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Feb 22, 2009
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I have been home sick since thursday and will probably stay home all weekend. My iPhone billing cycle ended Aug 12th at midnight I am sure and started again on the 13th. When I logged into my ATT wireless data app Friday morning the 13th it said I had used .25. I don't see how I could have used any data whatsoever since I went to bed and then checked it in the morning. So I decided to check it again this morning and now it says I've used .83mgs. Again, I have not been out of the house and I am connected to my Home Wi-Fi so where is this data usage coming from. I will check it again tomorrow morning and see how this is progressing but this has me concerned since I just downgraded my data plan to the lowest 200 mgs a month since I an usually always connected to wifi but if this continues I can see where it might take 10 mgs a month and maybe even more. Does this sound about right?
 
There are a few other threads about this. I've noticed some "suspicious" data on my account as well.
 
I have been home sick since thursday and will probably stay home all weekend. My iPhone billing cycle ended Aug 12th at midnight I am sure and started again on the 13th. When I logged into my ATT wireless data app Friday morning the 13th it said I had used .25. I don't see how I could have used any data whatsoever since I went to bed and then checked it in the morning. So I decided to check it again this morning and now it says I've used .83mgs. Again, I have not been out of the house and I am connected to my Home Wi-Fi so where is this data usage coming from. I will check it again tomorrow morning and see how this is progressing but this has me concerned since I just downgraded my data plan to the lowest 200 mgs a month since I an usually always connected to wifi but if this continues I can see where it might take 10 mgs a month and maybe even more. Does this sound about right?

I've noticed that it takes a little over 36 hours for the data to show on the account, so that usage was probably used last billing cycle and now is appearing on your current billing cycle. Has happened to me a few times, I just haven't given much thought or time into it because I'm on unlimited.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A400 Safari/6531.22.7)

If you get time, check out some of the other threads that are about this same topic.
 
I've noticed that it takes a little over 36 hours for the data to show on the account, so that usage was probably used last billing cycle and now is appearing on your current billing cycle. Has happened to me a few times, I just haven't given much thought or time into it because I'm on unlimited.

Well it's been three days now since my cycle began and I am still accumilating data. Now it's up to 1.31 mgs and I haven't left the house!
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A400 Safari/6531.22.7)

If you get time, check out some of the other threads that are about this same topic.

OK I checked out some other threads on this same issue and it looks like other are having the same problem. Gizmodo says that we are not charged for this data but that is not true since it is accumilating against my limited 200 mg plan daily. I fear something nerfarious is going on here.
 
I am now up to 1.31 mgs this morning without even leaving the house since Thurs. and only being connected to my home wifi. I just turned off "Cellular Data" and will check again tomorrow and if the data use is up even more then there is indeed a problem here.
I will report back tomorrow.
 
It could be that it's doing it in the background, if you have a bunch of push notifications/your e-mail and your Internet goes out it'll switch to 3G. Your Internet is pretty much on always, it's an iPhone thing.
 
It could be that it's doing it in the background, if you have a bunch of push notifications/your e-mail and your Internet goes out it'll switch to 3G. Your Internet is pretty much on always, it's an iPhone thing.

I just turned off "Cellular Data" and not just the "3G" since it could still use Edge so I will see what happens tomorrow.
 
OK I checked out some other threads on this same issue and it looks like other are having the same problem. Gizmodo says that we are not charged for this data but that is not true since it is accumilating against my limited 200 mg plan daily. I fear something nerfarious is going on here.

If you look at eh usage details, you'll see a disclaimer at the bottom that says (emphasis mine):

This usage information is only an estimate and, regardless of what is shown, your next invoice will be determined by the information contained in our billing system, not this usage information.

If you end up seeing it on your bill for this period, then consider disputing it.

Keep in mind however that things like visual voice mail and MMS use data and do not go over WiFi, so if you've had any of those events occur, then that's likely where the usage is coming from.
 
If you look at eh usage details, you'll see a disclaimer at the bottom that says (emphasis mine):



If you end up seeing it on your bill for this period, then consider disputing it.

Keep in mind however that things like visual voice mail and MMS use data and do not go over WiFi, so if you've had any of those events occur, then that's likely where the usage is coming from.

Thanks for looking into that.
I have not had any of those features occur in the past three days.

This is the problem though, if I have to wait until my next billing I will have certainly left my home only wifi enviornment and gone on 3G so I will not know what part of the data usage is really mine or not.
The only thing I will be able to tell on the billing is maybe by the times???
I have seen on previous bills some that looked "iffy" by the time and amount of data consumed but it didn't concern me then since I was on unlimited back then. Now that I am on 200 mg limited it can be a concern for me and others like me.
 
Are you receiving calls. Are there Voicemails from those case, these are downloaded as data.

Do you have stuff running in the background?
 
it come be some apps you have on your phone will not use wifi and only use cellular data.

VM I am willing to bet will not touch wifi. It would be cellular data only. Remember somethings on AT&T side and Apple side will not touch wifi for its data transferring.
 
Are you receiving calls. Are there Voicemails from those case, these are downloaded as data.

Do you have stuff running in the background?

I have not had any voicemails in the past 3 days or any MM texts.
How can I tell if there is stuff running in the background?
I have notifications turned on, on the AP news App if that's what you mean?
But that is the only one.
 
it come be some apps you have on your phone will not use wifi and only use cellular data.

VM I am willing to bet will not touch wifi. It would be cellular data only. Remember somethings on AT&T side and Apple side will not touch wifi for its data transferring.

I see, In that case by my turning off all Cell Data in Settings should stop that I would think??? So let's see what happens by tomorrow data use by my turning that off.
 
I believe if the phone has been turned off long enough, it will drop wifi connection to help save battery. Your notifications/mail push may be used on 3G as a result.

Turning off cellular data should stop it.
 
I believe if the phone has been turned off long enough, it will drop wifi connection to help save battery. Your notifications/mail push may be used on 3G as a result.

Turning off cellular data should stop it.

Ahhh now there's a possible reason/fix.
 
I believe if the phone has been turned off long enough, it will drop wifi connection to help save battery. Your notifications/mail push may be used on 3G as a result.

Turning off cellular data should stop it.

This is no longer true in iOS 4. The WiFi will remain on until the user turns it off.
 
This is no longer true in iOS 4. The WiFi will remain on until the user turns it off.

From what I have noticed, this is only true when somthing that is running persistant Wi-Fi (i.e. Pandora streaming) is active, while its asleep. There have been times where I'm in a great wi-fi zone (especially at work) and it says 3G for a few seconds before reactivating the Wi-Fi. Your mileage may vary though.
 
Go to Settings > General > Usage and monitor your cellular data there.

Also, as others mentioned, visual voicemail and MMS uses cellular data.
 
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