iPhone 4 and 4S

[chrisdeeming1]

Just checked my unbilled usage again, and found this for Monday:

Mon Nov 07 14:31 WAP 2930.060 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 14:31 WAP 2931.070 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 14:31 WAP 2929.727 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 14:30 WAP 2929.907 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 14:30 WAP 2930.011 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 14:30 WAP 2930.532 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 14:30 WAP 2930.034 Kb 0.000

Interestingly I can account for exactly what that was... sort of.

I sent myself a 16MB attachment at exactly 14:30 on that day.

Whereas this kind of explains it, one thing is for certain: I didn't download it on my phone. Long story short it was just to move a file from one PC to another. The message would have been received on my phone, but I wouldn't have downloaded it on my phone.

[JoBen]

Hi chrisdeeming1 Checked out photostream....did one pic on phone on Saturday which "may" account for the Sat data entry transferring photo to my iPad. And a number of pics have been transferred previously, "may" account for previous data Useage. But if this is the case, why is it not being negotiated by wifi over my home network? The plot thickens.

[chrisdeeming1]

Mon Nov 07 07:44 WAP 2494.513 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 05:55 WAP 40.786 Kb 0.000
Sun Nov 06 23:55 WAP 352.416 Kb 0.000
Sun Nov 06 08:26 WAP 171.184 Kb 0.000
Sun Nov 06 02:26 WAP 128.984 Kb 0.000


Although much smaller usage, this is all times over the last weekend where I know for definite I was at home and I always have my wifi switched on at home.

It's like Vodafone are billing us to use wifi, or some sort of bug means that despite being connected to wifi, the iPhone isn't using it.

[JoBen]

Just Checked my son's data, he had my old 3GS, and came up with this

Mon Nov 07 20:22 WAP 2927.720 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:21 WAP 2926.480 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:20 WAP 2923.671 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:18 WAP 2911.978 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:16 WAP 2911.782 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:15 WAP 2925.052 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:12 WAP 2905.588 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:11 WAP 2928.798 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:11 WAP 2928.432 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:11 WAP 2930.156 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:10 WAP 2924.691 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:10 WAP 2930.240 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:09 WAP 2927.769 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:07 WAP 2916.237 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:06 WAP 2920.240 Kb 0.000
Mon Nov 07 20:05 WAP 2926.070 Kb 0.000

Again, while he was at home connected to wifi. This is scary as he is not on data test drive. There definitely seems to be something in iOS5 accessing data instead of wifi.

[JoBen]

Accessing 3G I should have said.

Someone at Vodafone really needs to look into this urgently. I wonder if other customers using iOS5 are experiencing similar results? If they are, those not on data test drive could be in for a big shock!!

[chrisdeeming1]

I'm going to look at my old 3G usage which was only ever on iOS 4. Will see if there's any other patterns.

[JoBen]

One setting worth knowing about

Settings > iCloud > Documents & Data> Use Celluar

Setting to off may help. It is on by default.

[chrisdeeming1]

Hmm, I've turned it to off. Not sure why that amount of data would be used if it was on though, I don't do any documents on the phone.

Anyway, I still need to check my old bills...

[JoBen]

Hi @chrisdeeming1 Says it uses it to back up apps data but if you've got it set to off then doesn't answer the problem. May help some a little though.

[MickBell]

Just been reading thru the Apple forums, and it seems this data problem is massive.

People are saying it's since the introduction of IOS5.

One post stated that IOS5 turns off Wi-fi when the phone is in standby mode?

[JoBen]

@MickBell If that's true it would explain the large chucks of data being used while apparently on wifi at home. My phone is always on standby overnight when I have suffered large data useage so that explanation could be spot on.

[chrisdeeming1]

That's one way of saving battery I guess...!

But actually it isn't... because if I recall, 3G data takes more battery than wifi so actually it only serves to make matters worse, surely?

[troonmaroon]

so, I called 191 but it was a total waste of time.  Was told I am clearly running different applications now (as in different to those I ran before ios5 - I don't) and it's up to me to know what data I'm using and when.  Asked for help in trying to identify what it might be (e.g. IP addresses, anything...) to be told that it is illegal for vf to know that type of information (yes, illegal...).   Oh, and it's my fault that I took Vodafone's advice as to what size of data package I would require based on my usage over the past year.  If I have chosen to change my usage, then that's up to me.  Fact is, I'm not choosing to use this data, least not as far as I'm aware.  Upshot is, they cannot/ will not help and I've to call Apple and ask them which apps might be using so much data...! 

