The last 3 days my daughters 6 has chewed up a huge amount of data, for a total of 7.5 gb this month. Her usage is usually under 2, and the phone is always connected to wifi when home. After getting an alert text from att, I checked the usage on the website and I see strange times data dumps the last 3 days, occurring at specific intervals. 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm all using 0,5 gb to 1 gb. I've turned off a bunch of cellular data relating to iCloud and itunes/App Store. Anyone else run into this?
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Massive cellular data use on iPhone 6 suddenly
- Thread starter jamesgf
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im thinking somehow maybe the wifi at your house must of dropped and she might of not realized it or something..this is really strange, i have never noticed this ever on my 6 plus
I think the best thing to do is take it to an AT&T store and talk with them. They should be able to help you.
So the 3 hour thing is when att updates the billing and reports usage. I cleared the usage log, turned off cellular data on iCloud, app refresh, podcasts, itunes and AppStore. Now the phone is reporting minimal use. Most of the use was coming from system services. My 6 doesn't do this, neither does my wife's 5c or mothers 5s all on the same shared plan. I'll wait and see what happens.
Every single kb is listed there at settings, cellular and scrol down to see what app used most of the carrier data.
System services don't use 7.5gb of data.
System services don't use 7.5gb of data.
System used 1.2 gb, App Store was at 2.2, instagram used around 2. Turned off background refresh and so far so good.
The strange part is that it's been fine for months and this just happened in the last 3 days or so.
I noticed this somewhat with my daughter's phone also.
She was turning it off at night, which, for some reason, still received data at time intervals (like 6 am).
I changed it so she keeps her phone on but in sleep mode.
I haven't done a close check but it seems to have improved.
I think AT&T sends data to the phone and if it doesn't see a wifi signal, it charges it against the cellular data.
What a country!
She was turning it off at night, which, for some reason, still received data at time intervals (like 6 am).
I changed it so she keeps her phone on but in sleep mode.
I haven't done a close check but it seems to have improved.
I think AT&T sends data to the phone and if it doesn't see a wifi signal, it charges it against the cellular data.
What a country!
Lol
Kids don't know any better and don't care about the bill getting sky high.
But no, it's the phone that used up 7.5gb on its own...
I'll offer a fresh notion to consider, unlikely as it may seem... it's just something that happened to me once.
One day I had used my personal hotspot feature while waiting for a car repair to use my laptop in the waiting room at the mechanic which all worked fine. I did not manually disable the hotspot feature, in fact, I used the new continuity capability to enable it from the Mac in the first place.
Later that night I came home and plugged my phone into my home to charge it. I had some games start running updates before I could play them and noticed things were going much more slowly than usual (I have pretty fast broadband.) Eventually I needed to take a look at my phone for some reason so I unlocked and... yeah, the damn hotspot feature was running for my computer connected via USB even though I hadn't gone in and actually switched it on. I guess having used it via continuity earlier made it act as though it was to be used for the USB connection to the computer as well. This doesn't normally happen. It's a bug, imho. Unless I manually activate it either from the computer that is connecting through it or the phone itself, it shouldn't activate, but, it did anyway.
Ultimately, I used about 5gb of data and went over my plan limit which was annoying, but, at least I know what's up. Since then, I've moved my computer's wifi up in priority in network settings in case this happens again.
Something like this could obviously explain sudden spikes in usage (along with other explanations like streaming videos and the like.)
One day I had used my personal hotspot feature while waiting for a car repair to use my laptop in the waiting room at the mechanic which all worked fine. I did not manually disable the hotspot feature, in fact, I used the new continuity capability to enable it from the Mac in the first place.
Later that night I came home and plugged my phone into my home to charge it. I had some games start running updates before I could play them and noticed things were going much more slowly than usual (I have pretty fast broadband.) Eventually I needed to take a look at my phone for some reason so I unlocked and... yeah, the damn hotspot feature was running for my computer connected via USB even though I hadn't gone in and actually switched it on. I guess having used it via continuity earlier made it act as though it was to be used for the USB connection to the computer as well. This doesn't normally happen. It's a bug, imho. Unless I manually activate it either from the computer that is connecting through it or the phone itself, it shouldn't activate, but, it did anyway.
Ultimately, I used about 5gb of data and went over my plan limit which was annoying, but, at least I know what's up. Since then, I've moved my computer's wifi up in priority in network settings in case this happens again.
Something like this could obviously explain sudden spikes in usage (along with other explanations like streaming videos and the like.)
That's great, but most people with smartphones like to be notified with data-based messaging, like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Kik, WhatsApp, E-Mail, iMessage, etc. None of which work without data.
I am sorry but I had just left the iPad forum and did not realise that I was on the iPhone forum. I would NEVER turn my data off on my phone.
My error!
Don't they work on Wi-Fi?
I mean you don't have to keep data on for that surely or do you?
Not an iPhone owner BTW, I got an iPad and an Android phone, but planning to get one if they release next version in smaller size (4"). I don't have any data plan as I use Wi-Fi all the time at home and office and when I am out I dont need data or prefer not to use it unless it's a must and for that I pay as per my usage and hence very interested in this data on for certain features thing.
Are there any features that requires and work on cellular data only and not on Wi-Fi?
I am from India (you can make it out from my username) if it makes a difference.
Thanks
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Only two things require cellular data and will not work with Wifi:
- MMS messages (NOT iMessage.. MMS is what's used when you text an image to a non-iPhone user)
and
- Visual voicemail.
Everything else can operate over Wifi. Just keep in mind if you turn off celullar data you will not receive any MMS messages and you will have to call your voicemail the old fashioned way to listen to messages.