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AT&T data glitch

coorspate

coorspate

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 20, 2006
107
22
Hey everyone I did a search and didn't find a thread about this particular issue so I figured I would ask if anyone else has encounterd this.

I bought an iPhone from an AT&T store 2 days ago (at 11:15 on wed). today I signed up for my AT&T wireless online and noticed that I have somehow used 439 MB!

So I decided to see the detail of how that happened since I've never used that much before. On the data details page it shows mainly normal data usage except for the first entry 2 minutes into the phone being active at 11:17 there is a data entry for 308044kb (308 mb)! The next data entry was 90 minutes later, AT&T's site states on the data calculator that 1 minute of video streaming is 2 MB of data (wasn't doing that btw) even if I had tried to I couldn't have racked up more than 180MB!

Just to put my usage in perspective I came from sprint with an EVO and never used more than 1.7 GB. Going by this I was ok with the 2GB cap, now I'm worried. I hope it's just a glitch but tech support told me they couldn't fix until I'm billed and they look again. I think that was just a way to get me to forget about it.

What do you guys think?
 
Respectfully, I think you're all wrong.

Comparing two completely different networks, infrastructures, mobile operating systems and phones is a total waste of time.

Sell the damn iPhone and go back to what you had.

iPhones (and I've had every one) are not all they are they are made out to be, it's only a phone.

AND by the way I didn't use to be so blunt and rude, till I learned in this forum it's the code of conduct. Act like an ass and they will love it. :eek:

And just wait, all the AT&T bashers are on their way to this thread to tell you it's the network.
THAT is total BS, I know I have both the GSM AND CDMA iPhone 4 models.

I've been using both Verizon and AT&T for over a decade. Why? I love phones and choices. So I have the really great Android phones as well as iPhone's, because the Apple phone interfaces nicely with my Apple computers and other gear.
 
A co worker had the same problem. He took it to the corporate store. If I remember I believe they suggested to turn cellular data off under settings. When he wants to get on 3G turn cellular data on as well as enable 3G. I have heard that although you have 3G off for some reason the iPhone can possibly still use data. My brother also had same issue with his wife's iPhone.
 
zenio said:
Respectfully, I think you're all wrong.

Comparing two completely different networks, infrastructures, mobile operating systems and phones is a total waste of time.

Sell the damn iPhone and go back to what you had.

iPhones (and I've had every one) are not all they are they are made out to be, it's only a phone.

AND by the way I didn't use to be so blunt and rude, till I learned in this forum it's the code of conduct. Act like an ass and they will love it. :eek:

And just wait, all the AT&T bashers are on their way to this thread to tell you it's the network.
THAT is total BS, I know I have both the GSM AND CDMA iPhone 4 models.

I've been using both Verizon and AT&T for over a decade. Why? I love phones and choices. So I have the really great Android phones as well as iPhone's, because the Apple phone interfaces nicely with my Apple computers and other gear.
Click to expand...


With all due respect, Read the TITLE to the post!

I said it was a glitch, I have had iPhones for years and this is the first time I've seen this.

I am a contractor and need local numbers so I have an unlocked 3G that I have used on AT&T before and have not changed my data habits at all and I've never seen this before.

I also have Android and iPhones and I can gaurantee you it doesn't make you an expert just to own them.

Since I never said it was AT&T's network and you don't have anything constructive to add stay out of my thread.

And by the way, I've been here for years and being an ass is not encouraged or appreciated by anyone.
 
mpossoff said:
A co worker had the same problem. He took it to the corporate store. If I remember I believe they suggested to turn cellular data off under settings. When he wants to get on 3G turn cellular data on as well as enable 3G. I have heard that although you have 3G off for some reason the iPhone can possibly still use data. My brother also had same issue with his wife's iPhone.
Click to expand...

Yes, it will still use edge data. It won't rack it up as fast though. I use about 50-60 MB per day.

The only way to still use the phone and turn off all data is to jailbreak and use SBS settings to also turn off edge.
 
coorspate said:
Yes, it will still use edge data. It won't rack it up as fast though. I use about 50-60 MB per day.

The only way to still use the phone and turn off all data is to jailbreak and use SBS settings to also turn off edge.
Click to expand...

You can turn off edge? That's not an option on my sb setting swipe.
 
I can confirm that it is a glitch because the same thing happened to me, only mine registered at 550mb in less than 20 minutes. Thing is that I was on the road driving listening to iPod so there's no way I used that much data in that time period.

