Why is my iPhone 5 Using So Much Data??

[vzw_customer_support]

Hello emac30,

     I'm glad to see that you are excited to get the most out of your upgraded device. We want you to love & enjoy your wireless device and wireless service. May I ask what model phone did you upgrade to? If you went from a 3G to a 4G device then there's a good chance that more data will be used. This is because on 4G, the data travels faster, allowing the user to do more in less time. Also, keep in mind that the media quality is much better on 4G than 3G, which uses more data to transmit. As some community members mentioned I would suggest turning off automatic app updates and background app refresh to assist in stabilizing data usage. Also, using wifi when available is an excellent way to supplement your data usage. Our goal is to always ensure that you are able to enjoy your device and services without having to worry.

Thank you...

ArnettH_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[ArlenM]

Thanks, BobbyS_VZW,

Thanks for your reply to my question.

I actually had the email settings like that already.

I'm using Yahoo email. I want to still be able to open and read the email. But the way it acts now is without asking me or without telling me ... when it has an attachment it immediately begins downloading the attachment after I open the email. That is what needs to be set to off.

On the iPhone 4 it did not download until I clicked on it to view it. This is costing me $10 more per month. It's a total waste. Furthermore, it's doing something I'm not asking for or needing.

Thanks for your help in resolving this quickly.

Arlen M

[muvotx]

Hi Michelle... you have to turn off all the cellular, LTE "Smart phone" features MANUALLY.  If you just let a VERIZON iphone 5, 5s, 5c run with the factory default settings it will eat up RAMPANT amounts of cellular data (~3G per billing period by my estimation), without ever opening or using an app.

Yes just having the app on your phone, WILL CONSUME cellular data... until you manually turn off cellular data for it.

Follow my instructions in my video here, take a moment to read the discussions too!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47CM06N5gIo

[lollipopguild]

I too have been having a problem just in the last month with no changes in usage, service, hardware or software.  This has happened for both phones on our contract which are normally well under 2 GB for the entire billing cycle.  Suddenly, we went up to 4GB and with in 3 days we used up 1GB  after receiving the 75% warning.

Ironically, I received a phone call right after getting the usage warning asking if I wanted to lower my data plan because I am paying for an extra 2 GB that I don't use.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi ArlenM,

Thanks for the update! Glad it worked out. Let us know if we can help with anything else.

Thanks, BobbyS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[vzw_customer_support]

@lollipopguild,

Let's get your phone's data usage back under control!

With these super fast 4G phone you can some times find yourself using a lot more data then you expect. This happened to me as well when I first switched over to a 4G device.

Have you tried the suggestion provided by your fellow community members? You want to make sure you close any apps not in use so they do not use data in the background. You can also change the settings so your email is not pushed to your phone automatically http://vz.to/1evkef4.

Also, when connecting to WiFi you want to make sure you turn off data to ensure your not using your data.

I'm confident these suggestions will help keep your data usage under comtrol.

JohnB_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[Ron_Hi]

My situation is pretty much the same as all of yours on this thread with one exception....several of you had concerns about exceeding your 2 GB and 3 GB plans but we have one iPhone 5 that is using over 11 GB per month! 

My wife and I previously had an unlimited data plan with AT&T but their cell coverage and signal were awful so we left the unlimited data plan and went to Verizon for a 6 GB data plan with an iPhone 5 and a 4s.  We then later added my stepdaughter to our plan with another iPhone 5.  She had transferred from her father's Verizon plan that had unlimited data to our limited data plan, but I wasn't concerned since she had never used more than 1.5 GB per month and my wife and I only use about 1 to 1.5 GB per month combined. 

Due to a couple of months that went over the data plan amount, I have since upgraded our plan a couple times and are now at a 10 GB plan which is still being exceeded.  We have been to Verizon and Apple stores multiple times but they have not been much help.  We did originally find that there was a "Email and Data Synch" feature that was 'mistakenly" carried over from her previous plan that I had thought would definitely fix the issue once turned off but data usage is still out of control and increasing each month. 

