Sleeping iPhones Send Phantom Data 248
Stoobalou writes with a story that got started earlier this month when iPhone users in the US and the UK noticed that their phones seemed to be sending large data bursts via 3G overnight. (Providers are ending unlimited contracts, so iPhone users are paying more attention to how much data they are using.) The discussions began on MacOSRumors and an Apple discussion forum. Thinq.co.uk makes this guess as to what is going on, but doesn't offer much in the way of substantiation: "The simple fact of the matter is — as far as we can tell — that the iPhone's push notifications and other small transfers of data are totted up throughout the day and the total for all of those notifications is added up after dark and sent to your airtime provider while your phone is sleeping. If these tiny amounts of data were individually listed your bill would probably be the size of a telephone directory. The reason it is using the 3G network rather than Wi-Fi is that all iPhones up to and including the 3Gs turn off Wi-Fi push functionality while the phone is in sleep mode, in order to preserve battery life. The iPhone 4, incidentally, has better power management so will not need to do this."
OMG (Score:5, Funny)
iPhones are dreaming!
Re:OMG (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OMG (Score:5, Funny)
Go on mod me a troll apple-fanboys, I just posted as AC.
Re: (Score:2)
Those aren't regular sheep, [dickinson.edu] they're electric sheep! [blogharbor.com]
This would be funnier if it was Android phones doing this rather than iPhones.
Re: (Score:2)
You should at least upgrade the ROM, that is free.
Re: (Score:2)
Ye gads! Now we know where all the seeders for Electronic Sheep come from.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That screensaver is pimp.
Does it explain the sucky battery life? (Score:2)
I have automatic notifications turned off and a few other settings and yet my 3GS battery will go down more than half during the day without any usage. Come on, an iPad has 30 days standby - and while I understand a phone always has to be listening, it seems awfully short.
Re:Does it explain the sucky battery life? (Score:5, Informative)
We have about 150 iPhones for corporate use and we have had to return 8 so far because of bad battery life. We have had more reports of deteriorating battery life from approx. 25 more users that doing a full restore to the phone and NOT applying the backup, just rebuilding the phone manually, has resolved their battery life back to original capacity.
The key is not to restore the backup created immediately before the restore in iTunes. Even though all of the push and antenna settings are set correctly, there is still something in the OS that makes the battery drain.
The worst one I've seen so far would drain 8% every 5 minutes; you could literally watch the battery percentage count down like a timer. Doing a restore of the OS fixed it.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Sonds like the firmware got corrupted. My wife took her 3GS (1 year old to the day) in to the apple store last night. A tech looked at it, found it reported ~8 hours of battery life but 700 days of standby time. Obviously this was not right, found the firmware was corrupted and asked if she would permit a wipe and restore. Apparently this caused some errors in the back and a few min later he came back with a new phone for her.
As it was the last day of the included warranty it only cost us a few minutes of o
Re: (Score:2)
If it's just listening then what difference does it make if it is in a fringe area. It could be in a faraday cage in an underground lab in a crater on the dark side of a moon on the far side of Jupiter, it would still take the same amount of power to listen for a signal as if it were strapped to the cell tower with duct tape. The power it takes to run a receiver is independent from the power of the transmitter.
Re: (Score:2)
Plus, carriers gotta be able to charge you through the nose for "roaming" just because your phone is powered on in their airspace
Re: (Score:2)
Well, there you go...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I know my phone drains much faster when I'm in a poor reception area than when I've got a good signal.
Re:Does it explain the sucky battery life? (Score:4, Informative)
This is true. And it's actually a battery saving technique. The phone will attempt to transmit and make a connection with the weakest possible transmission power possible. If that fails, then it kicks up the power and tries again.
In the well covered areas, it doesn't take a lot of power to hit a cell phone tower. So the amount of power needed to stay in contact is minimal. In a weak signal area, it takes more power to maintain that contact, which is why the battery drains faster. Also, in weak signal areas, the signal tends to be lost completely often. When that happens, the phone will wake up and start searching for a new tower using the previously described ramp-up method. It will keep attempting that every minute or so until it finds a tower.
