How is it possible to accrue data charges on wifi and asleep?

[Frances1230]

I'm not very happy with what's going on right now.  My family of 3 shares a data plan of 8GB.  I use under 1G, my husband <1G-1.5G and my son uses a ton so I decided to start looking into when/how much data is being used.  In the previous billing cycle we went over by .009 on the final day of the billing cycle so what's the point to pay $10 for 2G and then not be able to change it back, therefore I took the stupid $15 overage charge for literally nothing.  Anyway, I began to look through the time stamps and data usage per phone and it's pretty fishy. I'm being charged data at 4:06am, 10:06am, 4:06pm and so on.  I have an iphone5, my husband has an iphone6 and my son an iphone 6+.  Spoke with a rep tonight who claimed it may be due to my wifi losing connectivity and auto updating while connected to the LTE.  That's a load.  My whole family switched to Verizon because we couldn't ever get a good signal where we live with AT&T.  My husband finally was forced to try a different company due to work and having to have a reliable network where we live. Not one dropped call, not one issue with wifi-Verizon was actually the miracle mobile provider I never knew existed.  I waited a few months to make sure that it wasn't too good to be true and at once dropped AT&T totally and switched my son and my phone to Verizon as well.  Having a teenager I knew we needed to probably have more data to be on the safe side but they can't seem to tell me how his data is being used and from 4/2 to today (4/14) he has used over 4G of data according to them.  I pull up the dates and times and know for a fact that he was connected to home wifi for 1.6G+ and at his school wifi for another 1.6G+ and only 1.2G+ could have possibly been used off wifi.  And I also see that there are massive amounts of complaints regarding this same type of sham.  Not to mention I had added Family Base to be able to set limits on the data my son uses. But apparently since he's able to access the MyVerizon account from his phone (albeit he isn't an authorized user on the Family Base plan) he is able to go in and change any parameters I had set up.  So tonight I go in and remove this feature from our account and now 30 minutes later I get a "Welcome to Verizon Family Base" text.  WTH is going on??? I want real answers now or I will be looking into what others have done regarding this type of abuse.  I had high hopes that this was going to be an honest, reliable network I could trust but this data business is insanely bogus.  I'd like to hear back from someone regarding getting this researched and resolved.  I don't want to feel discontent about something that has been going good so far.  But I don't really feel like I should have to turn off all cellular data and close all open apps when I'm on wifi in order to keep from having data charged inappropriately.  Thanks for your help and prompt resolution to my concern.

[Weth]

Times are not when data is used, but the time when tower reports to Verizon's servers. 

KIds use use a ton of data, even when they claim they aren't. 

Change your password on My Verizon, or you may be wondering how he got a new phone. 

Plug-in his phone overnight, that prevents wifi going to sleep. 

CLose se all apps on his phone. 

social media apps use a lot of data. 

check what apps on his phone are using all the data.

[Frances1230]

I don't have a need to change the password since I want him to be able to see his usage and I have no need to be worried that he would abuse that by getting a new phone (as you inferred) All of our phones are plugged in at night and he and my husband are OCD about closing all their apps. If anyone were to get charged for data by having apps remaining open in the background it would be me and I use the least amount of data according to the breakdown.  I am unable to tell or how to tell what apps are using all the data.  Where we looked on his phone we could not get the numbers to add up, they weren't even close. The time is still an issue.  Even if that is when the tower is reporting to Verizon, those times are suspicious and surely it's reporting within a 12 hour time frame in which we would be on our wifi network.  It doesn't add up whatsoever and I still feel that something is not right.  I'm doing my own test using my phone for this "wifi failing" excuse I was given.

[vzw_customer_support]

Frances1230,

I certainly understand your concern to see data showing up at strange times of day. I know I would be too. Let's clear this up and make sure this is solved for you.

The times you see on My Verizon aren't necessarily when that data is used, they are when the data reports to our towers. The maximum session is 6 hours which is why you see a lot of those times every 6 hours, at 4:06, then at 10:06, then again at 4:06. There are things that can interrupt that and cause it to report more regularly, but if you see a 4:06 and the next event is 10:06, the 10:06 data is what was used during that 6 hour period.

How large are these late night sessions you're seeing? Even when on wi-fi if mobile data is on, there will be small amounts of usage. The phone will check the network to make sure the connection is still good. Certain apps may do small updates which don't work on wi-fi. The router you're connected to may have latency and disconnect. When usage starts most of the time that should reconnect but there may be a few seconds before it does and a small amount of data may be used. Those are just possibilities, many things could do this, but if you're on wi-fi the usage should be small.

I also wanted to address one last concern and that was with adding more data. We do provide the option to add 2GBs more for $10.00 in most cases. This is done by moving the plan up. The higher plan is often cheaper than paying overage. As long as your old plan is still offered as an option, you would be able to go back to your old plan the very next bill cycle if you like. You can change your plan as often as you like.

AndrewT_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[Weth]

He should have his own account to see usage, but where he can't change things.  He may be the absolute sweetest son ever, but it is a risk to let him use a master account.  We have seen things on this forum where it has ended up bad.  Do you give him access to your bank accounts and credit cards?  

