Data usage spike significantly with no change in my day-to-day usage habits

[petrucci666]

I've been on AT&T for about 2 years now, and have always used an iPhone since then. iPhone 5 for about 6 months now with the 5GB data plan.

I've always stayed heavily within my limit (maybe 2-3GB used per month) but last month I went over. This has never happened and I can't explain it because I didn't use it any differently than I have in the previous months.

I have the AT&T app on my phone and use it to track usage, pay the bil etc.

So, a day before the end of my cycle I check my usage and it says I used up around 3.3GB (last updated that morning) and I just continue my day as I would. An hour later I get a text message from AT&T saying that I have reached 100% of my limit and that overages are charged at $10 per GB.

This alarmed me and I gave them a call saying that this can't be since the app says that I'm still far away from exceeding my cap. They give me the standard BS "It takes some time to update and synchronize so the actual usage displayed in the app isn't always correct." - I agree with that statement, but it can't be that I spent 1.7GB in a few hours and that it was a sync delay.

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Plus, it takes some significant effort to spend 1.7GB on an iPhone in such a short time.

I feel like I'm being exploited by AT&T, and am wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

 

[jav6454]

Check online to see your usage. AT&T has daily updates on your day's usage in minutes, texts and messages.

 

[levander]

Check for apps are doing updating in the background? 1.7 GB sounds like you would have had to have been downloading video, photos, or music.

I know feedly does the biggest background updates on my phone, but of course I have it set to Wifi only.

 

[cynics]

Apple need to provide a better way to track data usage from the phone itself with a list of apps and how much cellular data they've used.

 

[petrucci666]

Check for apps are doing updating in the background? 1.7 GB sounds like you would have had to have been downloading video, photos, or music.

I know feedly does the biggest background updates on my phone, but of course I have it set to Wifi only.

I have everything set to off. And all of my streaming services sync only on WiFi as well as high-quality playback.

I very rarely use Personal Hotspot and watch not to download anything if I'm on Personal Hotspot.

There just simply is no way of me spending 1.7 GB in the few hours it supposedly happened in. I also remember a while back a thread where people were reporting significant spikes in data.

Again, this has never happened before and the AT&T app has been pretty accurate thus far. As for checking on the web instead of the app, it doesn't really make a difference and here's why -

This is what the web says:

This is what the app says:

It's the same thing.

 

[LaynieGorilla]

I have the exact same problem. Used 2-3gbs on avg and everything went up after i got the iphone 5 with nothing used differently. I even got my bill credited twice. After researching I learned that LTE and 4g uses a lot of data hence why everything loads faster. It could be a 50mb different of 3g compared to 4g as far as watching a six min video.

What I still dont understand is the use of data at night, like around 225MB when I'm sleeping or at times when I'm driving. I never could figure out what that was from and neither did at&t. So I just got a 5gb plan and also plan to use a lot more wifi. I think its something they're not telling us though, especially since it is a fact that data is now the biggest revenue maker in the wireless phone industry.

 

[petrucci666]

I have the exact same problem. Used 2-3gbs on avg and everything went up after i got the iphone 5 with nothing used differently. I even got my bill credited twice. After researching I learned that LTE and 4g uses a lot of data hence why everything loads faster. It could be a 50mb different of 3g compared to 4g as far as watching a six min video.

What I still dont understand is the use of data at night, like around 225MB when I'm sleeping or at times when I'm driving. I never could figure out what that was from and neither did at&t. So I just got a 5gb plan and also plan to use a lot more wifi. I think its something they're not telling us though, especially since it is a fact that data is now the biggest revenue maker in the wireless phone industry.

Exactly. Except that I've been using the iPhone 5 for about 6 months now and have always stayed deeply within my limits. But last month it just went nuts for no reason. My habits haven't changed. But I think they are doing something and not telling us about it.