Re: (Score:2)
Okay, that was the missing piece to the puzzle. Thanks.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Theoretically you are probably right but not in practice - I have personal experience (warning N-size one story coming up): My folks live up in a remote area where there is no cell service. If you take a cell phone up there and leave it on, the battery will get drained very rapidly (~ 8 hours). I think it's probably b/c it's hearing very distance signals and trying to connect and failing at max transmit power again and again. If you turn the radio off of course the power drain becomes very slow. Once you dr
no jobs is just getting user info useing a backdo (Score:2)
no jobs is just getting user info using a backdoor data channel.
With apologies to Philip K. Dick (Score:5, Funny)
Do iPhones dream of non-walled Androids?
Re:With apologies to Philip K. Dick (Score:4, Funny)
After spending the entire day being stroked , sometimes two fingers at a time, I bet they have some VERY raunchy dreams. Well at least they would if porn wasn't disabled on them.
Re:With apologies to Philip K. Dick (Score:5, Funny)
I will never look at the zoom in gesture the same way again.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Now that conjures images of an app that deserves to be rejected...
Re: (Score:2)
Interactive Goatse?
Re: (Score:2)
Interactive Goatse?
Finally, a use for 10 point multitouch!
Re: (Score:2)
No, they seem to dream about racking up bandwidth charges.
Re:With apologies to Philip J. Fry (Score:2)
My only other dreams are to be invisible in a chocolate factory and to date a celebrity.
Tinfoil hat mode (Score:3, Insightful)
Combine this news with the timing of the AT&T 2GB cap announcement with the release of iPhone 4, and well, it smells like a forced upgrade.
Re:Tinfoil hat mode (Score:5, Informative)
If you are extremely worried about this, just put your device into "airplane mode" before putting it to sleep. It won't try to talk to anything at all.
If you're only slightly worried about it, well, OS4 has an option to disable using the cellular connection for data at all, forcing all data over wifi but still leaving the ability to receive SMS and phone calls on. (OS4 brings more tools for managing your bandwidth use than previous releases ever had.)
Re:Tinfoil hat mode (Score:5, Insightful)
If you are extremely worried about this, just put your device into "airplane mode" before putting it to sleep. It won't try to talk to anything at all.
Won't that kill phone calls too? People might not get many phone calls at night, but the whole point of a phone is to alert people in cases of rare but important emergencies.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Voice service is only a side effect of iPhone ownership because the carriers do not offer data-only plans. I'm not sure anyone buys an iPhone because they want a phone.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If you are extremely worried about this, just put your device into "airplane mode" before putting it to sleep. It won't try to talk to anything at all.
Won't that kill phone calls too? People might not get many phone calls at night, but the whole point of a phone is to alert people in cases of rare but important emergencies.
If you have a land line, you could turn on call forwarding first. I don't know anyone under 30 with one, but it is a possibility.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
For you, the point of a phone might be to get alerted to rare but important emergencies. I'm not that important nor am I an emergency responder. I bought my phone so I could contact people when I needed to and so that my friends and family have a way to contact me.... not so they have a way to wake me up in the middle of the night.
There is nothing so important that I need to be woken up in the middle of the night for... and if it's that important, I'll most likely deal with it much better after a good sleep
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
How about just putting it into the trash? Why should the user be forced to proactively administer their phone against these kinds of suspicious activity at the expense of convenience and functionality? Seriously, putting your phone into airplane mode *every* time you think it's going to go into sleep mode?
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds more like the users should find another country to live in, one that has proper telecom companies running the cellular networks.
Apple "Just Works" (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a perfect example of the emperors clothes as it applies to Apple. Actually suggesting that someone put the phone in Airplane mode is crazy. Unless they are using it for an alarm clock, having the phone sit turned on with no passive functions possible, and no one to initiate an active function, Airplane mode is just an inefficient form of "OFF". Suggesting that someone turn their phone off every night so that they don't get charged
Re: (Score:2)
Actually suggesting that someone put the phone in Airplane mode is crazy
You're right, bur your conclusion is wrong. There's no reason for 99+% of people to even think about doing this. The suggestion was "if you're extremely worried about this", not "this is a big problem, people should be doing this".
