Increased data usage with iphone6

[Jeanne831]

I just looked at our bill and see that my daughter has used 3x the data she used last month and the only difference is that we upgraded her phone!  Most of the time she is on WiFi, so I am baffled as to why and how the data has increased so much.

We've checked the settings and turned off everything we can think of.  

Any thoughts???

[vzw_customer_support]

I can understand why you would be baffled after seeing your data usage increase Jeanne831. Connecting the phone to Wi-Fi is a great way to keep your mobile data under control, lets gather some additional information and see where this extra usage is coming from. What make/model phone did you have prior to upgrading? If you go into settings > cellular > is Wi-Fi Assist turned on (towards the bottom)? Keep in mind, Data reflects type of usage, apps, bit rate or resolution being used.
JorgeO_VZW
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[Jeanne831]

She went to an iPhone6 from iPhone4. 

Wi-Fi Assist is currently on....should it be?

She is not doing anything different than she was previously.  Yet, I'm not going to be charged over $100 for going over our data which we we had no issue with before!  Even the rep confirmed our usage at the time we upgraded.

[rogue350]

I recommend you turn off WiFi Assist because it will increase the amount of cellular data used on your daughter's phone. Anytime the phone thinks that cellular data will offer better performance than WiFi, it will use cellular data. There are a number of articles written about how WiFi Assist causes excessive data use.

[ErinKG]

Why isn't Verizon notifying customers up front of the wifi assist "feature" when upgrading to the iPhone 6? Most of us find this out after we have a large overage and have to research what went wrong. In the short time it took us to figure out the issue after the alerts came across our phones, we rang up $60 in overages. While the first month's overages are a windfall for Verizon, letting customers find out about this "feature" in such a way is horrible customer service and amounts to a rip-off.

[smith6612]

Apple didn't notify anyone because they think they know what's best for the general public. That's silicon valley modern software design 102, whereas software design 101 is the concept of "Make pretty apps, even if it doesn't work/is easy to pick up and discover". It was in the change log for iOS 9 buried two pages deep, and not generally advertised anywhere else.

To be honest I would love to see consumers and the mobile carriers throw some weight at Apple for having this feature enabled by default. Apple could have taken a different approach to this, such as having this feature advertise itself at the Setup screen for iOS, or prompting a user when a poor connection is detected if they would like to enable the feature. Sadly, Verizon probably won't because it helps them make money in accidental data overages, and on the wire line side of the business keeps them from having to upgrade the rotting DSL infrastructure (FiOS doesn't care) from having phones always use the home data connection .

[caty_cutie_x0]

I Had this EXACT same problem and I called Verizon immediately and flipped out. The women on the phone told me that the reason all my data is used is not because of Facebook or the Internet because my wifi is ALWAYS ON. she told me that iMessage uses all your data. She said anytime you text anyone else with an iPhone it uses up your data. I was so angry because I never knew that, and I asked her what I should do. She told me the only way around it was to turn off your data and iMessage but then you are not able to receive picture messages and with your iMessage off and with data off you cannot go on the Internet at all. The women also told me that they don't mention this to customers when they buy the phone, which I think is pretty damn sneaky. she put back my data onto my phone because I didn't know but it's already all uses up because all my close friends have an iPhone and iMessage. Crazy right?

[smith6612]

If Wi-Fi is being used and the Internet connection driving the Wi-Fi connection is not on Verizon Wireless, there is no need to turn it off. Wi-Fi works independent of your data plan in this case. Now, if you use a MiFi/LTE Installed router supplied from Verizon to connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi, yeah that'll cost whoever pays the bill for the MiFi/LTE Connected router.

This problem discussed is strictly with Wi-Fi Assist (the thing that should be turned off) being turned on by default. Yeah, you can turn your mobile data off but that defeats iMessage, MMS messaging, and Find my iPhone from being of use while on the go.