Contract

[mattwinter]

Hi,

I've just found out that I went over my data cap last month by a couple of hundred megabytes.

But all seems very odd to me.

My cap is 200mb, and I've never gone close to going over previously. I barely use data on my phone - check email a bit and facebook, but not much else.

However for some reason my bill this month, shows a few days of bizzarely high usage - one day I used 40mb, another 60, another 80. This is very weird, because I would never use this much.

Because I've never been in much danger of reaching my cap, I don't normally track my usage too carefully - I do check every week or two.

I noticed about a week and a half before the end of my billing cycle that I had gone over my cap. From that point on I was very careful to use data only when I really needed to - barely at all.

Even after that point, however, my bill shows that I used huge amounts of data! One day it shows I used 120mb! This day I was on holidays, was out of town, and didn't even use my phone other than one or two texts in the morning.

I can't understand how this data could have been used? Especially as I normally don't use even close to this?

Can you give me any more information about how this data was used? And I really don't want to pay the couple of hundred dollars for data that I didn't use (I understand my phone may have used this data without my knowledge, but it's not data that I used deliberately)

Are you able to help me with this?

Thanks.

[Sarah_C]

Hi mattwinter,

It can always be a shock when you receive a high bill, and I'll definitely run through the charges you've received with you.

My cap is 200mb, and I've never gone close to going over previously. I barely use data on my phone - check email a bit and facebook, but not much else. However for some reason my bill this month, shows a few days of bizzarely high usage - one day I used 40mb, another 60, another 80. This is very weird, because I would never use this much.

Have you downloaded an application on your iPhone recently that requires a data connection? It sounds like a change has occurred on your phone that is causing this high usage. 

Have you recently switched on 'Push Notifications'? This can use large amount of data if notifications are being pushed through from applications such as facebook, emails etc. I suggest keeping these switched off as you do not have a large amount of data, you can do this by going to your settings > notifications. You can then click on each application and turn 'Notification centre OFF'.

Because I've never been in much danger of reaching my cap, I don't normally track my usage too carefully - I do check every week or two.

It is great that you are monitoring your usage, and there are a few different ways you can do this. My Vodafone is great for checking your usage details, as well as remaining balance. There is now a My Vodafone application that you can download from the App Store. You can also send a blank TXT to 1512 (free TXT) to view your usage. You'll need to keep in mind that usage can be delayed between 4 and 48 hours behind.

Once I know a the above information, I'll be able to look in to this further for you.

Regards,

Sarah.

[mattwinter]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks.

---

Have you downloaded an application on your iPhone recently that requires a data connection? It sounds like a change has occurred on your phone that is causing this high usage. 

Have you recently switched on 'Push Notifications'? This can use large amount of data if notifications are being pushed through from applications such as facebook, emails etc. I suggest keeping these switched off as you do not have a large amount of data, you can do this by going to your settings > notifications. You can then click on each application and turn 'Notification centre OFF'.

---

I often download new apps, and I think there were a couple I downloaded and started using last month. I have no idea what the culprit might be, but it must be something running in the background, as there was the one day last month where I wouldn't have used any apps and still got a huge amount of usage.

I'm carefully tracking which apps are on this month to try and find what the cause of this might be.

And thanks for the tip on push notifications - I've just gone and disabled these for most apps (a couple I've left on, but these are ones like email that I've always used).

---

It is great that you are monitoring your usage, and there are a few different ways you can do this. My Vodafone is great for checking your usage details, as well as remaining balance. There is now a My Vodafone application that you can download from the App Store. You can also send a blank TXT to 1512 (free TXT) to view your usage. You'll need to keep in mind that usage can be delayed between 4 and 48 hours behind.

Once I know a the above information, I'll be able to look in to this further for you.

Regards,

Sarah.

---

Thanks! I've just downloaded the myvodafone app which will make checking usage easier.

Is there anything else that could be causing this? Tracking my usage for this month has already shown that my usage is still fairly high, although I've been careful?

What are my options regarding my bill for last month?

Thanks,

[mattwinter]

Update on this - I downloaded an app called dataman to track my usage in real time. It also tells me what apps are using data.

Yesterday I used about 3mb, checking some news websites and facebook.

Today on the way to work, I checked my email, checked one or two news headlines, then after a few minutes checked dataman to find that I'd used 50mb!

Dataman said the data was used by safari and email. I closed these apps, then checked dataman and it was still going up and up. I had all my apps closed and dataman kept going up, like I was watching a streaming video.

I checked what apps were being used again and it said that the "settings" app had used data as well as the "phone" app – surely these don't even use data??

This is ridiculous. I have Location services off and notifications off.

It's like my phone will occasionally connect to the network, open up a stream to get data for an email or something and then forget to close it.

The data kept going up and up on dataman, so I had to turn my phone to airplane mode to stop it!

I'm going to have to stop using any data if this continues - it's ridiculous.

