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Verizon is billing me for data I simply DID NOT USE - huge unexplainable usage every 6 hours - and no one can explain it

My wife and I both had iphone 4S' on verizon for years with no issues. My wife recently upgraded to an Iphone 5c and ever since her data usage has gone through the roof. After talking wtih Apple and Verizon countless times and getting no answers, im reaching out to the community.

The issue is very VERY obvious in that our detail usage breakdown shows my wife being charged for some data usage every 6 hours for stuff she never did. And, to make matters worse, my wife is home most of the time connected to wifi! I don't know what it is, but something, somewhere, which on one can explain, is generating huge amounts of data usage on my wife's iphone 5c ( my phone is fine ). I will attach a sample picture below which shows just one or two days of this, but this happens every dingle day.

I want to upgrade my phone and actually get a third line, but im scared to hit this issue on two more phones. I dont know whats going on here and why no one can give me a straight answer. As far as im concerned verizon is scamming us by injecting this usage and hitting people with overages.

Some points:

- random usage on a clear 6 hour cycle

- some of the usage is clearly in the middle of the night when we're asleep

- MOST of the usage is when the phone is home connected to wifi

- we have turned off background refresh

- we reset cell data usage in settings and viewed it the next day, it did NOT show the usage verizon is charging me for

I've seen other posts here and on apple discussion forums with other people having the same exact issue! I want ANSWERS or im going to have to cancel my contract and move to AT&T, which I would really hate to do because other than this verizon has been great! I've also seen some people mention that verizon polls for usage data every 6 hours, can there be some bug there that is making it use WAAAY more data than needed? ( perhaps an intentional revenue generating bug...??? )

Please HELP!

Thanks

- Rob

USAGE:

Comments

Cruser2008

If I may ask, what data package does her line have? Just from the usage that you took the screen shot of it's only about 200MB of data. Those numbers aren't real time, they are updated as soon as Verizon receives the data from the towers.

ByteMe95

We have a family share plan with 4GB of data. Bear in mind the screen shot above is for 2 days, so lets roughly multiply 200MB x 15 and we're already at 3GB of completely unaccountable data.

ttipgem

Do you have app updates set to use cellular data or only WiFi?

ByteMe95

only wifi, ive tried it all, its not the phone or the apps, its something verizon is doing wrong

muvotx

YES... I too had the same problems. Rampant data useage, all hours of the night.

The 5 5c and 5s phones on Verizon LTE are set up this way by default from the factory to GUZZLE cellular data at an alarming pace.

My findings here in this vid. please take time to read the discussion comments, and click on the "SHOW MORE" option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47CM06N5gIo

ByteMe95

app updates? not sure what you mean exactly

Sent from my iPhone

ByteMe95

that's 200MB of unaccounted for data usage over te course of TWO DAYS

that's 3Gb for the month!

Sent from my iPhone

Titus619

Hi .... I to have ridiculous charges...I went into verizon tonight and talked to a manager about my data usage which is BS...I just got the iphone 5c on Saturday......I showed him how the phone says I used data while wifi and cellular data was TURNED OFF.....we reset my data to 0 and he watched me turn on cellular data and I went into my APPADVISOR app ....it is a clean app which uses minimal data compared to the internet...I was in the app 10 seconds and I got out quick and made sure the app was no longer running in the background.....we watched me get charged for 6mb of data in 10 seconds which was not only in my settings , but reflected real time in my verizon app that checks my data usage which is what my billing is based on

...I have unlimited talk, text with my 4gig of data sharing I have with my wife that we pay 70 bucks per phone a month........he then watched me text my brother on iMessage and get charged 16kb....I message should be free of data....we then went to ESPN for another counted 10 seconds and I got charged 4.8 MB.....the manager was dumbfounded by me showing this to him in real time......he stated the following which I hope is not a lie:

APPLE AND VERIZON ARE AWARE AND BEING FLOODED WITH DATA USAGE ISSUES WHICH SEEM TO BE REFLECTING SPIKED DATA CHARGES FOR THE IPHONE 5c and 5s ONLY.......APPLE IS COMING OUT WITH IOS 7.0.5 in the next week to fix these issues.....he gave me his card and he took my information and said if in this billing cycle I go over 4 gig of data, he will eat the overage fee.....we shall see what all transpires in the coming weeks but there is something jacked on apples or Verizon's end with the 5c and 5s phones...

muvotx

Thats good to know... put it to rest already PLEASE Verizon.

muvotx

Just ran a 15 minute google search and I could not find anything on an IOS 7.0.5 update to address excessive data use. I hope the store rep was not just BS-ing.

