My daughter's iPhone 5s uses small amounts of mobile data even while she is connected to a wifi source. The amounts are relatively small, but they add up quickly towards the end of the month and she is already almost over the limit. The data usage shows that some of these occurrences are happening at times when no one is using the phone, and I have seen the same exact times on multiple days leading me to believe that this is a setting issue, such as an automatic update or something of that nature. I have read that the only way to solve this problem is to go into settings and switch off cellular data, but that doesn't seem right to have to do this every time seeing as how the iPhone 5s can discern whether or not it is in a wifi area. Is there any way to fix this? The phone is brand new (1 week old), and I don't want to swap it out as if it were defective. To my knowledge, my wife and I do not have this problem on our Samsung S4s.
Imp
Hello importer1980, let's solve this mystery! What software version is the iPhone 5s currently running? Please make sure the device is up to date. Were there any changes to the wifi password recently & does wifi ever drop off periodically? Keep us posted!
WiltonA_VZW
VZW Support
Follow us on twitter @VZWSupport
We keep jacking up our data plan and somehow we keep using more data every month. All of us have iPhones. 2 of the phones in our plans do use all data - no wifi. The other three phones are constantly connected to Wifi but somehow we are still using chunks of data and getting messages of using all of our data. I have checked the usage online and the other three of us are being charged data even when I know we are on wifi. We all have our phones up to date with software. I tried talking with someone Live Chat (all busy) and I tried to call the 800 number but for some reason the numbers were not being received on Verizon end of my choices to talk to someone and eventually I was hung up on instead of directed to an operator. Please advise, this is most frustrating.
Thank you for your response. We keep our phones up to date and are currently running iOS 8.3. I thought myself to turn off and on the cellular data when in wifi, but that is a bit inconvenient to keep doing.
iPhones automatically turn off WiFi when asleep unless they are plugged in and in doing so, they use your data plan to stay "current."
WiFi gets turned off to save battery because WiFi drains the battery a lot faster than just the phone radio. If this wasn't done, so many people would complain about horrible battery life.
You do have several options, though. 1) Keep the phone plugged into the wall, 2) turn off cellular data (and you won't get anything data wise), or 3) go Android.
John I've done some reading on this and I have a couple of questions: 1. Is this a LTE/ 4G issue 2. Is this a IPhone programming issue 3. Is this a Verizon programming issue? Prior to getting an I6 I have never had an issue with I4. I read somewhere that Verizon issued a patch sometime ago that allowed you to override cellular data with Wifi, is that true? If so does a person need to go into a store to have it done on phone obtained since 2012.
I am also experiencing problems with Verizon and the iphone 5s. We have 3 phones-one android and 2 iphone 56(since Dec) and have never even used close to 1g a month. All of a sudden, with the iphone 5s, I am hitting almost 5 g in 2 weeks, despite having wifi on and only allowing calls and texting to be used specifically to see if data is being pulled. Since May 1, I went from 0, to 4.48 g. There is no way that the data is being used and I do not understand how it is possible that anything can be pulling this much. I personally have kept the phones at my side to make sure that I was not being fooled as a parent and sat with my teens during times when calls/texting were being made to see that no internet access was being used. I think that this is a scam on Verizon's part. I check the data usage reports and as others have mentioned, random data drains take place all the time. If Verizon was truly concerned and not interested in scamming, they would allow blocks to be put capping the data usage. In the past, the plan allowed for the data to simply slow down. I think it may be worth the termination fee to cut ties and go to TMobile. There seems to be way too many people experiencing this and Verizon appears to be doing nothing about it. Maybe we need to start a social media blitz to warn future customers to go elsewhere.
I published this in Nov 2013, but almost all of it is still valid today on the latest iOS. Also take the time to read through the discussion comments... there are LOTS and LOTS of ways iPhones consume cellular data, if you don't throttle them back they will run rogue and drive up your data usage.
!!WARNING!! iPhone 5C Verizon... Monitor your data usage!!! - YouTube
Hope this helps!! good luck
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
