Unusual High Data Usage

[tosmoke]

I have a 6gig plan, and I'm a typical smartphone user....on the top end I use 700mb per month, at the most.  And that's been my average amount (sometimes 650mb) since the iPhone 3G has been out.

Now all of a sudden, bright and early Monday morning (Nov 8), I get the same text message from Rogers saying I'm at 80% of my data usage.  Then an hour later, I get a 100% data usage text message.  I quickly logged on to "My Rogers" web page and check my statistics, I'm currently at 147mb over my 6gig limit.

Then I call Rogers to see what's going on.  I tell the rep (then 7 reps after that), that something is going on between my phone and the Rogers Data Network that I obviously don't have any control over, and they cannot tell me anything other than the data usage, the times it happened, and that my IMEI number matches my account.

This is of little help to me as I didn't do anything unusual between Thursday (when the excessive data usage started - sometimes 2 gigs on one instance) and Monday morning.  I'm a heavy email user, but very few of them have attachments, and the ones that do are perhaps 1mb, 2 at the most.

At that point, I completely turned off my cellular data connection on the phone, and even went as far as to turn the 3G off.  That was Monday morning.  24 hours later, with cellular data turned off, I sign in again to "My Rogers" and notice another 2 gigs of data adding up to my account.  Now I'm 2 gigs over my limit, and have done nothing special or extra-ordinary out of my daily routine.  And I know this because the highest amounts of data usage are either when I'm sleeping (12:47 am - used 83,614kb) or driving home from work (5:08pm - 2,018,000kb).

Now, I've tried to get ahold of someone in Rogers that could help me with this situation, and no one can tell me anything other than my "out of the ordinary" data usage and the times they were recorded, and to wait until my bill comes in and then they "will see" what they can do at that time. 

This is absolutely insane!!!  I've spend 2 hours a day for 2 days trying to get to the bottom of this and cannot get a straight answer from anyone at Rogers, whether they are in Customer Care or iPhone technical support.  I've gone over the apps on my phone to see if there is anything installed that's out of the ordinary....nothing different from the beginning of the month.  I've check to see what's running in the background, nothing but the SMS, email, the MyRogers app, and my iPod.  

I know I'm talking to deaf ears in this forum, and won't get any help or support from Rogers, but hopefully, if more customers that are experiencing what I am going through, and the customer that posted previously, perhaps more will come forward and we can have some sort of group support to show Rogers this is not an isolated issue.

Any Rogers Employees reading this form, you can reach me at bigsmokejoey@gmail.com to provide any assistance.  My account profile (linked with my cellular phone number) has a lot of documentation from my last two days of calling in to support my issue.

PLEASE HELP !!!!!

***edited labels***

[James]

While I honestly cannot help with this, I would ask that once you do get to the bottom of this, you let us know what caused this spike in usage.

It would be very helpful for our users to understand what can be done to prevent this, or stop it in its midst.

The reason I seem certain you will get to the bottom of this is because theres always a reason behind this spike, even if its not apparent at first, or even something the end user knows about...but theres always a reason.

[489]

Hi Tosmoke.  I have an iphone4 but I am not a heavy user of data.   I discovered that i have the same problem.   I keep tabs on my usage daily.  I've noticed a big jump on my usage too.  It went up 29.2 mb in 12 hours!   I was connected to WIFI all day and I barely used my phone at all today except for FACETIME.  I have used FACE TIME alot in the past,  and never noticed a jump of data usage,  since it is under WIFI.   This is a first time for me.   Hey thanks for the info about  Rogers  customer service reaction to your inquiry.    I know its not a big deal for me.  But I will keep your notice in mind.  And if it keeps happening I too will call them.   My advice for you is to keep a daily tab of your usage.  Do it twice daily.   Once at the beginning of the day and once in the evening.   Write down the time and the data too each time,  That way you have an record of your useage in case you might need to file an complaint. 

   I sincerely hope,   Due to the decrease in profits and loss of market share  from the current quarter that  Rogers is not trying to pull a fast one on their customers to make up for the  loss .  It really blew it   with the  Iphone 4 fiasco !   

Anybody else out there have any problems with sudden high data usage feel free to speak out.     Thank you

Mr. 489

[Chris]

Facetime shouldn't count towards your usage as it is only wifi. It is a bit weird and scary that this is happening to you guys. I can only hope that you get it resolved quickly and don't incur any costs.

[borisj87]

I'm having the EXACT same problem!!  I only have a 500GB plan and  about 350GB of that was used up in one night while I was sleeping about a week ago.  I've also spoken to a few people at rogers and the only advice I got was to upgrade my plan to more data.  The last of my data was used up overnight today and am really getting frustrated.  Also, I rarely have used any data in the past 5 months and one of the reps told me I use a lot of data every month which is a bit suspicious.  