Suggesting that someone turn their phone off every night so that they don't get charged exorbitant fees for some unknown, and certainly unneeded function
So far, you're the only person suggesting this. But you're right, it is a stupid suggestion.
Because Apple "Just Works". For varying values of "Just Works".
There is no other tech company on the planet whose products are both as powerful, as easy to use, and reliably work as Apple. So, yeah, "just works" is a valid description.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The Norwegian mobile operators have been forced to blacklist a certain US number as numerous iPhones has initiated call diversion to this number. As it lacks the international extension all the calls wound up at one unlucky guy in a small town.
They confirm the issue, while Apple has refused to comment on it.
One translated source http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=no&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http://www.tv2underholdning.no/hjelperdeg/iphonemysteriet-apple-ikke-vil- [google.com]
Re: (Score:2)
If you are extremely worried about this, just put your device into "airplane mode" before putting it to sleep. It won't try to talk to anything at all.
Translation: If you are worried about your cell phone deciding to cost you money, you can always stop using it.
Um, no thanks. Most of us who leave our cell phone on at night do so that it, um, functions as a cell phone. You know, the whole 'receive telephone calls' thing.
Re:Tinfoil hat mode (Score:5, Insightful)
Can't you just put a "turn 3g on/off" widget on one of the home screens? :)
No need to put it in airplane mode to kill the cellular data traffic..
well on my android at least.
Same with wifi and gps
Re: (Score:2)
I have an android and there's a nice app called TimedWireless that puts my phone into airplane mode at night and wakes it up in the morning. I'm sure there's an app for that with the iphone..
this feature is already on iPad and Touch (Score:4, Informative)
The iPad (even non-3G) and the Touch also have the ability to stay logged into a WiFi network in very low power mode and so can get push data over WiFi. And I can't imagine these were forced by AT&T.
Besides, what if you are in an AT&T dead zone (of course we all know these are mythical ;) and you get a FaceTime(TM) call or try to Find My iPhone? Wouldn't you like it to get through on WiFi even though you can't get a push over 3G to your phone?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
If he's on AT&T and bought his iPhone before June 7, he's unlimited. If he bought it after June 7, he's a moron because we knew about the iPhone 4 at that point.
Re: (Score:2)
If you are on an unlimited plan already, I don't think AT&T is going to make you switch to the 2GB cap plan. The 2GB cap is only for new customers and customers who want to change plans (or phones).. At least *I think* that's how it works.
Terrible headline (Score:3, Informative)
The headline is contradicted in the summary. It should read: Sleeping iPhones Appear To Send Phantom Data.
Turns out they don’t, it’s just a total of use from the entire day that accumulated a lot of tiny data transfers made by the iPhone’s system which are too numerous and trivial to itemize on the bill.
Re:Terrible headline (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I can suggest a way to find out for sure: Put your tinfoil hat over your iPhone before you go to bed.
Re:Terrible headline (Score:5, Funny)
HEY!!! you almost tricked me into taking it off!!! You're one of "THEM" aren't you?
Re: (Score:2)
Damn, foiled again.
Re:Terrible headline (Score:5, Informative)
Turns out they don’t, it’s just a total of use from the entire day that accumulated a lot of tiny data transfers made by the iPhone’s system which are too numerous and trivial to itemize on the bill.
Do we know this? TFA presents that as a speculative explanation, but offers no evidence. All these Apple types are relying on what their telephone bill says -- which seems kinda naive, given that cellphone carriers are not exactly known for their truthfulness.
What we really need is an RF geek to set up some equipment to monitor an iPhone's overnight radio activity, and give us some hard data to consider.
Re: (Score:2)
You don’t need to be a RF geek with fancy equipment to put it in an improvised Faraday cage overnight and see if the phantom charges disappear. Just make sure it gets no signal, then shut it off so it doesn’t drain the battery trying to connect.
Re: (Score:2)
Because you don’t trust it to stay off?
Re: (Score:2)
Somebody will then have to spend the night awake next to their phone and record the timestamp of hearing the noise.)
Thus the need for an RF geek with fancy equipment. No doubt there are instruments that will log RF activity over time, without requiring an operator to be present & alert to write things down.
Who cares about 3G usage? (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not a few bucks in my bill that I care. I worry about my phone sending out data surreptitiously in the middle of the night. What the hell is it sending?
