topic Re: Data use when in wifi? in Get Support

Data use when in wifi?

Ksc1 — Sun, 12 May 2024 11:43:45 GMT

My phone always uses a little data when I am in wifi. Why?

Re: Data use when in wifi?

computergeek541 — Sun, 12 May 2024 11:43:35 GMT

@Ksc1 wrote:
My phone always uses a little data when I am in wifi. Why?

Some mobile devices have a settings such as Wi-Fi assistance to improve internet reliability when the Wi-Fi signal is detected as being of poor quality. In such instances, the phone will use your cellular data.

Re: Data use when in wifi?

Phil_Adelphus — Sun, 12 May 2024 11:51:28 GMT

@Ksc1 iPhone has WiFi Assist in Settings under Cellular (you have to scroll down past all the app data usage records) and you can toggle it off if you prefer. When I had a lower data allowance I just kept cellular data turned off except when I was out and about away from wifi. It's usually a quick toggle on both iPhone and Android.

Re: Data use when in wifi?

KZ1964 — Sun, 12 May 2024 13:06:43 GMT

On my android phone it has intelligent wifi. Toggle that off and it wont use cellular data if your wifi isnt stable.

Re: Data use when in wifi?

dwh1 — Sun, 12 May 2024 15:10:30 GMT

@Ksc1 Some good answers already but one other thing I’ve noticed is that on iPhones it can take a moment for wifi to connect when the phone wakes to do something like check email and that can lead to it using cellular data instead. I just turn of cellular data when at home to prevent thst from happening.

Finally, keep in mind that PM will aggregate data usage together when updating your stats on the site, and so it can report data usage at a time when you were at home. That’s just a quirk of how it gets reported, though.

Re: Data use when in wifi?

hTideGnow — Sun, 12 May 2024 15:19:08 GMT

hi @dwh1 if you dont want iPhone to use data when wifi is weak, turn off Wifi Assisted

Re: Data use when in wifi?

dwh1 — Sun, 12 May 2024 16:14:14 GMT

@hTideGnow I've had that setting off for about six years, though. I'm talking about something different - when the phone is sleeping and needs to do a background update to check email or something like that, it may not wait for the wifi connection to wake up and will make the connection over cellular. It's not a huge amount of data, but the safe thing to do - if you don't want to have cellular data used at home - turning off cellular data completely is the safest approach.