iPhone 4 and 4S

[scorpio2011]

Hi VF,

Even when my iPhone is showing the WIFI signal at home my usage is being counted as WAP on my bill/statement which seems to be the cause of why I'm always going over my 500MB limit so quickly.

I do not understand this at all as I only ever use my iPhone using WIFI at home. My router is connected 24/7 and I never even see the 3G signal until I leave the house, at which point I just use the 3G sparingly. 

The charges seem to be for several MB each time, for example in the past 2 days I have one for 19MB and one for 11MB. Surely this can't all be 3G notifications as I hardly have any? 

Every night my phone is switched to flight mode. I then turn it on around 7.45am the next morning, wait for the WIFI signal to appear and then I download my emails which contain a daily news feed so could be 5 or 6 MB. So why does this show up as WAP usage from my allowance every single day?

I really don't want to switch cellular/3G usage off every time I come home.

Grateful for any advice at the moment as this is driving me mad.

Thanks

Keith 

[kids]

When the phone is in sleep mode. i.e. not being used, then the phon'es wifi  disconnects itself and does not reconnect until you wake the phone up.

The usuage could be an app that automatically updates itself doing just that when the wifi is asleep and using cellular data for its updates.

Do you have your email set to 'fetch'? If so this could be the phone checking fo any new emails when the phone is asleep.

[scorpio2011]

Thanks for your reply.

I've disabled fetch on my email and the phone is turned to flight mode overnight so nothing should be updating itself overnight. The times of the usage suggest it is being logged as WAP at the same time I switch my phone on every morning.

Its almost as if the email is ignoring the WIFI signal/indicator and using 3G to retrieve my emails (some of which are quite large in the morning as they have daily newsfeed attachments). 

[kids]

It sounds as though there is a few seconds delay in the wifi kicking in when you switch on the phone in the morning and that the mobile data is connecting and collecting your mail before wifi gets there.

It might be worth trying not turning to airplane mode overnight but just turn off Mobile Data, that will ensure nothing comes through until you toggle it back on but at the same time allow wifi to reconnect itself before Mobile Data does. Of course you may have a reason for going into Airplane Mode overnight so this idea may not be of any help to you.

[scorpio2011]

As an experiment yesterday I decided to retrieve my daily news feeds via the Kindle App on my iPhone, instead of having it emailed in the morning.

I waited a couple of mins after turning the phone on (from being in flight mode overnight) just to make sure I was doing this via the WIFI, opened the Kindle app and downloaded my feeds.

But my Vodafone statement is still showing this as WAP usage (22MB).

Can someone from Vodafone advise me on how to resolve this?

[JohnA]

I think you (and kids) are slightly misunderstanding the meaning of the data usage times shown on your bill.

iPhones generally keep a continuous PDP context (basically an open data connection with the network meaning you have an IP address) even when you are on wifi. This doesn't mean it's using the mobile network for data but it does mean that when it's established the billing system records this as the start of the session and this time is used until the session is ended which because the phone keeps it open could be many hours. Therefore when you see 7:45 it just means a session was established (which makes sense as you take the phone out of flight mode) and all you can say about the usage figure is that it's the total amount from 7:45 to whenever the next time is shown. It doesn't mean it was used at 7:45.

In the past phones often established the connection just for the duration of data usage and the times would then be close to the actual usage with lots of small amounts. Now it's quite common for phones to keep the connnection open so the times only represent a new connection maybe because the phone was switched on, out of coverage, moving to a different part of the network etc. The network might also break the connection to help billing (such as at midnight where it's important for data usage to at least be in the right period).

Obviously this doesn't explain your total usage which will still be the same. Maybe you are using more than you think outside wifi. You could experiment by switching mobile data off and on regularly throughout the day. You would then have a better guide to when you are actually using the data or just keep an eye on the phone usage counter throughout the day.

[scorpio2011]

@johna

Not sure why you think its mainly kids are confused by the WAP rows on VF bills. Its not as if VF make it clear what it refers to and I'm far from being a kid.