I don't usually bash Apple users. As much as I don't like Apple's practices, and as much as I'd like to see everyone using Free Software, it beats using windows. But this time, this guys scared the fuck out of me. They catch their phone sneaking out data in the middle of the night, and none of them is truly worried about it. They are sort of wondering
Re:Who cares about 3G usage? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Who cares about 3G usage? (Score:5, Funny)
Asking such questions is silly. It will only make things harder. Just accept the word of Father Steve and relax. You'll find things are much nicer when you accept this. I did, and I'm happy all the time now.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Guess you didn't even read the summary, eh? Data's not being sent. The phone keeps track of the size of all small transfers that occurred during the day, adds them up, and tells AT&T the total overnight.
My bills (if I didn't get them electronically), are already 10+ double-sided pages long full of data transfers. I can't imagine how huge they'd be if they didn't do this, and it was filled with things like "120 bytes - 9:30am... 600 bytes... 9:31am."
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That seems awfully fucking exploitable. You'd really think the provider would keep track of that shit, not your phone. Self-reporting usage? Just hack the phone and send false data, since I guess AT&T relies on what the phone tells it you've used.
And if AT&T does track your usage on their own, then having the phone report the usage is just wasteful.
Re: (Score:2)
That's what I was thinking. Looking at recent bills, it seems they no longer (or rarely) log data usage during the day. There's just one update that comes in overnight that seems to be the entire day's usage. Last month, I only had 7 days that logged any data usage during the day, and I can say with certainty that I use the 3G data line at least every 15 minutes.
People are reporting that if they turn their phones off overnight, the 1am-2am update doesn't occur until the phone gets turned back on in the m
Re:Who cares about 3G usage? (Score:4, Insightful)
That seems odd though, because you'd think such behaviour would have to be carrier-specific. I.e. AT&Ts systems would have to know to expect such updates from the iPhone and rely on the iPhone to monitor its usage.
But the iPhone in other countries is sold completely unlocked and you can whack any SIM card in it and use it on any network. The network doesn't know that you're connecting from an iPhone or any other 3G/HSDPA device. So the network wouldn't know to listen for these iPhone data updates (and would be keeping track of data usage on the network side like it would for any other device).
I don't own an iPhone, so this may be something completely obvious. But it sounds to me like the US iPhone software/firmware is different from the software run on non-US devices (i.e. there's a "AT&T-locked" version for the US which contains this data reporting feature, and a 'regular' version which does not, for use internationally)
Re: (Score:2)
There is carrier-specific baseband that runs on each device, so it could have something to do with that. However, over on MacRumors there are people reporting seeing this on carriers other than AT&T as well, such as O2.
It's somewhat baffling. These carriers can't be stupid enough to count on the devices reporting usage accurately, can they?
Re: (Score:2)
Let me answer your question with another one: Website developers can't be stupid enough to allow raw SQL to be passed in through URL parameters, can they? :)
Re: (Score:2)
Makes sense. I clearly remember an amusing segment on the TV news here not long after the original iPhone was released. All those tiny little bits of data that the iPhone constantly connects to send/receive, combined with data charges still being a relatively rare/new thing as far as phone company billing software was concerned, literally led to people receiving itemised phone bills the size of books. Hundreds of pages :)
Billing software in phone companies has no doubt improved since then. But at the same t
Re: (Score:2)
IP connections will eventually timeout. If you want to be able to receive push notifications, you have to send a heartbeat message every once in a while to ensure that the connection is still alive. You can turn off push notifications if you prefer not to send anything to Apple.
Re: (Score:2)
But this time, this guys scared the fuck out of me.
Then Slashdot succeeded in fulfilling its agenda.
Re: (Score:2)
User authorization means a checkbox that comes unchecked by default, not some legal bullshit buried deep into the EULA.
3G burning up my battery (Score:2, Interesting)
I live in a fringe area. While I get a good number of bars with Edge, 3G is hit or miss. I work in town where 3G reception is good though so I usually keep 3G on. That said, I have noticed that some evenings my battery drains almost completely while just sitting on my dresser. It's not every night so I chalked it up to reception. However, this makes more sense if it's trying to transmit data with a crappy signal.