[mattwinter]

And it looks like I'm going to go over my cap again! This time I've been meticulously tracking my data, and using it very sparingly, which is ridiculous!

[Peter]

Hi Matt - any clues in this article?  Check to see if data uploads are high.

Excessive Data Usage with iPhone 4S / iOS5 - Fixing The Data Usage Problem  

Turns out the problem is that Apple ships iOS5 with iCloud data syncing over cellular networks ON by default. This means all the documents and data stored on your phone for all the applications you have installed on your phone will be automatically uploaded to iCloud, decimating your puny cellular data plan you thought you’d never burn through.  

If you are experiencing super high data usage on iOS5, just follow these steps:  

1.Navigate to: Settings -> iCloud -> Documents & Data -> Use Cellular  

2.Turn it OFF  

3.Fight with wireless carrier about your excessive data usage charges

http://www.vancelucas.com/blog/excessive-data-usage-with-iphone-4s-ios5/

Check this too:

Paige, on December 23rd, 2011 at 3:36 pm

http://www.vancelucas.com/blog/excessive-data-usage-with-iphone-4s-ios5/#comment-3166

$50 later in overage fees and I think I finally figured out a solution! Buried in Settings, About, then Diagnostics & Usage, change the defaulted “Automatically Sent” to “Don’t Send.” This will prevent your phone from automatically sending DAILY diagnostic and usage data. If you click on Diagnostic & Usage Data, you can see the ridiculous amount of info that is being sent using your data plan. It’s only been two days, but so far, my data usage has significantly decreased and I’ve even checked my email and used google maps out on the road! Do I dare say it’s nice to have my smart phone back?? I was beginning to feel like I had a ipod touch! Hope this helps.

Turn off  Diagnostic & Usage Data.

Settings > General > About > Diagnostic & Usage > Diagnostic & Usage Data

[Bruno]

Hi mattwinter,

Because of the many ways that a smartphone can use data, it can sometimes take a little bit of work to identify what is causing your data to increase. Using an application to identify what is using up your data is a really smart move and makes finding the culprit(s) much easier.

mattwinter wrote:

Is there anything else that could be causing this? Tracking my usage for this month has already shown that my usage is still fairly high, although I've been careful?

Pushing data and operations running in the background are some of the more common ways that your phone uses data. There are some more subtle ways, like the advertising built into some free apps. These ads use data in the background to refresh themselves and change the advertisements.

Peter has also given some great information about iCloud and how it can impact your data usage if you're running iOS 5. If you switch of the automatic backup features in iCloud, do you notice any change in your data usage? While you're looking at iCloud, you will want to ensure that Storage & Backup (right at the bottom of the menu) is turned off, as this uses data to perform a full backup of your phone at regular intervals.

You're doing all of the right things to track your data usage and the information that you're giving me helps me to narrow down exactly what is causing your usage to jump like it has. 

The next step is to identify if the data that you're using is from uploading (info sent from your handset) or downloading. I've sent you a private message with my contact information so that I can investigate this in more detail for you. Once I've received your reply, I can access your usage and get a much clearer picture of what your phone is doing to cause this data useage.

Cheers,

-Bruno.

[mattwinter]

Thanks Peter for that link - a good one, with some helpful tips, and good to see many having what seem to be very similar issues to mine.

I already had the "use celluar" option off, as well as the "diagnostic usage & data" off. I have now completely turned off iCloud documents and data storage just to be safe.

Something to do with iCloud definiltey looks like the reason here, as my tests have shown that there isn't a rogue app that is downloading all this data, and iCloud could likely download data behind the scenes even if all apps were closed (as was the case this morning, when data was being quickly downloaded with no apps open).

Hopefully this info will help me pinpoint and fix the problem soon. If I have to completely disable iCloud, then that might have to be the way to go.

Bruno,

Thanks for your help too - I think push notifications, and background applications, while potentially a contributor, are not the main cause of this problem. Like I said, this morning data was being chewed up at blistering pace when no apps were open, and I don't think push notifications are going to cause 50mb worth of usage.

I do suspect iCloud is involved.

The app I'm using right now shows me which apps are using data, but it doesn't show me what amounts each app is using - and I've just found another one that will do that, so once I have that it might help to narrow this down even more.

I'm just about to send you a PM with my personal details etc.

Thanks,

[mattwinter]

Oh,

And I've looked under "Celluar Usage" on my phone settings and found that since I last did a reset (only at the start of the week), I've sent 12.2mb of data and received 141mb. I think it's fair to say that the data is data being received, not sent.

Thanks,

[Nick]

Hey Matt,

Sounds like you've done some great troubleshooting to try and get to the bottom of this.

---

mattwinter wrote:

I'm just about to send you a PM with my personal details etc.

At this stage, I can see that Bruno has been in discussion about this with you via email. It looks like you and Bruno have exchanged a couple of emails already, and that the most recent email from you is in our inbox, waiting to be replied to. Bruno has told me he will get back to you as soon as possible.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks,

Nick