After reading your reply I'm slightly confused - are the WAP usage amounts part of my 500MB data allowance per month or not?

VF are telling me that I'm using up my 500MB monthly data allowance in 2 weeks so it MUST be counting this WAP usage as part of my allowance.

There is no other explanation as to how I could be using this much as I rarely use 3G for anything else other than checking emails/news during the day.  And the huge chunks of data tie in with large downloads I perform when connected via WIFI.

[JohnA]

I'm sure you are far from being a kid but I meant 'kids' as in the name of the other poster who replied to you - not kids in general!!! No need to take offense. I was actually trying to help you with one aspect that you were clearly misunderstanding.

Yes all of your WAP usage is coming out of your 500MB allowance. However what I was trying to explain was that the times shown on the bill don't mean that you were using mobile data at that particular time. This is important because you (and the other poster) had sort of concluded that something was wrong because Vodafone was showing data usage at this time when you know you are connected to wifi and therefore perhaps the total was wrong. You just made the same assumption again in your last post and it's likely to be as wrong as before.

Anyway your total is was it is. If you do as I said it will show more closely  when you are actually using data which might help you understand what is using it but it's completely up to you. You don't have to do anything if you really don't want to.

[DaveCD]

Hi scorpio2011

Thank you for your posts and it is great to see you.

If you are only using your device to check emails and the news then this would only be a small usage, many apps receive regular updates however if you are on WiFi then this would not be taken from your allowance.

When you connect to your home WiFi are you asked to type in a password before connection? It may be worth disconnecting from your home WiFi, doing a search and connect again as a fresh connection.

There has been some great support from kids and JohnA on this thread and so I can take a look at your SIM activity I have sent you a Private Message and myself or one of the team will be in touch as soon as we can.

You can find your PM inbox here.

Many Thanks

DaveCD

eForum Team

[kids]

---

JohnA wrote:

I think you (and kids) are slightly misunderstanding the meaning of the data usage times shown on your bill.

iPhones generally keep a continuous PDP context (basically an open data connection with the network meaning you have an IP address) even when you are on wifi. This doesn't mean it's using the mobile network for data but it does mean that when it's established the billing system records this as the start of the session and this time is used until the session is ended which because the phone keeps it open could be many hours. Therefore when you see 7:45 it just means a session was established (which makes sense as you take the phone out of flight mode) and all you can say about the usage figure is that it's the total amount from 7:45 to whenever the next time is shown. It doesn't mean it was used at 7:45.

In the past phones often established the connection just for the duration of data usage and the times would then be close to the actual usage with lots of small amounts. Now it's quite common for phones to keep the connnection open so the times only represent a new connection maybe because the phone was switched on, out of coverage, moving to a different part of the network etc. The network might also break the connection to help billing (such as at midnight where it's important for data usage to at least be in the right period).....................

I have a feeling we are talking at cross purposes here and not on the same subject.

Checking my own WAP usage every charge is made at 0.00hrs, there is never any indication of the time that the session was established nor any details on the bill as to the time data was used. I have to admit that I rarely bother to check the bill as I am a very low user of my 500MB allowance, never even getting anywhere near even a quarter of the allowance , this month I have used just 9MB of it.

The only actual times that are shown are for calls and texts but never have I seen a time when the session has commenced, i.e. the phone has been switched on, my phone is turned off every night until about 7am when the 3G kicks in before the wifi, so using you example my bill should indicate times of around 7am to show the time the session was established.

---

[JohnA]

I wasn't sure if you were assuming the same as the OP but in any case although the final bill consolidates it into a single day total, the individual sessions are still shown if you look at unbilled usage prior to the bill being produced. The OP talked about the times shown as  when he was connected to wifi so must have been looking at the individual session times.

[jeffkinn]

An interesting thread but I suspect the orginal poster needs things put a touch more simply.

