What are these mysterious data charges??
agnesbartonsabo
Enthusiast - Level 2

Got an alert that I was 75% through my data which seemed peculiar to me as I'm only two weeks in and I usually use about 50% of my data over the entire billing cycle.  I'm trying to look at the data usage breakdown and there are several alleged downloads/usages of a hundred or a couple hundred MB, during times when I was definitely at home on the wifi.  I know how to turn off cellular data usage. I know the phones drop off wifi when they go dormant sometimes.  But there is no difference in what I have been doing on my phone this month and what I have been doing for the past months I have had this phone!  I use email and social media, and 80% of the time it's while at home on wifi. I'm not streaming anything.  There has been no unusual activity on my phone.  A few months back I got an alert that I'd gone over and I upgraded my plan without even examining it.  Now starting to suspect I am being ripped off as I notice so many people reporting this.  I also think it's pretty ludicrous there is no email support for customer service.  Chat and social media have been useless so far.  Anyone have a clue what is going on or if anyone else with this problem has found a remedy or explanation?? 

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Re: What are these mysterious data charges??
dilbertaz
Specialist - Level 3

Do you happen to have an Android?  If so and depending on what version there is a great data usage analyse tool built-in.  See if you can go to Settings -> Data Usage  from there you can pick a current or previous billing cycle and then use the vertical sliders to select a date range and it will filter the usage data per app to show you exactly what app(s) were using data during that time frame.

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Re: What are these mysterious data charges??
agnesbartonsabo
Enthusiast - Level 2

Nope it's an iPhone I'm afraid so I don't get that fun trick!

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Re: What are these mysterious data charges??
Snn5
Legend

You can use an Apple app from your app store and set your cycle to the proper date and most apps will back-date the data used info and that might let you know what apps used how much data.

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Re: What are these mysterious data charges??
Snn5
Legend

I believe most people would explain it in a way that reiterates the steps you have already taken, such as turning data off during dormant times, checking app use and such.  Most would also state that sync times for data from tower to Verizon usually occur at times most are asleep and would explain that as lag times as reporting times are not in real-time as-it-happens form. 

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Re: What are these mysterious data charges??
agnesbartonsabo
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks Snn5, the timing would make it less mysterious, but I'm still left wondering what could possibly be using so much data when my activity hasn't increased by such a huge factor... 

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Re: What are these mysterious data charges??
Snn5
Legend

The best thing to do is like dilbertaz suggested as well and try an app with a name having to do with "data management" or searching "what apps are using data on my iphone"