I'll post again if I get this resolved.

[Chris]

@borisj87 I hope you mean 500MB 🙂

Can anyone at Rogers tell you where the traffic is to and from? Maybe there is an app installed that is running wild.. Maybe something else is going on.... They should have records as to what all the data use is...

[tosmoke]

That's one of the main questions I asked and they told me that for privacy reasons they can only tell me how much data was transmitted, but not the site it was going to or from.

My initial question to them was I can understand that you want to protect my privacy, but why do you have to protect it from me?  I want to know exactly where this data was originating (they couldn't tell me if it was send data or received data).  At least then I can narrow the fault down to a website, a background application....anything would help.

My guess is that it's 1 of 2 problems:

1)  The iPhone is transmitting data from a rouge application (perhaps even the Apple diagnostic tool that is used to collect data from the phone) that is running in the background.  I'm not 100% sure of this because the only applications I have running in the background in multitasking are very light applications (weather, SMS, calc, calendar).  I do have mail always running, but I don't download attachments unless I initiate.

OR

2)  There is something wrong with the Rogers data network.  This seems to be where my suspicions are because there are glaring differences between what Rogers is reporting and what my iPhone statistics are reporting.  Currently, my sent data is at 7gigs and my received data is at 3.5 gigs.  And that is the entire history of the phone.  I got this iPhone the day it was launched, so that's an accumulation of over 3 months.

I'll keep everyone posted, and hopefully more people come to this site with the same problem so Rogers can see that this is just not some random problem, but a network problem on their end (or at minimum a data counting problem).

[tosmoke]

And it looks like we are not the only ones reporting this (the following link is from the apple.support page):

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2641621&tstart=0

[RogersJean]

Hi tosmoke,

At this point you have two options:

First, you need to perform a restore as new on your iphone using iTunes. I recommend syncing as much as possible. Once completed, select your device on the left hand side, then on the main screen selec Restore.

We want to avoid restoring the backup as opposed to syncing as there is less chance of transferring a corruption. If you can omit syncing the apps as well that will greatly decrease the chances of the issue returning.

If you have performed the above and the issue still persists, get some specific times if possible and call in to Iphone technical support (1866-931-3282). Let them know the above was completed and we need to escalate the issue.

Once we have a few examples we can start an official investigation to get this resolved.

[tosmoke]

Hello Jean,

It's very encouraging to have a Rogers employee respond to my initial post.  I appreciate your information.

At this point I have done a restore without recovering from a previous update.  Unfortunately, because my data usage has surpassed my 6gig cap by over 3gigs, I will not be able to view any changes to my data usage until I pass my billing cycle on the 25th.  But as of today, I have barely used 170mb for a 5 day span of time (that is on WiFi only).  But my statistics now show me a trend in the opposite direction.  I have a very low transmit amount, and a regular receive amount (10mb trans, 159mb receive).

This is opposite of what I was told from the numerous Rogers reps I spoke to.  

Obviously there is a very large discrepancy, still, between what my phone had recorded in data transmission (send and receive) from what the Rogers system was telling me....a very large discrepancy.

Unfortunately, it is futile to discuss this with a Rogers technician at this time because they will not be able to do anything until my bill has been issued.  I've gone over this many times with them and I keep getting the same answer, therefore I will have to wait another 10 days for this to be resolved and be able to get back onto the Rogers data network....there goes $30 in data for the month!!

[ryan211]

Hey what ever happened with your problem!?!

[User143]

Just wanted to add to this.  I had the EXACT same problem, almost an identical story as the OP, except it happened just this last weekend.  80% usage, 2 days later 100%, next day warning about overages.  Same thing, I stopped using data and still got more and more data usage every day after that.  Rogers tech support told me the My Rogers is about a week behind in recording data usage.  Do not accept them to bill you for it, they said My Rogers is updated every 4 hours, so it has to be updated that often.  It's not your fault if its not.

[eme]

Does anyone know how much will i charge for any extra KB ?

[Deawheels308]

I also have an iPhone and I had the same problem last month. I am always monitering my data, and I always make sure to close all apps when Im done so nothing could still be using my data. Then again this month I got a notification around the middle of the month that I was at 100% of my data. I had to turn my data off, but I still kept monitering my data and I noticed that it showed I had gone over.

I don't know what could be causing this and the best thing that rogers customer support could do was credit me my overage for first time overage. This seems to me like a network issue and this is something that rogers should really look into cause if this keeps happening, then I will take my iPhone and be going to another company.

[mbsunshine]

I have the same problem too!! I woke up one day to receive a message from rogers stating that i've reached 80% of my data limit. I barely reach half of my limit each month!!

Seeing as it was near the end of the billing cycle, i figured it would reset soon, so i just turned off my data/3g and just used wifi for the next few days and it still hasn't reset!! I'm always careful to turn off apps completely too. I am perturbed by this and it's causing a lot of consternation.

