 2 GB's of data in about two weeks - nearly all of which was SENT data.

They opened up a ticket to investigate it and concluded their records are accurate. They have no idea how she could be sending that much data, they just know she is and that I should pay accordingly.

I will check tonight to see if she has the "Use Cellular" checked for "Documents and Data" turned off. However, I think it is as I set her phone up the same as mine.

Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
when i got my iphone 4s over 2 weeks my data usage was 200mb on my iphone 3g and after 10 days with my iphone 4s i received a text msg alert from my provider that i had used 80% of my data (1GB plan). This is absolutely ridiculous especially since my usage has not changed at all. Ive never used this much data in my life over a 10 day period or even over my one month period even when i had an iPhone 4.
 
Hitch08 said:
AT&T is really putting the screws to us with my wife's 4s. Here is what AT&T claims her data usage is:

Date...Time......To/From..Type.................Direction....Msg/Kb/Min
11/11 12:19 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 212925KB
11/10 12:29 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 225892KB
11/09 12:08 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 343077KB
11/08 04:28 PM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 124116KB
11/08 12:45 AM phone Internet/MEdia Net Sent......... 20146KB

In other words, they are saying that she is SENDING from 100+MB's to 330+MB's per day. Yes, sending. Not receiving. Note that is just four days.

She doesn't use Pandora, stream Netflix (or stream anything else for that matter). She doesn't back up to the iCloud. She receives very few emails and has sent about 60 texts so far in this billing cycle. She doesn't use Siri. She doesn't to Facebook. Photo Stream is turned off. It uses the home Wi-Fi when at home.

Despite this, AT&T says she has used over 2 GB's of data in about two weeks - nearly all of which was SENT data.

They opened up a ticket to investigate it and concluded their records are accurate. They have no idea how she could be sending that much data, they just know she is and that I should pay accordingly.

I will check tonight to see if she has the "Use Cellular" checked for "Documents and Data" turned off. However, I think it is as I set her phone up the same as mine.

Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Photostream

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I am on the unlimited data plan and received a text from AT&T about being in the top 5% of users after consuming 2.3GB of data in one month.
 
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