I have been a long time customer with Verizon. Our data usage has become unmanageable!. We have 5 iphones on our family share plan. We began with 10 GB after upgrading one of our phones & being talked into the family share plan by the in-store salesperson! We had the unlimited plan on all lines until then! This is where the trouble started. Each month our data has increased when we've made no changes to how we use our phones. Each time I increase our limit our usage always goes up! We have high speed wireless at home and all use it when at home. We also use Wifi at work. Our kids are in school all day so their usage wouldn't increase drastically.
We are now up to 16 GB. Two of the lines doubled in recent months. I've called Verizon on 2 occasions and spend at least 30-45 minutes on the phone talking with either a Verizon rep or an Apple rep to help determine what the problem is. I honestly believe Verizon is ripping us off! This last time I put what I had learned about data usage to a test using 3 of our 5 phones. I went the cellular data and turned off all apps. I left on the main cellular data so the statistics data would still show. I made sure all apps were closed in the background. I turned off all notifications and turned off all email accounts from checking for mail. I shut down location services also. This should have completely shut down data usage on each phone while they weren't being used. I cleared the data usage statistics on each phone and went to the home screen on each phone. (I took screen shots of each step on all phones for evidence) I waited 5 minutes to go in and check the statistics for data usage on each phone. Guess what I found? Data usage on all 3 phones when nothing was being used!!! After investigating further, I found out the data usage on all phones was under "System Services" When I asked the customer service rep on my last call about this, she offered to give me a credit for usage but would not tell me what the credit would be for or how the phones were using System Services when all data was supposed to be restricted. What a scam - I'm paying $450+ a month now for 5 lines and am stuck with contracts on all of them. It is enough to make anyone mad. Has anyone experienced this and if so, can you provide any help on how to fix this?
micgunn2,
I am truly sorry to hear about the high data usage on your devices. We definitely want to put an end to this usage. In regards to the System services that were using data when the application data was off you can see the details of how the data is used by going to Settings>Privacy>Location Services. From there under Location services description there will be a blue link that says "About Location Services & Privacy..." In that link it will provide you details of how certain system services work and how they can use data even though the application data is turned off.
LindseyT_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
Thank you for your reply. As I stated in my initial post - I had location services turned off because I was told by a Verizon CS rep that if not off this would continue to use data. If location services is set to off, no apps are supposed to be able to use this service on your phone, correct?
micgunn2
You should check your usage on each device to see what may be using data. This can be done via Settings > Cellular > (Optional) System Services.
When you start a new billing cycle, you can reset your usage on each device to account for your usage via Settings > Cellular > Reset Statistics. It's recommended that you setup a reminder via your Calendar to Reset Statistics on the beginning of each billing cycle.
Lastly, there was an issue at one point causing the iPhone (while sleeping) to drop the WiFi connection and default back to the cellular connection. That has since been addressed via an update, but you want to keep each device up-to-date otherwise. [ iOS: Updating your carrier settings ]
micgunn2,
Thanks for the details. By turning location services off it will stop some data but not all. The only way to be sure absolutely no data is used it by completely turning off data all together. If you navigate to Settings>Cellular>Scroll Down (under all the apps) tap System Services. This is a full list of all system services that use data. Turning off location services will stop some of the system services from using data but not all.
LindseyT_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
I too need assistance from YOU MR OR MRS Verizon. Just tell me how I can contact someone in the upper sky of Verizon so that I can tell Him or Her what I truly feel about this data rip off - I'm sure you can find me so please do and call son before I go to the highest level.... Sbales
SlbIB we're here and ready to help! Fill us in on the details and we'll get right to work! What specific concerns are you having with the data?
AshleyS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
You are not being ripped off. No data is being mysteriously added. Instead of people keeping spitting out the same old tiresome "evil company doing evil things to me" rant try actually finding out WHY your usage is high and fixing it. If you put half as much effort into that as you do thinking up cconspiracy theories you would have solved your problem by now.
Huge thing to drop your data that I had to find out after getting slapped with a overage. When your connected to Wifi you need to go into your phone system setting and shut cellular data off other wise you will still get charged for using your cellular data instead of using your wifi.
I am having the same problem. I had unlimited data for 5 years and never went over 2g of data. My iPhone 5 got damaged and instead of paying full price for iPhone 6 I switched my plan. I looked back over my history and saw that I never went over 2g so my new plan should be fine. I truly regret this decision and wish I could go back. The first month I went over 1g. I thought it wasn't right but I did have a new phone and maybe I did. Now in half a month I have used 8g. I have not changed the way I use my phone, If anything I use it less. I don't know what is going on but I think it's a scam
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