iPhone 4 and 4S

[enjaybe]

I received a text this morning saying that I was nearing my data limit of 750MB and could buy more data. This surprised me as, since I up

graded to the 4s in October last year, my usage has never exceeded 300MB a month.

Looking at my unbilled usage, I was surprised to see some large data downloads. It is really hard to see what these are, but comparing with my handset history, 450MB which was used on the 22nd Jan at 11:33 coincides with a 56second facetime call I made. As I understand it facetime only works over wifi, so I don't understand how I could be getting billed at this time. Other data downloads from the same weekend occurred when I am 100% certain I was using WIFI access ov er a home network (Virgin Broadband). 

My handset records that I have actually only accessed around 350MB of data over the cellular network since November in total, never mind during this month. Can someone explain exactly what is going on here? Am very concerned that my usage can jump so much without my even noticing.

[Grayman]

Hi enjaybe,

As you are positive that you have not used the data over the cellular network, it may be that the message has been triggered from the system in error.

If you have a MyAccount, check on there to see what your data usage is showing as.  You could also download the MyVodafone app for the iPhone, which will give you the same information as the My Account on what data you have used.  This will be the definitive amount of data accessed, as the billing systems will record any data passing through the access points on the network against your number.

Hope this helps

Grayman

[enjaybe]

Hi

My Account and the App are showing that I am 220MB over my allowance, which is a 270MB increase from the text alert I received yesterday morning which said I was at 700 MB for the month.

How do I get someone to look into this in more detail? I'm particularly concerned that one of the items showing on my unbilled useage of 450MB took place at a time when my phone records clearly state that I was using facetime. Finding it difficult to have faith in the billing system.

[PhoneWoe]

A guy at work has the same problem and cannot get Vodafone to take him seriously. The phone monkeys seem to suggest it cannot be wrong and it is not their problem. Good luck but I doubt they will take you seriously.

[Dave]

Hi enjaybe,

As you say, Facetime is a Wi-Fi feature, however if the iPhone is jailbroken or some third party apps are being used for the call then it can "fool" the device into using 3G thinking its on Wi-Fi.

With that in mind, can you just confirm for me that the device has not been jailbroken and that you're using the inbuilt Facetime option for the call?

With regards to connection via Wi-Fi coinciding with data usage, it may be that some apps or features are overriding the Wi-Fi connection or ones which regularly update are left running in the background and "holding on" to an existing connection. Our network won't know if your handset is connected by Wi-Fi, it will just see data being passed to it and record that usage accordingly.

I'm going to pop you a private message so we can take a closer look. If you can include a screenshot showing the Facetime call on the phone records as well, that will help us to see what's happened.

Dave