ByteMe95

So its been a week and still no talk about a new IOS version. Will you be going back to discuss this with the manager?

lemons4

I have the very same issue, and I am using the iPhone 4S. Having read many of the threads related to this data usage problem, it is clear that it is not just Apple products that are involved. Verizon should explain to us exactly how the data usage is being accumulated...by the minute...the IP addresses, whether the data is incoming our outgoing, for how long... I was told my a Verizon service rep that this information is confidential. Excuse me? It's MY information!!!

I wish someone in this community had a phone number, email, or address that we could us to connect with someone at Verizon who could actually answer our questions and resolve our concerns. Enough with the questions about whether we've turned off cellular data on specific apps, or whether we're running updates in the background, etc. This data usage is occurring without the knowledge or consent of customers, at times when the phones, apps, data are turned OFF. My phone showed an astronomical spike in usage last month. NO WAY was it my activity.

GT77

This is not just an Apple issue. Our account has my wife's Apple 4s and my brother-in-laws Nokia 928 on it. The Nokia uses 30 times more data each month that the Apple, and it is largely coming in unexplained chunks ever 6 hours Yesterday alone, one data charge of 1.27 GB showed up! We've done everything possible to control any apps that might be running in the background, but nothing seems to make a difference.

Verizon needs to own up to this problem and come up with a solution. I think at this point we'll insist on a new phone of a different type, and add apps only one at a time to be sure we don't end up repeating this situation.

El-Django

I cant believe it, just I upgrade to 5c iphone and just few minutes ago I had to upgrade to 6GB, because I got 95% data usage, we need to do something all everybody, like return those devices till they fix it, let me know next step...

ByteMe95

can you start by logging into your account and view your data usage. Do

you see the same unexplained 6 hour pattern?

muvotx

Hey... did you see my YT vid here?... I can't guarantee you won't need to upgrade your data cap, because that would depend on how you use the network. But I do think you can reduce your data use by following my steps here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47CM06N5gIo

Its NOT a perfect solution though if you want a feature-rich "smart" phone, with everything enabled on an LTE network.

muvotx

... and further, if you want a feature-rich smart phone on LTE, without paying for a high-G data plan... SWITCH TO AT&T (return the phone to Verizon immediately). Don't worry about the ~$30 re-stocking fee @ Verizon store, you'll come out ahead in ONE VERIZON BILLING CYCLE. The iphone 5 models do not have this problem on AT&Ts LTE network.

lemons4

FYI...would LOVE to watch your video...just too concerned about how much data is would use.

halltv

Just upgraded to apple 5s phone. I am also getting auto data usage draws that are not from my use.

Twice a day, 12 hours apart, data draw happens when in a wifi area and also phone not in use(sleep mode). looking for answers. Have spent lots of phone time with Verizon, Apple, and Norton. None have been able to explain other than yes it is coming from the phone and yes we have to pay for the usage.

unknown

you do realize sleep mode shut off wi-fi and turns on mobile data. You do realize Iphones have all sorts of apps that constantly update in the background unless you disable them. I don't know about Iphone but android phones can tell you which apps are using the most data so it's pretty clear what's using it.

halltv

just found out about wifi being turned off. will follow that some more. I can see which apps are using data, just not which one, if an app itself, was doing an auto 12 hour interval apart data use. I can not explain the 3:09 am and 3:09 pm data draws, along with the 9:09 am/pm data draws on 2/23 bill and just about every day, twice a day.

