In light of AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega saying iPhone users user more data than any other smartphone user, indeed that iPhone users “crowd out” other users, and that they may have to “manage” iPhone data, TiPb reader Louie asked if we’d run a poll to find out just what the numbers looked like.
We’ve asked thisbefore, though not in poll form, and while reader polls are by no means scientific, they are fun, so here it is! How much iPhone data are you using each month?
(If you’re not sure how much data you’re using, check your bill for an exact amount, or go to Settings > Usage on your iPhone for a rough idea)
Last August, a month after the iPhone 3G’s release, we asked you how much iPhone 3G data you were using. Now, some 10 months post-release, with cries that iPhone users consumer “too much” of their “unlimited data” and should be charged more, and perhaps on the eve of the next generation iPhone announcement, we’re asking again:
How much iPhone 3G data are you using now?
Because here’s the thing: the iPhone is the first real, successful consumer smartphone. Lots of people have them. And even though Wi-Fi is an option (one not available to many Verizon smartphone users) and serious video-streaming apps are still missing in action, get a convention full of iPhone users together and AT&T’s network still goes down.
So is it that iPhone users use too much data, or simply that too many people have become iPhone (and thus, data) users for AT&T’s current infrastructure to handle?
After all, single lane highways are fine — until everyone starts buying cars.
Bla1ze brought this to our attention and while we’re likely not the first to notice this, we haven’t found or figured a good answer for it either. If you have a low data usage on your iPhone (in the MBs rather than GBs) and you do a reboot, when your iPhone comes back up, the Cellular Network Data meter will be lower.
Above are two screen shots taken right before and right after a reboot, which show the difference.
We’ve heard before that the usage meter isn’t accurate, can be gamed, and shouldn’t be used in place of your carrier’s official record (especially if you’re concerned about data charges), but if anyone has any insight into what’s going on (or not going on) with regards to the iPhone’s inner metering, drop us a comment and let us know.
Have you ever traveled out of the country just to come back home and get smacked upside the head by your AT&T cellular bill? Well one of our faithful readers, Mike, has a very unusual situation… he asked us to share his story with you in hopes of preventing this happening to any other readers.
Mike recently added a International Data Roaming Plan before a trip out of the country. It seemed like all was covered… until he got home and received his latest bill. Here is Mike’s story, in his own words:
I was informed by an AT&T service rep that AT&T had charged me the exorbitant per KB rate for international data useage because I had cancelled my International Data Roaming plan after I returned to the United States. The plan is available on a month-to-month basis, so cancelling it when I got home seemed like an obvious thing for me to have done, since I have no plans to go overseas again in the foreseeable future. But the service rep said that AT&T’s policy (unwritten, so far as I can tell) is that one needs to leave the roaming plan in place for 90 extra days, so that it is still in place when the foreign carrier finally reports the subscriber’s roaming back to AT&T. If the plan is not in place when the foreign data useage gets reported to AT&T, then AT&T’s billing system is incapable of recognizing that I had an international data roaming plan in place on the dates that the foreign carrier says I used its data connection.
Ouch, I could imagine this bill would have really hurt. Luckily for Mike, he spoke with a “very nice” AT&T rep and she credited his account for the appropriate amount. Mike is not alone either, for similar stories be sure to check out this thread in AT&T’s official forums.
And for more information regarding International plans be sure to check out the plans available here. Mike and all of us here at TiPb really want you to be aware of AT&T’s policy. So before you leave the country, if you have any questions be sure to call and ask a service rep! It may just save you a pretty penny… or two…
It’s been a month since the iPhone 3G launched, and unlike the US and a few other countries, not every country — or every user — got unlimited data with their shiny new wonder toy. Some, like Canada and Sweden gave eleventh hour reprieves, but others remain bass akwards and incredibly stingy/gouging with their data rates to this day.
But regardless of your cap (or even if you have no cap), how much data are you using?
We already told you how to find your iPhone’s usage meter (even if Auntie TUAW rightly points out that it’s rough at best), and you can presumably check your bill for more exact numbers.
Me? Turns out VERY little. I’ve even turned off WiFi (which I have pretty much everywhere from home to work to friends’ houses) for long stretches, and I’ve still only managed to pull about 150MB, far short of the 6GB I really want to hit Rogers with. Then again, I haven’t watched almost any YouTube via 3G, or slammed on the streaming internet radio, so I guess I only really have myself to blame…
How about you? What’s your usage number? Is it more or less than you expected? And if you’re in one of the “countries of dread”, how worried are you about overage charges on that first bill?
The iPhone 3G is a data monster. With speeds of 400, 600 or more than 1400kps reported in some areas, it sucks down information faster than El Jobso does veggie smoothies. Unfortunately, not every carrier in every country provides unlimited data plans to go with Apple’s next generation revolutionary internet device, or even reasonable data. And even those that do typically have a “soft cap” (e.g. 5GB) after which they either throttle down your speed, or put a black mark in your record as a problem customer and eventually give you the boot.
If you’re in one of the Scandinavian countries, in Mexico, Belgium, or any other Pacific or European, Latin or African country with very expensive data, or if you just want to keep track of how much you’re using and when, Apple has provided you and easy way to do it. Read on to find out how!