Not a problem (Score:3, Funny)
Go AT&T!
Better Battery on WIFI (Score:2)
I'm not sure how true this is, but if I'm on 3G my battery life drains at an alarming rate during high data transfer, audio streaming etc... When Im on WIFI my battery lasts substantially longer.
Anyone else notice this too?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
3G is about the biggest battery hog you'll get. Disable it and run on edge for a few days to compare (You'll also get better general reception and no dropped calls). If I had to upgrade my first-gen iPhone I'm pretty sure I'd disable 3G except when I was doing large data transfers (which I wouldn't do because of the new metered rates)
Hmph, time to start looking into Android.
Eavesdropping...? (Score:2, Interesting)
Thing is, we observed it transmitting even when it's turned off...
It's a function of GTP and billing. (Score:3, Interesting)
Telephony sessions are typically billed at the end of the session. Phone calls are billed when they are disconnected, SMS's when they are delivered, etc.
GPRS sessions (not individual sockets, the entire IP tunnel) are also typically billed when they are torn down too. This means that on some platforms data sessions can go unbilled for a long, long time. I've heard of months-long Blackberry sessions.
Now, the iPhone doesn't fully close down GPRS sessions when it goes idle, we saw that story a while ago. It does a fast disconnect, leaving the session running and hoping to reconnect to it later. What may be happening is that these sessions time out in the middle of the night, when the phone goes idle for long enough, resulting in a middle of the night charge for data from the entire day.
These long running sessions are being noticed by carriers, and they are starting to request mid-session commits, where the bill isn't updated at the end of the session, but at set intervals.
mod (-1, troll) (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, I'd mod you down if I hadn't already posted in here.
Stop with the pariah attitude. If you post tangentially related (at best) stuff about how you don't like Apple repeatedly, you'll get modded down, period. Add something to the discussion besides (hey, did you know Apple is still censoring apps!) and you might be treated differently.
Just because you want to say it a lot doesn't mean people want to hear it everywhere.
Re: (Score:2)
At least in the U.S., it's not like buyers don't know what's going on. Since locked phones are the NORM here, and AT&T doesn't bother to obfuscate or lie about the terms, iPhone buyers know or should know what they are getting into.
No exuses. If you're not smart enough to figure out what you're buying with an iPhone, you might want to reconsider buying one. The pariah attitude is, as noted, just wrong. Enjoy your iPhone and accept the terms and conditions you have accepted.
And if you truly don't lik
Re: (Score:2)
1. In the US you have very little choice in carrier. Lots of phones are exclusive to the carrier. You can not get a Droid on Sprint, and Evo on TMobile or a G1 on Verizon.
2. Some people feel that having Apple as a gate keeper is a benifit. Many people feel that Atari failed and the Video game market crashed back in the 80s because of the influx of really bad games.
3. All cell phone makers dictate what you can load on their phones. You can not put WinMo on a Samsung Moment.
Apple doesn't dictate you choices
Re: (Score:2)
I fail to see how having no choice in carrier (absent "jail breaking" the phone - what an odd turn of phrase to use on a device *I own*) is a positive.
What the hell are you talking about? One can buy an iPhone from a variety of carriers. Oh, you're conflating what happens in the US with the entire world. Silly you.
Re:Here I go blowing some more points (Score:5, Interesting)
I understand your qualms, but, I just don't share them.
Yes, Apple maintains control over the app store. But, generally it's intended (at least, in theory) to ensure that the user doesn't have a crappy experience. I have a new iPad, and from just the free apps that are available for download, it largely does everything I need it to do.
Heck, I seem to recall seeing an app which basically a stripped down browser that operated in safe mode, and chucked all of the data when it was done. So you had "private" browsing such as it is. One could surf porn using that if they so chose, but Apple doesn't want to sell or be associated with porn.
However, I'd point out that only just last week or so, Microsoft said they'd not be allowing porn on the Windows Mobile devices [geek.com], so it's not like Apple is doing anything different there. I'm betting that under most circumstances, most fortune 500 companies don't want to be associated with porn.