momkz

Every 6 hours is a cyclical event and doesn't explain your comment nor does it offer a fix. The thing is regardless if I have the 5c iphone in my hand, it uses data while I am on wifi at my house.

sars1138

Have your tried reformating the iphone, made its a rouge app on the phone or a poorly excuted update on ios

also you can turn of cell data completely in settings and if you notice and app not workng when mobile data is off that could be your culprit

plbeck68

I am having the same issue with my daughter's line. These cyclical charges are showing up every 6 hours even when she is sleeping and the phone is on wifi. Her phones were not iPhones... she had two different phones because one broke in the middle of trying to figure out these data usages with Verizon. After she got a new phone the usages started back up again and she hadn't installed any new apps yet. The only thing she had used was Verizon's backup service. I can't get the rep I was working with to respond so I'll have to call them yet again. This is so frustrating... you would think with this many people having issues they would figure something out. Of course they are making money off of my overage charges....

SWNative

I tried to wade through all the comments and didn't see anything about iCloud or Verizon Cloud backups. My very basic understanding -- I'm trying to learn these things myself -- is that backups are done on both on a specific cycle. Could this be part of the problem or worth looking into? Verizon Retail Rep set up iCloud for me and I did not want it set up; he just kept pressing buttons on MY NEW PHONE during the activation, so now I have iCloud AND Verizon Cloud. I'm hot on this bunny trail to try and figure out which I want to use and how to get rid of at least one; both definitely aren't necessary!!! And, the backups transfer data, so...

unknown

Keep the iCloud since it is a proven winner over the junk cloud verizon offers.

http://www.icloud.com

You select the music and photos and files and contacts and notes you want.

Be aware iCloud for Apple devices is a no brainer. Why would you use anything else?

Good Luck

tpfro

My daughter just switched phones and she's seeing this too. Typically 200MB+ every day, pretty much like clockwork every six hours.

Have any of you looked under Settings -> Data Usage to see whether there's a particular application or group of apps that are the culprit. VZW customer service gave me an extra 2 GB this month so we have some time to troubleshoot.

The hypothesis right now is that it's either Facebook or something to do with the browser - in her case Chrome. Both of those apps show up in the list, so maybe this will reveal something.

The 2nd tier tech rep said VZW has a "page timeout" of 6 hours, so if pages (not sure if this is specific to browser or something else though) reload automagically maybe this is an explanation although I don't know if that really helps to pinpoint anything.

After a little troubleshooting the potential culprit in my daughter's case is Tumblr. She's uninstalled it so we'll see if the every 6 hour cadence goes away or not.

Another thing to try for piggy apps is to restrict their background data usage. To do that, go to Settings -> Data Usage -> Scroll down and pick the suspect app (e.g. Tumblr, Facebook), then touch the 3 dots near the upper left. A checkbox with "restrict background data" will pop up.

See if that helps fix the every 6 hour thing. Tumblr does look like a hog, but I haven't tried it myself and don't know if it can do something in the background to eat lots of data.

Let me know!

Thanks!

tpfro

So after deleting the Tumblr app from her phone, looks like the massive data use every 6 hours is gone. I don't know if this is related to an update in the app or something else. Where she goes to school WiFi coverage is not so good, so she does use more data than the rest of us, but we've never gone over our 6GB limit before.

If I find out more I'll post again.

QuestionAllDogma

I have seen exactly the same 6-hour problem on my daughter's iPhone 5:

- Data from 1mb to 150mb is billed at 6-hour intervals, exactly to the minute, averaging about 30mb at a time

- The interval suddenly changes every several days, but once the timestamp changes, the data charges continue at precisely 6-hour intervals

- We have tried everything imaginable to turn it off, and the only thing that works is turning off cell data altogether

- I have instructed my 20-year old daughter to keep cell data turned off at all times, unless she uses it for something specific. She tries her best, but sometimes she forgets to turn it back off when she's done using cell data - I don't blame her for forgetting.

- I am sick and tired of babysitting our Verizon account

- The first two tech levels at Verizon Tech Support claim they have never heard of this problem, despite all the postings here and elsewhere across the Internet.