I've investigated several family and friend data use situations.  Most of the time it is only the kids having the "impossible" data use.  Each time it came down to real data use.   Video was most common, and usually after going from 3G phone to LTE phone and not realizing that easily quadruples data use.  Next up was social media video and picture exchanges.  Finally some were switching to cellular when blocks on wifi were put in to restrict sites or times.  They figured out they could go to the sites bypassing the parental restrictions By using cellular.   This was not admitted until evidence shown.  One was actually not the kids fault, and an app kept trying to download For some reason. 

[jwiedow]

It is 3 in the morning and while I am sending this I keep getting updates that I am at 75, 90 and now 100% of my usage in the last hour. We are backing up to the cloud but on WiFi.

I have had 4GB for years and never used that amount. Bought a new turbo tonight and they upgraded me to 6GB and suddenly I have used all 6GB in 6 days?

I bought the new phone because my old one would lock up trying to access the internet so my usage was nothing before today. How is this even close to possible?

Now it says I have used up my 1GB over since I started typing. What the heck??

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi Jwiedow,

Congrats on your new Turbo! We know that data overages are no good, and want you to be on the best plan for your usage. Smartphones now have the ability to show you what applications used the billed data on the device. Go to settings>data usage>select the current bill cycle. Review the list to see which applications have the highest GB/MB. You can change your plan at anytime with no contract extension with VZW http://vz.to/1aCnTVT . What device did you have prior to the Turbo?


PamelaF_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[do99]

I have the same problem with data (using data while I'm on wifi). called verizon cust. svc. (in March '15), been told "data will be used when my wifi signal is weak".  I never have wifi problem at home but who can tell me when my wifi is weak (i cannot).  So, I turned off my wifi when I'm home. Guess what, a lot of my texts were "Not Delivered". I have unlimited voice/text - why? I shouldn't have problem with texting while I my data is off!!  I believe Verizon is cheating on their customers by not upgrading their towers and using their customer's data(paid by their customers) to provide "unlimited voice and data"(by using their customer's data).  Most of us don't turn off data.  Also, please watch out when verizon offer you to save money on data overage by upgrading your data plan.  if you upgrade to a higher plan then come back to the old plan, you have to take their new pricing.  Since my data plan has went up another $20, I have to remind the cust. svc. rep. 10 times not to offer me to upgrade my data plan.  I cannot blame my service rep, they probably all trained by verizon this way 😞

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi Do99,

We want you to be happy with your VZW services! Receiving the best value on a great plan is important. When the device is connected to Wi-fi, the device will attempt to use Wi-fi services to provide the action being required on the device. Correct, if the Wi-fi signal is too weak to perform the task, then the device will attempt to use the billed VZW cellular data. If you turn off the VZW cellular data, then your device data performance is based on the Wi-fi connection that you are connected to. When the device is connected to Wi-fi you should still receive standard text messages and voice calls. Picture and Video messages do require the cellular data to be turned on. Is the issue only with receiving text messages or sending as well when connected to Wi-fi? Does the device display an error message? What happens when you attempt to place or receive calls while connected to Wi-fi?

PamelaF_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[eekzink]

We are suffering from the same nightmare. It has been 8 solid weeks of phone calls to Verizon, then Apple, then to our cable service provider; daily data checks; overage charges; fights with the teen; HOURS of time invested in trying to get to the bottom of sudden and exponential jump in data usage. It started about a month after we upgraded my daughter's phone to a 5s. She is even more conscientious than me about not using it unless we are connected to wifi. For the first month, all was fine and we were going through the normal 2G. Then, with absolutely NO habit or usage change on our end, we were blasting through that like lightening. She was disciplined for the overuse. We added another 1G just to be safe. That went even faster than the 2G!!! We are now at 6GB at almost double the rate we went through 2!!!

I have kept a log of the time spent trying to solve this issue -- almost 5 hours of phone time alone. I literally have an AppleCare supervisor in my phone contact list because he is so perplexed!!!! After several Verizon technical support calls, we finally an agent who really wanted to help. She was convinced my daughter's phone had a rogue (malware) virus. Apple said it had to be the hardware. But when we really looked at the metrics -- both of our iPhones AND the iPad all all using data when on wifi, supposedly. We had one month of overage charges refunded, but with the problem not solved (reset both phones to factory settings; exchanged our modem for a new one !!!) I added -- you guessed it -- MORE DATA!!!

I didn't see how Verizon could be guilty of fraud -- after all, something of this magnitude would put the entire company out of business ultimately and it just doesn't make sense. But this is WAY OFF. Further, mid-way through our issue, the data category that was using the most data on my daughter's phone -- "Business Services" -- suddenly disappeared and now the main usage category is "Web Apps". Verizon. Really? It's a poor show.

I'm considering eating the contract termination fee and returning to AT&T. I'm not quick to assume, which is why I've spent months assuming some responsibility for the data, but it's very clear to us now that there is something very illegal happening here.