As to the products ... between using my iPods (I have four accumulated over a decade), my iPad, and iTunes, I've come to appreciate the very integrated experience, it "just goes" -- your mileage may vary, but people using Apple products are actually kind of happy for the rubber-bumpers and safety rails. I'm acutely aware of the fact that they've covered up the sharp edges and made sure to put safeties in all of the outlets. But, I really enjoy it for that fact, and, IMO, it actually contributes to the overall experience. If I want to operate with complete freedom, I have Linux, FreeBSD, XP, and Vista boxes I'm free to do anything on I want.
As far as the whole carrier thing, I would go so far as to say that every cell phone I've ever owned has been tied to the carrier who sold it to me, and the exclusive deal Apple originally did with AT&T kept that business model going. I also understand they're going to start selling unlocked iPhones, so one could be unchained and not need to jailbreak.
I guess if you think your freedom is being restricted, their products aren't for you. If you actually feel like they've just set you up with good choices that work and do what you need, you don't see it that way. And, it's apparently a completely binary position from what I've seen lately on Slashdot. It doesn't seem to be possible for their to be a middle ground.
To me, I like their products because they strip out all of the fiddly bits and focus on what it is you want to do with them. Having my iPad controlled by my existing iTunes actually simplified things for me. Far more so than a netbook, which I think would both require more care and feeding, and still be beholden to the keyboard and mouse model. Checking my email in my backyard while playing iTunes and then going back to my e-book ... well, that alone was worth the price of admission. Same goes for taking some documents I need to review away from my desk, and sitting in a comfy chair. I'd rather review a whole slew of technical stuff not sitting bolt upright in a chair, and not with a laptop sitting in my lap. This is more like a hardcopy.
And, really, for defending Apple, recent stuff shows me I'm more likely to get modded down than you are. On a lot of threads is seems mindless Apple bashing gets modded up, and actually trying to discuss the issue and defend Apple gets one modded as Troll. Because everyone has some pet crusade that, for them, makes any and all Appler products completely EVIL ... and people seem unwilling to acknowledge the point that their point of view doesn't match that of the people who actually choose to use, and enjoy, Apple's stuff.
Cheers
Re:Here I go blowing some more points (Score:4, Insightful)
Depends if you think of the phone as a 'portable personal computing device', or really just 'an appliance'.
Like you, I couldn't stand anyone telling me what software I could or could not run on my personal computer (running Linux or Windows or whatever). It's a ~personal~ microcomputer which I should be able to make run any arbitrary code I desire to feed into it. I can even write my own software for it.
Some might also consider a phone to be the same - a completely open bit of personal hardware that they should be allowed to do with as they please.
OTOH I think a lot of people out there (not saying I'm one of them) consider a phone as merely an appliance. They buy it in the knowledge that its not an 'open' device you can do what you want with. But they don't care. I mean ... they don't really care that I can't run arbitrary code on their DVD player or their microwave or their car stereo system or whatever. And they think of a phone as being in the same class of device - they just want it to work and don't have a desire to do anything more fancy with it.
Apple has been successful selling such locked down products to that kind of consumer. You (and I) disagree with that approach, but there are good alternatives out there, so there's no real reason to get worked up about it. If I don't like it, I won't buy it.
The 'locked to a carrier' thing is also strictly a US thing. In my country (and most others) you can just whack any old SIM card in an iPhone and it will work on any network like any other phone. I should also point out that Apple's actual ~computers~ (i.e. Mac OS X running laptops and desktops) are still open platform 'personal computers' ... indeed these days you can even run Windows or Linux on them). So I don't think the lock-ins pervade every product they sell. Just the iPad/iPhone/iPod/etc.
But you're right - you shouldn't be modded as troll for discussing these things. They are legitimate concerns with Apple's products. But I just think that you are not Apple's target market - you want a computer when they are really just trying to sell an appliance.
Re:Here I go blowing some more points (Score:4, Insightful)
You got modded down for the Foxconn bit sparky.
Foxconn build stuff for HP, Cisco, Nintendo, and I think Microsoft.
That comment was clearly a troll and unbalanced. So yea it was both a flamebait and a troll.
Get over the persecution complex.
Re: (Score:2)
What?
Really? What?
Don't Nintendo, HP and Microsoft produce just as many ads?