Anyway, as an indication of my experience, here's my apparent usage for 2 of the 3 mins from last week I referred to earlier...

Tue Nov 01 08:48	WAP	2925.017 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:48	WAP	2930.477 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:48	WAP	2930.132 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:48	WAP	2930.288 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:48	WAP	2929.930 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2928.910 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2930.613 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2930.715 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2930.969 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2930.055 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2930.597 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2930.765 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:47	WAP	2929.267 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2930.875 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2930.068 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2929.857 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2930.267 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2930.443 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2929.882 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2929.930 Kb
Tue Nov 01 08:46	WAP	2929.723 Kb

These are all so close to being the same size, I just can't believe it's something other than a bug or something caught in a continual loop or some such.  Others here also seem to be about this same size.  What's going on?!

[kids]

---

MickBell wrote:

Just been reading thru the Apple forums, and it seems this data problem is massive.

People are saying it's since the introduction of IOS5.

One post stated that IOS5 turns off Wi-fi when the phone is in standby mode?

------------------------

ios5 has nothing to do with wifi turning off.

On the iPhones wifi has always turned off within a few minutes when the phone goes into standby mode, unless it is already downloading something over wifi, it then stays connected until the download is complete and then turns itself off.

Wifi only reconnects when you wake up the phone by using the slider.

---

[JoBen]

So therefore @kids you are saying that any data backed up to iCloud (when documents & data are set to Celluar on) was probably transacted over 3G as phone is in standby overnight and therefore wifi is off. Have now got Celluar set to off so I'm interested to see if this solves the problem. Thank you.

[kids]

Absolutely anything that sends or receives data when the phone is in standby mode  sends over Cellular data (assuming it is on).

The only exception as I said earlier is if data is being transmitted or received over wifi when the phone goes into standby mode it will continue over wi-fi until that data stream finishes. Then wi-fi turn itself off. It is a battery saving 'feature' of the iPhone. Wi-fi will resume when you take the phone out of standby mode.

[troonmaroon]

So, I've learnt one thing by experimenting over the past day or so.  Maps now uses an incredible amount of data compared to the past.  I tested popping into it for no more than 10 seconds earlier (effectively only long enough for it to map where I was, nothing more) and it swallowed more than 3mb of data!  Similarly, a bus timetable/ map app seems to be using a big amount of data as well...  Why the large change?!  And I wonder if if constantly refreshes when you keep it up and running for any length of time...?!

[chrisdeeming1]

kids how sure are you about this?

Whereas you're absolutely correct, standby mode will eventually save the battery by disabling wi fi - I've noticed it reconnecting after taking the phone out of standby - surely if the phone needs to do something such as an iCloud backup during standby it should reactivate the wi fi to do so.

In fact, iCloud back up should only ever run during wi fi connection, so we still haven't ascertained what is using much higher amounts of data when in standby than ever before.

[kids]

Personally I do not use ios5 / iCloud as I was made aware of the possible high data uses before it was released, my son does use it and he has seen his data use shoot up.

iCloud only does backups if it is connected to wifi but documents and data are by default sent over 3G. There is no setting for wi-fi to reactivate itself, it only reconnects if the phone is woken up. Also Siri uses a fair amount of data (depending on what it is being asked to do).  Any apps that are set  to update themselves will send over 3G if the phone is in standby mode, weather and news apps constanly update themselves. Also disable the automatic sending of Diagnostic & Usage data. Location services also update themselves automatically.

 Photo stream is a known culprit and if you have your email set to ;Push' set them to 'Pull'.

To stop data going over iCloud when the phone is not connected to wi-fi you can sign out of iCloud  until you need it.

A quick look at the official Apple Forums will show you that there are many people using iCloud who are experiencing massive date usage.

[babychan]

I started a thread about this a week after I got my 4s. Some how I used almost 500mb in 10 days. Even though I have been using wifi at home to download stuff.

I just got a replacement phone from Apple still uses data when wifi is on. Not touched my phone in 2 hrs and it currently used 20kb sent and 30 received and phone is on wifi.

something is not right