Call CS and let them know what happened. They should be able to review your detailed billing and fix the issue or give you a credit.
 
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wingsabr said:
mpossoff said:
You can turn off edge? That's not an option on my sb setting swipe.
Click to expand...

go to more, set toggles, change the e data to on, respring
Click to expand...

You beat me to it.
 
This happened to me starting on Feb 8. I've had 6 separate events at different times where my iPhone 4 has downloaded large amounts of data, while sitting at home on my WiFi:
Feb 8 - 50 mb
Feb 10 - 100 mb
Feb 10 - 62 mb
Feb 15 - 10 mb
Feb 15 - 22 mb
Feb 17 - 178 mb

I've had the iPhone since last June and am on the 200 mb data plan. I'm a light data user, really only using it for gmail. The only time I ever went over the limit was in December when I mistakenly turned on location services for several days while traveling. I called AT&T on Feb 10 and 11 to report what was going on. They agreed to refund the overage charge. I'm going to call again today, because I just went over the 400 mb mark on Feb 17. I restored the OS yesterday, so we'll see if that does anything. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
I recommend anyone having data problems with any network to download and use this application. By far the best app to track, the most accurate too. I have unlimited data but I still use it to keep track.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/data-usage/id386950560?mt=8
Click to expand...

This seems to be a very good app for those with a data limit/cap. Being that I'm unlimited I never ever look at my usage.
But if I was, I certainly would not trust AT&T/Verizon to tell me how much 3G data I've used. Its in their best interest to be wrong and hope you ignore it.
 
iceterminal said:
This seems to be a very good app for those with a data limit/cap. Being that I'm unlimited I never ever look at my usage.
But if I was, I certainly would not trust AT&T/Verizon to tell me how much 3G data I've used. Its in their best interest to be wrong and hope you ignore it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, even though I'm unlimited, I like to track it compared to my account on AT&T, so far since June, it has been nearly identical, give or take a MB or 2, usually the phone reports more than AT&T does.
 
there is definitely a problem. I picked up a new iphone 4 days ago and it says I already used 26.5 gb :eek: luckily I have unlimited plan but even a poweruser like me (constant internet radio, gps, email and some netflix) I can't possibly have used that much data. and I have wifi at home
 
I had a similar problem, I got my iPhone 4 in September and my husband put me on the 2gb plan and I used it as much as I could to get a feel for how much I would use. I used under 200 mb for the first 2 months, so I dropped it down to the smaller plan to save a couple bucks. The 3rd month, halfway through I was almost at my cap, despite using the internet on my phone much less than the previous 2 months due to having more wifi access and not having as much downtime to play with my phone. After looking at the daily breakdown, I noticed that on several nights there were huge usages being charged between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. That is a time period where I would have been sleeping and not using my phone, and regardless of that, I should have been on my home wi-fi network. I called At&t, and after spending 45 minutes with someone named "Jenny" who could not speak english, I was given one excuse after another. I asked repeatedly for her supervisor, only to be put on hold and then end up talking to the same person. Basically she told me I must be streaming video, stock reports,sports scores, and 10 other things, none of which I did. I checked my email and Facebook a bit, and of course browsed the MR forums but that was it, no streaming for me! So, suspecting I was being charged wrongly for data that should be going over wi-fi, I started turning of my cellular data when I was on wi-fi, and guess what? My data usage dropped way down! I don't know if it was a glitch in the system or if they did it on purpose to see how many people would call them out on it, but I wasn't having it. So far, knock-on-wood, I have been well under my cap ever since. It stinks that I have to take the extra step, but I'd rather be inconvenienced than be wrongly charged
 
magicpinkdrink said:
I had a similar problem, I got my iPhone 4 in September and my husband put me on the 2gb plan and I used it as much as I could to get a feel for how much I would use. I used under 200 mb for the first 2 months, so I dropped it down to the smaller plan to save a couple bucks. The 3rd month, halfway through I was almost at my cap, despite using the internet on my phone much less than the previous 2 months due to having more wifi access and not having as much downtime to play with my phone. After looking at the daily breakdown, I noticed that on several nights there were huge usages being charged between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. That is a time period where I would have been sleeping and not using my phone, and regardless of that, I should have been on my home wi-fi network. I called At&t, and after spending 45 minutes with someone named "Jenny" who could not speak english, I was given one excuse after another. I asked repeatedly for her supervisor, only to be put on hold and then end up talking to the same person. Basically she told me I must be streaming video, stock reports,sports scores, and 10 other things, none of which I did. I checked my email and Facebook a bit, and of course browsed the MR forums but that was it, no streaming for me! So, suspecting I was being charged wrongly for data that should be going over wi-fi, I started turning of my cellular data when I was on wi-fi, and guess what? My data usage dropped way down! I don't know if it was a glitch in the system or if they did it on purpose to see how many people would call them out on it, but I wasn't having it. So far, knock-on-wood, I have been well under my cap ever since. It stinks that I have to take the extra step, but I'd rather be inconvenienced than be wrongly charged
Click to expand...