- I am currently waiting on hold for the next level of support. I refuse to speak to anyone at Verizon who doesn't specifically know about this problem and how to fix it.

bizarmag

I am also having the problem with unexplainable, huge data usage every 6 hours - to the minute!

It happened on my daughter's iPhone 5 back in December - Verizon was useless in explaining this - it was obvious that the people I spoke to did not know what they were talking about and they made up unrealistic reasons why it was happening, all of which, of course, pointed to my daughter over-using her phone at all hours of the day and night The very same thing is happening again right now - through my entire current billing cycle.
I got a text alert from Verizon on 7/4/14 at 12:19 p.m. that I was at 75% of my 6 GB data plan. A second alert came in the very next day, on 7/5/14 at 12:38 p.m., saying I was at 90% of my 6 GB. When I checked my data usage a few minutes ago, it said I am at risk of overage - in a red outlined box!!
When this happened in December, we turned off all kinds of data usage, I got no realistic or helpful answers, and out of fear I added another 2 GB to my plan (I was at 4 GB before this happened the 1st time). Now, I don't know what to do.
It did not happen at all between December and June.
There has got to be a glitch in either the i-Phone, with Apple, or with Verizon's system. I have an i-Phone 4 and this has never happened on my phone.
Half the time these data usages appear when my daughter is asleep!
I too am certain that this is happening automatically somewhere out of our control, and I'm sick of it.
I don't want to be held hostage to a problem created by some entity that doesn't need my extra $10 a month for 2 more GB's of data usage.
My monthly bill is already $197.87 a month for 2 cell phones and one home phone connected through Verizon's Home Connect.
I just can't afford to keep increasing my phone bill.
HAS ANYONE OUT THERE GOTTEN A REAL SOLUTION FROM VERIZON or Apple ON THIS PROBLEM? I'd sure love to hear it.
Thanks.

QuestionAllDogma

Everyone I talk to at Apple and Verizon claim they have never heard of this problem, which is absurd. I even sent a package of PDFed web pages throughout the Internet to an Apple support person, and she promised to figure out the problem. I suggest that everyone who reads this post contact the same Apple support person until she realizes that I'm not alone and actually does something about it. I'm also sick of babysitting my Verizon data daily, and I'm tired of reminding my 20-year old daughter to turn off her Cell Data when she's not using it (the only thing that seems to prevent these mystery downloads at 6-hour intervals), and I'm sick of increasing my monthly data plan. I feel like a Verizon-Apple hostage that's powerless.

<< Contact info and personal information removed to comply with Verizon Wireless Terms of Service >>

bizarmag

It's been 2 weeks since my last post on this subject. Huge amounts of unexplained data charged every 6 hours to the minute, virtually every day during my last billing period. Checked my current usage a few minutes ago, since my new billing period began on 7/19/14, and IT'S STILL HAPPENING!!! But, only on my daughter's i-Phone 5.

Haven't ever seen it on my i-Phone 4, but what I AM seeing there is a bunch of "DATA PROMO" usage (on both cell phones). What the hell is that about? I did a search on the term on Verizon's web site, and it came up with a page of promotional messages advertising a variety of things. So now, they're using up my data plan for this mysterious every 6 hour thing AND for some promotional thing that I'm not even aware of. This is driving me crazy.

I have been waiting to hear back from Verizon. I called tech support and the guy said he'd never heard of the problem, but he was opening up a file on it and somebody would get back to me when they found out what was causing this. That was 2 weeks ago, no word yet. I'm going to write a letter and enclose the pages that show these charges, from last December and June and July. Calling doesn't seem to get me anywhere. One person I spoke to gave me 12 months of 1 extra GB of data for reporting the problem. That was nice - it helped keep me from going over my usage last month. The rest of you affected by this should call and ask for this too. WE NEED TO ALL WRITE LETTERS AND ENCLOSE ALL PAGES OF THIS CRAZY DATA USAGE. I don't get paper bills anymore, but I'm sure I'll be able to find an address to write regarding billing disputes. Good luck to all of you. If I ever get an answer, I'll post it.

