Data overages with iPhone 5/Verizon?

[Deleted]

Have any of you had issues with data overages on the iPhone 5 with Verizon? I have used 11.1 GB of data in the entire 8.5 months I've had my phone, and now Verizon is saying that I (personally, separate from H) consumed 2.5 GB in the past 10 days. I don't have access to my account details right now because apparently H is the account owner and is at work right now. I am pretty sure it is a mistake, because I haven't changed my usage and it seems crazy that my data usage would have increased 6x for no particular reason.

I am really annoyed at this, because now we have 20 days left on our billing cycle and our data is almost used up. I just called Verizon customer service and they wouldn't do anything for me. They did give me a number for technical support, but I have to call it from a different phone, and I don't have another phone. 

Have any of you had a similar problem? Were you able to get the data charges removed from your account? I am so annoyed right now. 

[girlfriday11]

YES! I haven't had a chance to do anything about it yet, but it's only been since I got my 5.

[Norticprincess]

You aren't the only one if you check the apple forums and the VZW ones

community.verizonwireless.com/message/968985

Eta. The middle of that thread is from May, not Jan like the original.

discussions.apple.com/thread/4347104?start=330&tstart=0

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2013 21:33:15 GMT -5 @pnkybrwstr said:

Hmm... I have Verizon and iPhone 5 and most months we don't even use half the data (DH and I). Have you downloaded a new app that might be running in the background using it all up?

This was the case for us...for eight months.

I am a pretty light data user and average ~1 GB/month. I haven't downloaded a new app in this billing period. I don't even know what kind of app could use 2.5 GB in 10 days. I rarely stream video with the exception of an occasional brief clip. I haven't changed my habits at all in the past 10 days.

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2013 21:00:18 GMT -5 Norticprincess said:

You aren't the only one if you check the apple forums and the VZW ones

community.verizonwireless.com/message/968985

Eta. The middle of that thread is from May, not Jan like the original.

discussions.apple.com/thread/4347104?start=330&tstart=0

Thanks, NP! I really appreciate the links. Reading those posts is just getting me more ticked off. I hope that users who have been mistakenly charged will have some recourse. I am eight months into a two-year contract, but I don't think Verizon is holding up their end of the contract if they are charging me for data due to an error or bug.

In the meantime, I've turned off my cellular data option...hopefully that will keep the overage at bay. It also makes a smart phone kind of pointless...blah.

[Deleted]

At first I thought I had made a huge mistake, like accidentally opening a streaming video and not noticing it. But the more I think about it, I don't know how I would have increased my usage 6x without noticing. When H asked if I had used a lot of data recently, I was like, "oh shit, I was talking on the phone with the instrument repair technician today and I e-mailed him some pictures of the wiring to him." H laughed at me, because the pictures I sent added up to 2 MB.

I occasionally stream Pandora when I'm running, but that's only been once or twice in this billing period, and it hadn't caused problems in previous billing periods.

The thread that NP posted has a couple mentions of an e-mail stuck in the outbox as the culprit. My outbox appears to be empty, so I guess this isn't my problem? Sigh.

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2013 21:56:29 GMT -5 @buster said:

Do you have an email that's stuck or an app that is constantly running? I handle my company's AT&T account and have sent the guys off to the store to have this looked into. If you hit the limit in just a few days something is wrong. Head to a store as soon as you can.

When I took over the work account, nobody had ever paid attention to the actual charges. Turns out, bossman's daughter was running up a few hundred every month in overage charges. She had attempted to send a school report through email and the file was too large, so she was constantly racking up overage fees. Looking back through old statements, this had been going on for 10 months. Most of those fees were refunded and that's why I send the guys off to the store immediately.

Thanks, buster! I absolutely HATE the Verizon store (it took H 2.5 hours there to purchase an iPhone), but I guess it's a necessary evil in this case. 

[Deleted]

I have an Android, but the same thing happened to me this week! I got a text Monday that I had used half our data for the cycle ending July 3rd.

I think my phone was running a backup and I didn't realize it. It was running when I got the text, so I cancelled it and set it to only backup when in WiFi. Could yours be doing something like that?

If not I am baffled too. Like you I hardly use any of the available data usually.... GBCN and Facebook don't use much and that's basically all I do aside from check the weather and an occasional Google search!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using proboards

[Deleted]

I don't have a data plan on my non-smart phone but when I first got it I was receiving text message advertisements. I didn't sign up for anything, they just started sending them. Then they charged me Data Usage for them.

