Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Carrier IPhone 7+ high data useage

lparsons21

lparsons21

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 3, 2014
451
208
Southern Illinois
Got notified by my ISP that my data useage had gone over my data cap (1Tb). Called their tech support and they pulled up the daily useage and it shows that it had suddenly gone up dramatically on 10/5. That was the day the iPhone 7 was received. The high useage was still going on as I spoke to them.

I've since done a few things.
1. Turned off a slew of notifications as I don't need them.
2. Reset network settings
3. Ensured wifi assist is off

I won't know for a day or two if that actually fixed anything. But has anyone else had this happen? If so, did you find the culprit?

Thanks
 
in settings --> cellular:

under the section for "Use cellular data for", does any particular app stand out? (shows amount of data consumed under each)
 
This is a wifi data issue, not cellular data. But to answer the questions:
1. No app is showing odd data useage
2. Data allowance from ISP is 1 TB and I went from about 120Gb used prior to the 5th to 1,121Gb as of this morning.
 
lparsons21 said:
Got notified by my ISP that my data useage had gone over my data cap (1Tb). Called their tech support and they pulled up the daily useage and it shows that it had suddenly gone up dramatically on 10/5. That was the day the iPhone 7 was received. The high useage was still going on as I spoke to them.

I've since done a few things.
1. Turned off a slew of notifications as I don't need them.
2. Reset network settings
3. Ensured wifi assist is off

I won't know for a day or two if that actually fixed anything. But has anyone else had this happen? If so, did you find the culprit?

Thanks
Click to expand...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-7-data-usage.2004766/
 
I just thought of something. I seldom use the phone for things around the house where wifi is an issue, and I have Verizon with 'safety' mode for data overage. Maybe I should just shut off wifi on the phone? Does that make sense to anyone?

EDIT: Answering my own question, turning wifi off sucks! I often make/receive calls on my iPad via the iPhone and that won't work without wifi being on. :(
 
lparsons21 said:
This is a wifi data issue, not cellular data. But to answer the questions:
1. No app is showing odd data useage
2. Data allowance from ISP is 1 TB and I went from about 120Gb used prior to the 5th to 1,121Gb as of this morning.
Click to expand...
d'oh! sorry about that. usually these "high data usage" threads involve cellular data so i went that route :)

as for your case -- is it possibly trying to backup or sync from icloud? need more details on your actual usage of the phone since the time you got it.
 
I'm not a heavy phone/data user, or at least not on the phone itself. Generally wifi at home on an iPad.

Cell data use since 10/5 is about 250Mb

All other data useage would have been the setting up, iCloud restore and so forth. Almost all my app data of importance is on iCloud.

Since I made the changes indicated in my original post I've upgraded my internet account so now have 2Tb data cap. In a day or two I'll call them to get daily data useage so I can see if what I've done fixed the issue or if I'll need to get in touch with Apple.

I cannot imagine what on the phone could use almost 1Tb of data in a couple of days.
 
Applejuiced said:
Dude you really think the iphone used 1TB of data?
Click to expand...
Dude, did you not read the OP? :)

the issue started with a new iPhone 7+, it was just fine until then.
lparsons21 said:
I'm not a heavy phone/data user, or at least not on the phone itself. Generally wifi at home on an iPad.

Cell data use since 10/5 is about 250Mb

All other data useage would have been the setting up, iCloud restore and so forth. Almost all my app data of importance is on iCloud.

Since I made the changes indicated in my original post I've upgraded my internet account so now have 2Tb data cap. In a day or two I'll call them to get daily data useage so I can see if what I've done fixed the issue or if I'll need to get in touch with Apple.

I cannot imagine what on the phone could use almost 1Tb of data in a couple of days.
Click to expand...
 
Gypsy36 said:
I don't know how you use 120G but 1Tb? Is your wifi connection secure?
Click to expand...
Yes it is secure. I used a lan analyzer and nothing hinky is on it.

For info, my usual month useage of home internet data ranges from 400-600Gb. Watch a bunch of streamed 4K video and it adds up quick!! :)
 
lparsons21 said:
All other data useage would have been the setting up, iCloud restore and so forth. Almost all my app data of importance is on iCloud.
Click to expand...
-how much storage space do you have on the phone (used vs. total)?
-you only did the icloud restore once? or do you have icloud backup enabled?
-how much icloud storage are you using?
-do you have anything enabled in "automatic downloads"? (under settings --> itunes & app store)
 
beernut said:
-how much storage space do you have on the phone (used vs. total)?
-you only did the icloud restore once? or do you have icloud backup enabled?
-how much icloud storage are you using?
-do you have anything enabled in "automatic downloads"? (under settings --> itunes & app store)
Click to expand...