Chelley_s

I told this exact thing to a Verizon representative and she said "I am sorry I am not seeing where it is happening every six hours" even though you could clearly see "10:18 pm 4:18 am 10:18 am 4:18 pm" over and over for days and then it would switch to a slightly different every six hours, "9:26 pm 3:26 am 9:26 am 3:26 pm" she couldn't see it.

They DON'T CARE!!

mercoj

Having same problem. Verizon rep and Apple rep say this is new to them. After doing some searching I found this discussion board. Maybe it is time that the Department of Consumer Affairs, the FTC and a good Lawyer for a Class action suit are contacted to stop this absurdity once and for all.

ardivus

I have had this same problem twice now.

I am on a 500MB/month shared plan used with two phones. Combined, we normally use between 200MB and 300MB/month.

About 8 months ago, my wife's iphone 4 started doing this. Every day at the same time, it would use a large amount of cellular data. It started around 50MB, then jumped about 50MB each day for a few days.

She doesn't like change so she was still using IOS6, so I couldn't see cellular usage by app in the settings.

I tried talking with Verizon, hoping to get any kind of information about the usage that could help me find the app or whatever was causing it, but they just told me they didn't have that information, but that they could change my plan to a higher data package (gee, thanks a lot).

So, I upgraded IOS, and after the upgrade, the usage spikes stopped. I don't know if it was some patched bug an app was exploiting, or if simply going through the restore process fixed something. Anyway, it was fine, but I was never able to check to see which apps could be using it. We never had the problem again on that phone until she stopped using it.

She switched to use my old iphone 5 over a month ago, and last night, at 3:40am, she somehow consumed 236.90MB of data.

I looked at the cellular usage in settings and that 236MB does not show up anywhere, so this data is not being reported to the OS.

I've gone through turning cellular data off for everything that I can find that she doesn't use. Push notifications are turned off for email. I can't find anything that should be allowing it to consume the data.

I do not keep her phone updated, she is behind by one update on IOS8. I will be updating it this morning and hopefully that will take care of it.

I have so far never had the problem on any of the phones while I was using them (she gets the hand-me-downs). She uses her phone far less than I do. The major difference that I can think of is that I keep the OS fairly up-to-date on mine.

I am very frustrated that the tools I have available to manage my usage are incomplete... IOS reports cellular data usage, yet somehow usage is getting by without being reported... Verizon shows which phone and at what time the data is used, but I can't tell where it is going or coming from or even if it is send or receive data.

Eadur

ardivus,

About three to six days earlier I read a post here, under "iPhone 5c", entitled "iPhone 5c Data Usage - Possible Fix". In this post it stated that "Apple released a fix for the iPhone to fix using Data vs Wi-Fi. Check for phone Update and make sure that it is Up-to-Date". The author of this post said that after the update, his or her daughter iPhone started using data usage like any other phone. In which case, you need to check if your wife's phone is using "Version 13.1" . It seem like my wife's phone had a maybe reduction in data usage after this update. But I am not holding my breath just yet. ....

Kcmomto2

Version 13.1 of what?

Eadur

It turn out I was given some bad information 3 or 4 months ago. Please disregard that posting. The author of the information was wrong that there was a possible fix from Apple.

Since then I have learned that by design iPhones will drop or disconnect from any WiFi source when it goes dormant. In which case, the iPhone will then most art using your mobile data at that point on, if you have not disable your mobile data. However, I learn from multi-sources that if you keep your iPhone connected to a power source, then it will not go dormant. In which case, your iPhone will stay connected to the available WiFi source.

And this does really work. After we started doing so, we got my wife's iPhone 5c 8GB excessive data usage under control. This is why I purchase her a 9 foot power cord/cable for her iPhone, for use at home.

tammys7603

My daughters phone is still doing this too. have you got any answers yet? She wants to get rid of the phone but she has another year. I just switched to the HTC and love it. Apple sucks!

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