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iPhone used data even with cellular data off

M

masciam

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 15, 2011
166
326
Hi all,
I'm from Brazil and was in Canada and US for 10 days in September/October. As soon as I landed and turned my phone (6S) on, I got a notification from my carrier saying that I was using data and that I'd be charged a daily fee (something like $10 for 100mb) or I could buy an international data package.
Immediately I checked to see if cellular data roaming was on, but it wasn't. Just to make sure, I also turned "Cellular Data" off altogether.
Now I received my bill and they're charging me as if I had used data everyday during my trip. When I check usage details it's ridiculous, with several lines showing values as low as 84 bytes and the highest amount being 110Kb. The total usage for the 10 days is 1969Kb, but my phone showed 0 bytes.

Does anyone know what could be behind this? I have no idea what could use 84 bytes of data other than some network check or something. I'm trying to dispute the charges with my carrier, and I'd like to know if maybe they're the one at fault?

Also, I just want to mention that I traveled abroad a lot for work and never had this problem before, but this is the first time that I was using the 6S + iOS10 + this carrier, so I guess it doesn't really mean anything.

Thank you!
 
Rodan52 said:
So how are you using your iPhone? If you are not using a local SIM how do you make or receive calls?
Do you have Location Services turned on?
Click to expand...

I don't think I understood the question. I had my brazilian SIM card on my phone with cellular data roaming off so my phone can make/receive calls and text messages, but it shouldn't use cellular data.

I had location services on, but it shouldn't make a difference if data is off, unless there is some kind of bug.
 
masciam said:
...Now I received my bill and they're charging me as if I had used data everyday during my trip. When I check usage details it's ridiculous, with several lines showing values as low as 84 bytes and the highest amount being 110Kb. The total usage for the 10 days is 1969Kb, but my phone showed 0 bytes....
Click to expand...
This discrepancy is the most disconcerting thing to me. Very strange.
 
masciam said:
Hi all,
I'm from Brazil and was in Canada and US for 10 days in September/October. As soon as I landed and turned my phone (6S) on, I got a notification from my carrier saying that I was using data and that I'd be charged a daily fee (something like $10 for 100mb) or I could buy an international data package.
Immediately I checked to see if cellular data roaming was on, but it wasn't. Just to make sure, I also turned "Cellular Data" off altogether.
Now I received my bill and they're charging me as if I had used data everyday during my trip. When I check usage details it's ridiculous, with several lines showing values as low as 84 bytes and the highest amount being 110Kb. The total usage for the 10 days is 1969Kb, but my phone showed 0 bytes.

Does anyone know what could be behind this? I have no idea what could use 84 bytes of data other than some network check or something. I'm trying to dispute the charges with my carrier, and I'd like to know if maybe they're the one at fault?

Also, I just want to mention that I traveled abroad a lot for work and never had this problem before, but this is the first time that I was using the 6S + iOS10 + this carrier, so I guess it doesn't really mean anything.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Curious, how did you check the 0 usage on the phone?
 
masciam said:
After I disabled cellular data I also reset statistics. After you reset it shows 0 bytes.
Click to expand...

Theres the issue. You turned the phone on, then turned off cellular data and reset the stats. Before you take off, you should always turn off cellular data. When I went to the Bahamas 3 years ago, I landed, turned the phone on, turned off cellular data. But in the time that the phone turned on and before I could turn off cellular data, about 3MB was used. Cost about $25. When I went last year, I turned off cellular data before taking off. Didn't have a single KB used on the trip.

Turning the phone on allows it to connect to update timezone and that type of information. That uses data. Regardless if roaming is turned on or not.

Now in regards to your carrier posting the data to the account. That is entirely random and the carriers posts the data whenever they want. AT&T updates my data about once a day, usually in the middle of the night.
 
Mlrollin91 said:
Theres the issue. You turned the phone on, then turned off cellular data and reset the stats. Before you take off, you should always turn off cellular data. When I went to the Bahamas 3 years ago, I landed, turned the phone on, turned off cellular data. But in the time that the phone turned on and before I could turn off cellular data, about 3MB was used. Cost about $25. When I went last year, I turned off cellular data before taking off. Didn't have a single KB used on the trip.

Turning the phone on allows it to connect to update timezone and that type of information. That uses data. Regardless if roaming is turned on or not.

Now in regards to your carrier posting the data to the account. That is entirely random and the carriers posts the data whenever they want. AT&T updates my data about once a day, usually in the middle of the night.
Click to expand...

You don't have to turn off cellular data before taking off, that's the whole point of having the cellular data roaming option. If the iPhone connects to the network and uses data regardless of the roaming option, then that's a bug imo. I used to travel abroad for work every 2 weeks for over a year, never turned cellular data off and never ever had a problem.

Either way, I'm being charged for data usage every day of the trip, even though I turned cellular data off right after I turned my phone on.
 
masciam said:
You don't have to turn off cellular data before taking off, that's the whole point of having the cellular data roaming option. If the iPhone connects to the network and uses data regardless of the roaming option, then that's a bug imo. I used to travel abroad for work every 2 weeks for over a year, never turned cellular data off and never ever had a problem.

Either way, I'm being charged for data usage every day of the trip, even though I turned cellular data off right after I turned my phone on.
Click to expand...

Turning the phone on immediately is going to cause it to search for a local tower and update the time. If you have time zone system services set on, this will use data, regardless of the roaming feature. The initial boot of the phone does not listen to the roaming on/off toggle because it has to set the time and connect to a network. It has been like this since the first iPhone and both Apple and AT&T have told me to make sure I have cellular data turned off before I take off.
 
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