Earlier this year my daughter got an iPhone 5. Her data plan is 2 GB per month. Her previous phone was a Galaxy II and she never exceeded the 2GB limit, not even once. Since getting the iPhone she has exceeded 2GB every month, and it’s gotten progressively worse. The last bill says she used 6.5 GB! :eek:
I do not use an iPhone and I don’t know anything about them. When the overages started, they were modest at first, so I gave her the commonplace suggestions: use wifi wherever possible, avoid streaming music and video, install an app that tracks your data use, etc. She swears she did all of this, and still the data usage skyrockets. The data-tracking app she installed is mysteriously showing far lower numbers than the carrier’s bill.
The carrier (U.S. Cellular) is supposed to send a text message when you’re close to your monthly limit. She says she never gets them, and we’re following up on that.
I googled “iPhone 5 data usage” and found lots of people experiencing a similar scenario: they never hit their data cap until they got an iPhone 5, and now they’re blowing through their limit every month and can’t figure out why. I’m thinking there’s more to this problem than just too much YouTube or Pandora.
So, my questions for iPhone-5-owning Dopers: What else can she do about this? What are the most likely data-hogging culprits for this device? Is there a website that provides solid information and advice about this?
A couple of other points: She’s not on a shared data plan, so it’s not another family member hogging the data. She’s a grad student and not a flake, so please, no parenting lectures.