How was so much data used at one time?

[sjdenton]

I suddenly discovered on 1/31/16 at 12:23 PM my son's iPhone 6 used 3.01 GB of data.  Over the past 5 months the most data he used at any one moment was .27 GB.  He is 12 yrs old and I have restrictions on his iPhone so he cannot download any apps or make purchases.  He plays the same games he always plays and listens to Pandora.  The last time I purchased and downloaded a game was in November so he has no new games.  At 12:23 PM on 1/31/16 he was eating lunch at home with my wife before going to rock band practice.  We use WiFi when at home.  The Verizon rep and the rep supervisor could not explain the sudden one time event where he used 10X the amount of data - they gave standard responses that maybe he was gaming a lot or listening a lot to Pandora - neither can explain a 10X jump in data usage.  I listen to Pandora all the time and my usage for the month never goes over 1.5 GB.

There has to be something really wrong somewhere to use 3.01 GB at one time.  Any suggestions/culprits?  I am open to ideas/suggestions.  Below is the data for the 30 events with the highest usage for the past 5 months.

[mama23dogs · Accepted solution]

Check his phone.  the settings keep a running log of data use.  It will show which app has used an unusual amount of data.

Data is not used in real time.  The data on the report at noon on the 31st was more likely used the day before.  You may have home wifi, but that doesn't mean his phone was using it.   The iPhone 6 has a feature called wifi assist.  It uses mobile data if wifi is unstable .

[vzw_customer_support]

It's understandable that a single instance of high usage is suspect, sjdenton. Let's ensure the data faucet gets back on an even stream. Was the WIFI symbol showing on top of his device during that time period? In Settings - Cellular, underneath use cellular data for, is WIFI assist turned on or off?

LynnD_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[sjdenton]

You provided two very helpful pieces of information:  1) directing me to look to see which apps used the most data - I did not know I could do this.  2) the usage is not necessarily from the date and time - most likely the day before.  I first discovered that "Hot Spot" used 3.3 GB of data.  When I told my son he realized that letting a few friends use his Hot Spot connection the day before at Rock Band practice (they are there for 4 hours) was the culprit. He did not realize his "kindness" resulted in a lot of data being used (a bunch of teenagers using his connection for their phones and games for 4 hours - yikes!).

Thanks again.  Mystery solved!

[sjdenton]

Will try turning off Wifi assist as well just as a precaution.  However, looks like my son allowing other kids the day before at Rock Band camp to connect to his Hot Spot for several hours so they had an internet connection was the culprit.  Thanks for replying and offering the suggestion.

[mama23dogs]

Happy to help and very Glad you figured it out.  Kids and data!   Well he learned something new and he won't forget.  Thanks for letting us know.