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Extremely odd iPhone data usage. . . any thoughts?

CylonGlitch

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 7, 2009
2,958
268
Nashville
(note, I posted this on reddit/r/applehelp as well)

My wife and I have had an iPhone for a very long time, from the original up to the 4. Thus we are both on the unlimited plan, but our data usage is almost never more than 200 to 500mb per month each. Neither of our phones are jailbroken.

This morning I woke up and heard my wife receiving a text message. I looked at her phone and it said, "You data usage has put you in the top 5% . . ." blah, blah.. So I went to att.com and looked up her usage (she was recently in Taiwan and maybe she used it a lot there). But it was interesting. . . for the last two days, 10pm, 800+mb of data was transferred to "Phone", the day before that 300mb at midnight and the day before that 200mb at 9pm. She has been back in the country for the last week, so that wasn't the problem. BUT she has been on our WiFi for the last week (she hasn't left home). So why is ANY data going across the 3G network? Last night at 10pm I was here with her, she wasn't on the phone at all.
aotzt.png


I just reset her phone, closed all apps. Maybe that will fix the problem, but I'm concerned that SOMETHING is doing something nefarious. I'm not one to believe in iPhone virus' or anything but this is something VERY very odd.
Anyone have any thoughts what could be happening?
 
I'm pretty sure AT&T posts your data usage for the day at the end of the day instead of when the activity happens. That might explain the large usage at 10pm. What it doesn't explain is why any usage is being done through 3G when she is home.
 
Yes, I guess it could be a sum of all data posted for the day; but I need to figure out what is sending the data in the first place. I haven't been able to find what would be sending the data; unless it is stuck somewhere, sending the same data over and over again.

It does explain the performance and battery life problems. Now to figure out if the reboot fixed it. If not, I'll back it up and reset it to defaults and see if that works.
 
If that happened to me, I would try putting the iPhone in Airplane Mode for 24 hours and see if it kept happening. It would be so hard for an iPhone to use over 1 GB of data without you knowing why, that I think maybe it is actually AT&T who is doing something sneaky.
 
The one interesting thing I am seeing; is the Garmin North America app was running. I wonder if she started it running and is continuously updating the direction / map since then, maybe just "recalculating" over and over again? The usage showed 2+GB; so that could be it. I've shut down the app, maybe it could be the case.

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SplicedBanjo said:
If that happened to me, I would try putting the iPhone in Airplane Mode for 24 hours and see if it kept happening. It would be so hard for an iPhone to use over 1 GB of data without you knowing why, that I think maybe it is actually AT&T who is doing something sneaky.
Click to expand...

If you look at the usage, it says, "Data Sent." I think it my be the Garmin app. I've noticed very poor battery life when that app is open. Even when charging in my car it still drains the battery!
 
CylonGlitch said:
The one interesting thing I am seeing; is the Garmin North America app was running. I wonder if she started it running and is continuously updating the direction / map since then, maybe just "recalculating" over and over again? The usage showed 2+GB; so that could be it. I've shut down the app, maybe it could be the case.
Click to expand...

I would be shocked if that app sent that much data even in that amount of time. I used GPS apps to travel half way across the country with two days of driving and didn't got over 2 gigs for the month.
 
lordofthereef said:
I would be shocked if that app sent that much data even in that amount of time. I used GPS apps to travel half way across the country with two days of driving and didn't got over 2 gigs for the month.
Click to expand...

I hope it's the app; because I'm running out of ideas on what it could be.
 
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