Yes only once for iCloud restore. And so far there is no icloud backup for this phone though I will do one in the near future.

I'm using about 35Gb total at iCloud and none of it is from the iPhone according to what I've looked at. And no automatic downloads are on either.
 
1 TB? I know you're convinced it's the iPhone but it might be time to look elsewhere. Unless you've been streaming movies nonstop to your phone. Notifications isn't going to chew up anything close to 1 TB.

Could you imagine if it did? How much overage would everyone else be paying?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applejuiced
lparsons21 said:
Yes only once for iCloud restore. And so far there is no icloud backup for this phone though I will do one in the near future.

I'm using about 35Gb total at iCloud and none of it is from the iPhone according to what I've looked at. And no automatic downloads are on either.
Click to expand...
ok moving on...

in your battery usage stats, does imessage happen to show a massive amount of background activity? (and if not imessage, does any other app show unusually high background activity?)
 
I'm having a hard time seeing how any device, let alone a phone, could use 1TB in just a few days. In 48 hours that would be ~41Gigabytes per hour, or 100Mbps for 48 hours straight. Not likely.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applejuiced
rijc99 said:
1 TB? I know you're convinced it's the iPhone but it might be time to look elsewhere. Unless you've been streaming movies nonstop to your phone. Notifications isn't going to chew up anything close to 1 TB.

Could you imagine if it did? How much overage would everyone else be paying?
Click to expand...

Not convinced, just that it is so coincidental. The sudden surge happened when the iPhone 7+ was setup and has continued. That strongly points to the i7.

I examined all the data connections on my home network and nothing really caught my eye. But in the interest of seeing if something could be off there I changed the network. Then added devices to it and checked as each came on the network.

To be honest I don't care if it is gremlins in the air as long as it goes away. There is not one reasonable explanation for anything in my house to be able to suck 1 TB of data in 2 days. The only things on the network 24/7 are the phone, iPad Pro and a windows desktop unit that hosts my iTunes library. And I've checked the Windows box to see if it managed to get some sort of malware even though it isn't used for anything but iTunes library hosting.
 
By my count, even if you were streaming full HD videos on the iPhone continuously, it would take you nearly 30 days to consume a terabyte of data. There's another answer for certain as the phone just isn't capable of going through that much in such a short period of time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applejuiced
I think you need to start eliminating. Shut off wifi on the phone for a couple days, then the other devices individually. And I would start with no wifi for anything. Just in case you have a small army of neighbours piggybacking your wifi.
 
Gypsy36 said:
I think you need to start eliminating. Shut off wifi on the phone for a couple days, then the other devices individually. And I would start with no wifi for anything. Just in case you have a small army of neighbours piggybacking your wifi.
Click to expand...

I've reset the network setup including the passwording, and I've stripped out some gear for awhile. Now I just need to wait until tomorrow and have the ISP pull up the data graphs to see what useage in this additional day is.

From that I'll know whether I've made the right steps or not.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
After re-jiggering the network, the issue was still there. So I turned off the sole Windows computer on the network that is only used to host my iTunes library. Data use between 2AM to 1PM today was about 100Gb, which is significantly lower and that computer was on for a significant period of time between those hours.

Next data usage check should be early evening when they re sample and post.
 
lparsons21 said:
After re-jiggering the network, the issue was still there. So I turned off the sole Windows computer on the network that is only used to host my iTunes library. Data use between 2AM to 1PM today was about 100Gb, which is significantly lower and that computer was on for a significant period of time between those hours.

Next data usage check should be early evening when they re sample and post.
Click to expand...

How are you using 100GB in 12 hours with only a couple of mobile devices on your network? The only way I can see it's even possible to use that much data intentionally is via Torrent.

We are a pretty heavy use family of 5 - most of our video and tv is done streaming over several boxes, and I torrent 10-20GB or more per week. We have 15+ devices on the network, between computers, tablets, phones, streaming boxes, etc. and we typically use 400-600GB total per month. I would have to consciously try to use 100GB in 12 hours.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Applejuiced
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back