Any data you use via Wi-Fi does not ever come out of your VF 500 mb allowance as it doesn't touch the VF network. Therefore, if you are being told that you are using serious amounts of data when you think you are connected to Wi-Fi, either VF have it totally wrong (unlikely but not impossible I suppose) or you are NOT conncted to Wi-Fi even if you think you are.

The easiest solution is to turn off mobile data when you are using, or think you are using Wi-Fi. It only takes a moment and takes any uncertainty as to which network you are using out of the equation. If you turn mobile data off and you cannot connect to the internet, it clearly shows you are not connecting to Wi-Fi properly.

Turning off mobile data also means that apps that like to download data on their own are using Wi-Fi and not VF when the handset is asleep and Wi-Fi has gone to sleep. 

[scorpio2011]

Thanks for your replies. @Dave - I didn't receive any PM's from you. Re turning off mobile data - I don't want to have to turn this off every time I'm at home & want to download some large files via WIFI. To me the fact that the WIFI signal is showing on my iPhone 'should' be a reliable enough indicator that I'm not using my 3G allowance but it appears not. I will continue testing anyway & will turn this off temporarily if needed.

[jeffkinn]

I often, but not always, turn off mobile data when I am at home. It only takes a second and is foolproof. The problem I find is that I forget to turn mobile data back on when I leave home and after a while I start wondering why I'm not getting any emails.

Just because the phone seems to show you are connected to a Wi-Fi network should not be taken as hard evidence that you are connected.Finding the solution to any problem requires a little work and working through the alternatives. You have to test each piece of the puzzle individually until you find the but that isn't working properly. Once you have identified the culprit you can work out a long term solution that doesn't necessarily involve turning things on and off that you don't want to have to be bothered turning on and off.

[stuartwilson]

This happened to me with an iPad I got on contract for some reason it would say it was on wifi in the house but it would encor data charges but I never took it out the house phoned 191 they said you must have used it not on wifi but as my wifi was on could not understand on till I got told that it could be the micro sim had no problems since I changed it with a new one. Hope this helps you out.

[Simon]

Hi scorpio2011

If the Wi-Fi symbol is showing on your iPhone then this is an indicator that you are connected to Wi-Fi and your mobile data allowance should not be used for any data related activity.

I've resent the PM across to you. You can find your PM inbox here. If you can't access this link, please ensure that the box next to "Turn on private messages" is ticked on this page, and let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks

Simon

[scorpio2011]

Thanks Simon - I got your PM.

I disabled 'mobile data' when testing this morning and no WAP rows were recorded so it definitely looks like my phone is behaving strangely & not fully engaging WIFI even when the symbol is active.

I tried to call Vodafone earlier & spent 30 mins going round in circles via their automated caller system and being kept on hold then disconnected ("due to an emergency we cannot take your call") and then misled ("please hold if you want to speak with someone.......please hold if you want to speak with someone") so will try again over the next few days and hopefully will be able to speak with a human being at some point...... 

[scorpio2011]

Finally got through to someone in support who told me that in order to avoid my home WIFI usage being counted as part of my 3G allowance muy only choice was to turn off Mobile Data every time I am at home.

So everytime I leave the house I have to turn this on and every time I enter a WIFI zone I have to turn this off.

Can anyone else confirm this?

Maybe I'm being really thick here but I always assumed that the network switched from WIFI to 3G automatically & when I saw the WIFI symbol that was what I was using.

[scorpio2011]

This is an extract from the online support chat I had earlier with a VF representative:



VF: You need to disable your Mobile data on your iphone, when you are using WIFI. The reason for this is that since iphone Data is active, and the system would consider and calculate the data on the iphone and it charged for WIFI.



Which seems to confirm what the VF person on the phone told me yesterday.

[Lee]

Hey scorpio2011,

Thanks for your post. I can see you've already posted this information here which has already been logged to be worked.

Would you mind keeping your query to a single thread please?

Cheers,

Lee