[ghost]

This has happened to me recently too. But my alert said I used 75% of my data. I only had 5 days left in the cycle so I just watched what I was downloading. However, I have never gone over 1GB and now it says I am going close to 2 every month.
I am going to look into it too.

[zarapipe]

Is the hot spot running in the background? That was DH's problem a few months ago... grrr!!!!!

[Deleted]

Jun 14, 2013 6:13:45 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Is the hot spot running in the background? That was DH's problem a few months ago... grrr!!!!!

No, I did use it on vacation, but that wasn't when my data problems occurred.

H and I talked tonight, and he mentioned that only one month out of six that we've been on this plan together have we reached 50% of our data limit, and that was when we took a week-long vacation, so we were using tons of GPS, UrbanSpoon, etc. Also, when he gave me access to account details, I saw that Verizon charged me for 600 MB of data between 8 and 9 am yesterday, and another 600 MB between 5 and 6 pm. Do you know what happens at those times? I am driving to and from work. Clearly not using ANY data, let alone the amount that would normally take me 2+ weeks to consume. I turned off my bluetooth and cellular data to see if that helps, but this is infuriating because my expensive cell phone is damn near useless without cellular data. I am headed to the Verizon store today. Grr.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions, ladies!

[thedutchgirl]

Is it trying (and failing) to sync with the iCloud at that time?

I also try to remember to daily double click the home button and close apps that are running in the background. (Double click and the hold down an app button until the red Xs appear to close apps.)

[msmerymac]

Jun 14, 2013 6:34:55 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

Jun 14, 2013 6:13:45 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Is the hot spot running in the background? That was DH's problem a few months ago... grrr!!!!!

No, I did use it on vacation, but that wasn't when my data problems occurred.

H and I talked tonight, and he mentioned that only one month out of six that we've been on this plan together have we reached 50% of our data limit, and that was when we took a week-long vacation, so we were using tons of GPS, UrbanSpoon, etc. Also, when he gave me access to account details, I saw that Verizon charged me for 600 MB of data between 8 and 9 am yesterday, and another 600 MB between 5 and 6 pm. Do you know what happens at those times? I am driving to and from work. Clearly not using ANY data, let alone the amount that would normally take me 2+ weeks to consume. I turned off my bluetooth and cellular data to see if that helps, but this is infuriating because my expensive cell phone is damn near useless without cellular data. I am headed to the Verizon store today. Grr.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions, ladies!

Are you normally hooked up to the wireless at work at home NOT at those times? I wonder if there's a weird bug going on and when you're away from the wireless it's draining your data, but at home or work it's using the wireless, so you wouldn't notice it then.

[Deleted]

Jun 14, 2013 7:50:11 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Jun 14, 2013 6:34:55 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

No, I did use it on vacation, but that wasn't when my data problems occurred.

H and I talked tonight, and he mentioned that only one month out of six that we've been on this plan together have we reached 50% of our data limit, and that was when we took a week-long vacation, so we were using tons of GPS, UrbanSpoon, etc. Also, when he gave me access to account details, I saw that Verizon charged me for 600 MB of data between 8 and 9 am yesterday, and another 600 MB between 5 and 6 pm. Do you know what happens at those times? I am driving to and from work. Clearly not using ANY data, let alone the amount that would normally take me 2+ weeks to consume. I turned off my bluetooth and cellular data to see if that helps, but this is infuriating because my expensive cell phone is damn near useless without cellular data. I am headed to the Verizon store today. Grr.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions, ladies!

Are you normally hooked up to the wireless at work at home NOT at those times? I wonder if there's a weird bug going on and when you're away from the wireless it's draining your data, but at home or work it's using the wireless, so you wouldn't notice it then.

Yeah, thinking about it more, when I'm in the car accounts for the bulk of the time that I'm not connected to WiFi. 

[Deleted]

Jun 14, 2013 7:06:03 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

Is it trying (and failing) to sync with the iCloud at that time?

I also try to remember to daily double click the home button and close apps that are running in the background. (Double click and the hold down an app button until the red Xs appear to close apps.)

Ooh. I recently took some long videos that put my storage over the amount that can be backed up to my iCloud account. I have gotten some error messages that my iCloud account couldn't be synced, but I just ignored it at the time. But that normally happened in the middle of the night, which doesn't look like when I am being charged for the data. Regardless, I disabled the auto-backup to iCloud. Thanks for mentioning that!

[niq]

Have you updated any apps lately, especially any apps that deal with photos, music, or videos?

Even on a tablet, I blame all wrong words in Swype