Interesting, but try using paragraphs next time bud...
 
Last edited:
I think there are too many bugs that at&t needs to address. Ok now of the iphones on my family plan, one is on unlimited, one on 2gb, and the other was on the 200mb plan. No issues yet on the 2gb one and obviously no issues on the unlimited.

Now when it came to the 200mb one it never went over 100mb on their unlimited plan and for a month or so after being switched to the 200mb. Then in large usage charges it was being used up much more until it went over. Before it was going over the user was shutting off data usage and on wifi a lot of the day since they were getting the usage alert texts. This user does not use their phone for streaming or anything data hungry.

Then switched it over to the 2gb plan and within a day more than half was used overnight. :confused: Now no one can tell me that when the user was not aware that the plan changed and nothing on the phone changed, that it could use more than a gig when just the month before it was going .25mb over 200mb. Either a bug or a poor way to get data overage charges.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Mlrollin91 said:
I recommend anyone having data problems with any network to download and use this application. By far the best app to track, the most accurate too. I have unlimited data but I still use it to keep track.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/data-usage/id386950560?mt=8
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link. Great program!

Thanks for all the replies, it's amazing to see how often this happens and when I call AT&T on it they say I'm the only one that had said this was happening.

I'm going to just get ahold of a used 2g and hope I can still grandfather myself into unlimited with the iTunes trick.
 
coorspate said:
With all due respect, Read the TITLE to the post!

I said it was a glitch, I have had iPhones for years and this is the first time I've seen this.

I am a contractor and need local numbers so I have an unlocked 3G that I have used on AT&T before and have not changed my data habits at all and I've never seen this before.

I also have Android and iPhones and I can gaurantee you it doesn't make you an expert just to own them.

Since I never said it was AT&T's network and you don't have anything constructive to add stay out of my thread.

And by the way, I've been here for years and being an ass is not encouraged or appreciated by anyone.
Click to expand...


With NO respect, YOU need to read some of the other posts here to see that this data usage is NOT a glitch!:mad:
 
Stealthipad said:
With NO respect, YOU need to read some of the other posts here to see that this data usage is NOT a glitch!:mad:
Click to expand...

Wow! Someones an AT&T fanboy!

So anyways... Pull your head out of AT&Ts' a$$ and read the posts yourself, you might see how wrong you are. Or you might just go on being an idiot fanboy, I really won't care either way. :rolleyes:
 
coorspate said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)


Thanks for all the replies, it's amazing to see how often this happens and when I call AT&T on it they say I'm the only one that had said this was happening.
Click to expand...

For all the times I have called...only once did a cs rep tell me that I was not the only person that has called about this and it is a bigger issue than the last rep I spoke with would admit.

It won't happen to everyone and who knows why it happens to some and not others. For example the one on my plan with the issues seems to suck up most of the data allowance overnight but the other one on 2gb is a heavier user and could get by on 200mb.
 
Leet Apple said:
Turn off Cellular Data before you go to Sleep
Click to expand...

The phone on my account with the problems went days with cellular data off and nothing changed. We did everything we could to stop it from using data but all failed (wifi on, cellular data turned off, phone off) and it continuted to have unusual amounts of data being used up mainly overnight.
 
coorspate said:
With all due respect, Read the TITLE to the post!

I said it was a glitch, I have had iPhones for years and this is the first time I've seen this.

I am a contractor and need local numbers so I have an unlocked 3G that I have used on AT&T before and have not changed my data habits at all and I've never seen this before.

I also have Android and iPhones and I can gaurantee you it doesn't make you an expert just to own them.

Since I never said it was AT&T's network and you don't have anything constructive to add stay out of my thread.

And by the way, I've been here for years and being an ass is not encouraged or appreciated by anyone.
Click to expand...

My oh my :)
 
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