Wonder if this forum is actually monitored or if my comments are just falling on deaf ears(eyes)...

[witterbug]

My sister, who is on my plan, had the exact same problem with her iPhone 4. She was also getting a strange black screen informing her the phone was overheating - the phone was sitting on her coffee table, out of the sun and not being used. After almost a week of daily phone calls to Rogers, we discovered it was hardware problem and her phone was replaced. Since then, we haven't had a single problem with her phone. 

After 3 additional calls to Rogers, all the charges for data overage were reversed but it did take some work. I went through all her past bills and highlighted her personal data usage to show this was NOT her problem and, in all honesty, was physically impossible. She's not an avid video watcher nor does she play online games. She checks her email from her home (where there's wifi) then heads to work (again, where there's wifi) and then back home. She usually is in an area that doesn't have wifi for no more than an hour a day. 

This wasn't an easy task and I was, on more than one occassion, called a liar by a Rogers employee. I've been a devote rogers customer for close to 10 years and, prior to that, a faithful employee during my high school years. I was quite upset with the treatment I received but the outcome was acceptable. I only hope no one else has to go through the **bleep** I did to simply get a broken phone replaced (oh, and the phone was a whole 6 months old - definitely still in warranty).

[Meowmix]

Believe me my friend. I have been threw the same thing as you. BUT i just make sure i record the phone call also & get the interaction numbers down so when i call back after i hang up, i talk to a manager & they always seem to help. They can see how they treated you & how you treated them. I even tell them to listen to the recording & once they do they see how i was right & the rep was wrong. No it is not illegal to record a phone call since i have checked with a few high end lawyers & have asked Managers about it.

Rogers reps sometimes call you liers because they think that you are at fault all the time. Which is not the case for most of us. They think people call in because they either want discounts or did something wrong & do not want to pay for it so they claim they never did it. That's why sometimes reps do not believe us.

Believe me i have been called a lier, **bleep**, Stupid, Every name possible & also have had them close the phone call on me & once they even shut my line down : / ( long story short that person from what i last heard got fired.)

They record the phone call only for quality purposes. WE can record & keep id numbers & names so if this happens again, they get in **bleep**.

[jerami]

Im having same data issues, have a bkackberry 9900 1g for data. i have never used more than 175mg a month in my life, then i look at my data usage for this month and it says ive used 1.7g, so that im over by 700mg which is impossible for me! And to top it off i was never sent a text message to warn me about the overage data which rogers admits it wasent sent! ive called rogers at least 10 times to see whats the problem with all this data usage no help at all, cant even get an explanation why this is happening! count me in as a pissed off customer!

[kellie0105]

Yep mine had a huge problem and after getting bounced around by 5 different people in 3 departments, I gave up. My iphone is recording data use at about 800 mb a month (incoming and outgoing data use). I've found no where that anyone is saying the iphone itself isn't managing data properly and is showing incorrect numbers. I received my iphone Octover 17th, my account was set to reset for the next month on the 20th, so my old phone couldn't have accumulated within that timeframe that is unaccounted for within that timeframe. (October 21th - November 20th, ). At the end of my billing, myapp had said I had used 4.9 gigs of data or something crazy. (I have the 6 gig plan). However my iphone only recorded around 800 mb sent AND received, no where close to what was stated for total use since purchase on Octover 17th. It's been that way consistantly month after month. I gave up arguing and trying to get this resolved, I'm not sure if Rogers is billing me for my wifi usage (which they shouldn't!) I had two departments on the internet help chat arguing that I was supposed to speak with the other to get this resolved( at the same time, referring the comments to the other and having the other tell me to go back to the first), my data counter was not reset on my phone itself, and quite frankly, I can't imagine that anyone would let apple get away with having a faulty data counter. Because of the agrivation it was causing me from being bounced around, I gave up but wanted others to hear my story. I'm not being charged extra for the data use, however I'd hate to think about others losing out on money in the same situation who aren't on the 6 gig plan. I've seen multiple postings of Rogers customers having the same issue of incorrect data billing online as well.

[SalmaC]

I'm having the same problem. Woke up one morning to a message saying I had used up 80% of my data, so I was careful from then on, but 3 days later another message that I had used up 100%. I switched on my wifi and barely touched my phone for the whole day, and today it shows that another 27 MB has been used. When I called Rogers they could only tell me days that I had a lot of usage...but the two days they mentioned were days I know I couldn't have been using that much data. They advised me to turn off the data packet on my phone and keep monitoring it. I've never gone over my data allowance before, at most 80% on the last day or two.

[billgli]

Same problem. 6GB limit on my 4S, and the overage is increasing even though the phone has been turned off.  I've been trying to call Rogers, but the support line keeps getting disconnected.