She has even had her phone replaced thinking that it was a hardware problem with her original phone but that didn't resolve it.  I have tried to determine what apps or processes are using the data, but my stepdaughter has been away at college so is difficult to troubleshoot.  Several of the data usage spikes occur in the middle of the night so I would think it must be caused by apps that are running in the background and/or are auto-refreshing. She has tried turning cellular data off and also powering off at night and closing/undocking apps at night.  We have also turned off the iCloud settings so that shouldn’t be the issue.

I would think that there are only certain apps that are even capable of using so much data so that should narrow down the problem apps?  Since I also have an iPhone 5 only use about 0.5 GB, I would suspect that it is one of the various apps that younger generations use obsessively such as Instagram, Facebook, NetFlix, or any other app that offers excessive uploading and downloading of photos and videos.  I now only have a few days before she returns to college and would like to try to resolve while she's here at home with her phone.

I have now also paid the extra $5 per month to impose a data limit to her phone but now that doesn’t seem to be working so I will have to contact Verizon about that now too.  Sure would be nice to be able to switch her back to her father’s unlimited data plan…..

Thoughts anyone?

[vzw_customer_support]

Hello Ron_Hi - Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all! When checking the data usage statistics in Settings>Cellular>"Use Cellular Data For:" What is using the most data? Also click System Services and review that list. May I also ask the current iOS version on her device found under Settings>General>About. I look forward to your reply!

Thank you,

YaleK_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZwsupport

[achap78]

I have to chuckle and shake my head while reading all of these frustrated user posts. I'm in the same exact boat, huge, outrageous data usage this year. Before any Verizon rep jumps on here and starts offering me advice, save it, I've been through every fix, app, device option available. First, I find it hilarious that Verizon's answer to this problem basically consists of, "Quit using your device as its intended. In fact, never use your device at all."

What a crock! After three different phone calls to customer service, I still cannot get a clear answer to my problem. I have five phones, two mobile hot spots, on a huge 16gb data plan (approx. $400/mo. base charge) and I still eat up around ten overages a month (1gb @ $15). I never got close to this amount in the previous six months. I know we're a large user, with multiple devices; however, in order to solve my problem I became down right draconian in my monitoring of phone usage! I took all the phones, ran through every available data using option, turned off 90% of phone functionality, shut down my hot spots permanently and yet, the huge bills continue! I can't even turn on my hotspots without gargantuan, darn near immediate data overages! It's quite ridiculous, they recently sent me two new hotspots to see if the problem lie in the device, not the network. I've had one, just one, of the new devices turned on for less than an hour total over the past two weeks and its reporting 20.5gbs of usage! Flat out ridiculous and utterly impossible.

Verizon doesn't want to address this problem seriously, and they're going to pay a huge cost in lost subscribers. I'm ready to break my contract, pay the fee, and move my entire family and $400 worth of monthly service to Sprint. Thank Verizon, thanks for playing low down and dirty with a long time loyal customer.

[#10]

Unfortunately when verizon wireless went to tiered and shared data plans from unlimited it was because it will generate huge profits. It costs pennies for verizon to supply data but charge a thousands times that in customer based usage. With the base number of saturation in customers and the decline in calls and texts, they found a bonanza in generating money and profits.

With such disclaimers as the average use for customers is 2Gb or less it sounds good on paper. However numerous people have complained that on these shared or tiered data plans where once they used less than 2 GB per month are seeing huge overages. Then verizon states unlimited data is unsustainable but that is hog wash, it is sustainable if customers go over in data use at $10-$15 per gigabyte. But not sustainable at $30 for unlimited. Because people pay more still does not mean its being used less, but its sustainable in getting more money out of their customers.

The two providers Sprint & T-Mobile offer unlimited data at $20-$30 but they have less customer base. I posted two links in another thread that shows there really is no need not to have unlimited data except for the insane profits AT&T and Verizon Wireless make. Don't buy into the network could be congested so we charge more. Paying more has nothing to do with network congestion. And don't fall for that each tower only handles 40-100 customers at one time. MIT and other sites each say that each tower can handle over 1700 connections and more. And has proven in some times of the day cell customers reach peaks of hundreds of thousands or more. Yet the towers handle the load just fine.

And data is just converted as if you were speaking on the phone. So not being able to have unlimited use for data is just for more profits.

Don't stay with Verizon if you want unlimited data since its only for people like me that has it grandfathered in and pay full price for their devices.

Shop around and make an informed decision.

Good Luck