Really this level of mindless hate boy is every bit as annoying as mindless fan boy!
Re: (Score:2)
From what I've seen, that work both ways.
Neither side is actually evaluating the arguments of either -- they're just completely polarized and frothing at the mouth. As a result, people are modding up/down any post which supports/contradicts their own position. That includes the pro-Apple and anti-Apple crowds.
I'm sad to see if descend i
Re: (Score:2)
No, they are trying to avoid having users wake up to virtually dead batteries.
Me? I have an Android G1. I know to plug it in overnight. And I have a Motorola P790 for those moments when I don't have an outlet handy.
Re: (Score:2)
A dollar per second? That's insane. There'd be a revolt if providers in the US charged that much. To think my current $30/month would only buy me 30 seconds of data if I lived in Europe?
Craziness. There's no way that can be right.
Re: (Score:2)
It isn't. S/he might mean 1$/MB. Even then, most iPhones are on large data plans that include hundreds of MB per month. I know people here that use 3G for their home internet connection - and you wouldn't do that if it cost $1/second!
Re: (Score:2)
I don't understand this story at all. Part of it seems to be implying this is just an accounting thing...your phone isn't actually sending data then, the bill is just reporting the tiny amount of push transfers it did during the day as a single instance at night. (Otherwise, you'd have hundreds of '20 byte' listings during the day as the phone asks 'New data?' and the other end says 'Nope'.)
That seems reasonable, but then another part of the article seems to imply this is real, because it's using 3g 'durin
Re: (Score:2)
Fact 1: The bills don't seem to add up for everbody, but the total usage portions of the bill sound about right.
Fact 2: At least one users in airplane mode/off mode the charges will not show up until the phone is turned on.
Fact 3: The GSM-series 3G data technology is packet based, not connection based, so a fully itemized bill would list every packet. The other options for the phone company is to attempt to group collections of packets as pseudo-connections (which is not ideal), or itemize by day (or hour,
Re: (Score:2)
The phone bill for my Windows Mobile shows the same thing. It adds up all my data usage for the day, and shows it on the bill at midnight. Activesync operates on my phone between 8am and 11:59pm, so it might be in some way related to that, or maybe it is just the way Telefonica does it.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The iPhones are using 3G bandwidth overnight to report on how much 3G bandwidth they used during the day?
Undoubtedly no; it’d be tallied up on the provider’s end and then added to your bill by a batch queue running daily. Other than that relatively minor detail, I think their theory is pretty sound.
Re: (Score:2)
Are you sure? I am positive the actual total data line item you are actually charged for is done on the carrier's end. To do anything else is idiotic.
However, it is entirely possible that the individual line items on the bill are as reported by the phone. That would explain why the time is variable, why some were reporting the numbers don't add up, and what at least one macrumors user reported: the line item does not show up if the phone is in airline mode or off, but does show up at the time the phone is t
Re: (Score:2)
It’s possible, but it just begs for someone to hack the system and have fake usage stats sent so that they get unlimited access for the lowest monthly rate.
Re: (Score:2)
No. What I was proposing was that the billing system track actual usage. You pay exactly what you used.
However the data line items in the bill have nothing to do with what you are charged. They are just a listing of what your phone reported. So your phone could report an Exabyte of usage but you used only 1 Gig, so you don't pay any overage.
Or you use 3 gigs, but the phone reported only a meg of usage. So the only data usage line would be for 1 MB, but the total data line would read 3GB, and you would be ch
Article summary is stupid, not apple (Score:3, Informative)
The way I'm reading this makes it seem like they buried the lead. The iPhones are using 3G bandwidth overnight to report on how much 3G bandwidth they used during the day? That's stupid! That's stupid like 8 different ways.
If they were it would be.
Instead it's a matter of when data usage is reported on your bill - nothing more.
Re: (Score:2)
If they become pure data machines then the data will become the primary revenue source and voice will be subsidized by it. Put the cost of operating the network on the data plans and data plans will suddenly no longer be the 'cheap' way to communicate.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That's a great conspiracy theory, but it sounds more like your battery was shot and you lost all your settings every time because the phone lost power.
There is no OS upgrade mechanism over the air.
Re: (Score:2)