I had to turn off cellular when I was on wifi with verizon b.c it was eating up my data. Their response was, "that is normal"..uh no the hell it is not
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iOS 9's WiFi Assist might be eating up your data plan
- Thread starter samcraig
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I had to turn off cellular when I was on wifi with verizon b.c it was eating up my data. Their response was, "that is normal"..uh no the hell it is not
So, there is a location I often go to that has crappy wifi so I end up turning it off anyway. So yesterday, i didn't have to at the same location and it worked awesome. My only question is, is this like an all or nothing deal. So it will switch to 100% cellular data?...or do they help each other so wifi helps say 25% if it can and cellular covers the rest?
Nice to have unlimited data.
But even for those with limited data plans this shouldn't be a big deal. In my experience most of the time when the wifi signal is really weak nothing will load and I end up turning it off anyway.
But even for those with limited data plans this shouldn't be a big deal. In my experience most of the time when the wifi signal is really weak nothing will load and I end up turning it off anyway.
Hang on - presumably this does not change any of the "use mobile data for" application settings? Anyone who uses mobile data for youtube (or whatever) should know that it might eat data....I guess the surprise will be for people who think their wifi at home never has a bad moment. If your router goes down in the middle of the night then you will be using mobile data anyway if you have the application turned on for mobile data. Storm in a teacup? Clickbait ? All this is doing is making the switch to cellular sooner.
This is definitely bad for people with low data plans(under 3GB) as I have a feeling their will be a lot of unhappy customers. Luckily I'm at 7GB on Rogers for now...
Anyone have specific details on when/how this feature works? I've had this setting on on my 6S from the get-go. However, a few days ago my Comcast internet went out, which means I was wirelessly connected to my router that had no outside internet access. All the devices in my house, including my iPhone, could not access the internet.
I even went back into the iPhone settings to confirm this feature was on, since I realized this would have been a perfect time to see this feature in action. But I was not able to access data unless I turned off wifi. So something wasn't working right.
I even went back into the iPhone settings to confirm this feature was on, since I realized this would have been a perfect time to see this feature in action. But I was not able to access data unless I turned off wifi. So something wasn't working right.
No, it was working right. You probably had great signal to your wifi access point. It would see that as excellent. I don't think it factors in DNS resolution, and connections outside. It just kicks in if your signal is poor on wifi and balances it w/ regular data connectivity. In your case since you probably had normal wifi strength it wouldn't have triggered anything.
I disabled the setting, but from time to time I STILL see data being toggled when WIFI is weak. Is anyone having this issue also? Could it be a bug in iOS 9.0.1?
Ok, that would make sense. Although, it would be nice if this feature would ignore the actual wifi signal strength. Routers are notorious for having intermittent issues with accessing the internet even though a device is properly connected. Thanks for the reply.
If your WiFi is so weak that you're actually bouncing your connection it would toggle data just because it considers that a WiFi disconnect.
What I don't understand is:
Even if I have WiFi Assist OFF, and I am on a Wifi and it is working properly... Everything is great.
But if I move away from the Wifi router and lose the signal, the streaming (or whatever I am doing) will stop, and won't the iPhone automatically switch to LTE?
Am I missing the purpose of "Wifi Assist"...?
IAN.
Even if I have WiFi Assist OFF, and I am on a Wifi and it is working properly... Everything is great.
But if I move away from the Wifi router and lose the signal, the streaming (or whatever I am doing) will stop, and won't the iPhone automatically switch to LTE?
Am I missing the purpose of "Wifi Assist"...?
IAN.
No. It just does it sooner for you to avoid interruption of your work. What you ARE missing is what the big hullabaloo is about. I can't figure that one out either.
Just b.c your connection is weak does not mean it is not working just fine. The last thing I want is for my phone to disconnect me from my wifi b.c I can only obtain 1 bar of signal.
Wifi assist on does that.
Wifi assist off does not do that.
I'd like to know the parameters that determine when the OS goes from wifi to cellular and vice versa. I don't think we will, but it would be nice.
Time will tell if this is a "big deal" or not. My anecdotal evidence thus far says that it isn't, but I'm not naive enough to think that everyone's experience will be the same as mine.
Bombastic, hyperbolic, click-bate headlines concerning the faults/downfall of Apple are quite tiresome though, and that's primarily what I've seen thus far. Lots of headlines and "What-if's" but little else.
I believe the "Use Cellular Data" slider under App and iTunes store takes precedence... At least I hope so!
I've just disabled this and think it's a bit crafty leaving it on by default. This might explain while mine and my wife's iPhone batteries have been draining quicker this last week. I've also used a large chunk of my data. Great, thanks Apple.
Someone on Facebook posted a thing warning people about this "abuse" and it had a cell phone bill with thousands of dollars of data overage charges on it specifically due to this issue. Ummmm....it only just came out. How have you racked up that much data in a couple of days AND received the bill for it?
I think it while being a feature Apple deemed as a good idea, the ramifications were not thought hard enough upon.
Heck, they will not let folks download release updates over cellular so what was the thinking??????
I only knew about it when I checked to see I had about 20MB left in my 700MB plan. Luckily that was yesterday, and the fact that it's October 1st now means that I have 700MB again. Oh, and WiFi assistent is turned off now.
No I don't think so.
iOS devices have always switched from WiFi to cellular data automatically since iOS 1.0.
All this does is improve upon that experience by switching to cellular sooner, when WiFi becomes unusably weak but has not yet fully disconnected. Improves user experience, and makes sense for 2015 when cellular data should not be an issue for people anymore. There is no realistic scenario in which this feature should be a problem for anyone. But hey, clickbait articles are hard to come by..gotta take what they can get right?
I have 20GB of data w/ roll over on AT&T and still turned this off.
You could see how this could get outrageous if you were streaming music, watching videos, or downloading thinking you're not using data when you really are.
I also think the placement of wifi-assist is...interesting at best.
You could see how this could get outrageous if you were streaming music, watching videos, or downloading thinking you're not using data when you really are.
I also think the placement of wifi-assist is...interesting at best.