Can anyone explain this data use?

[gancanny]

My wife is using data in the middle of the night when she's fast asleep and the phone is connected to wifi.

If I look at the usage history I see amounts like 68.45MB used at 12.03 AM on 3 April. What is happening? There are other data usage on other days between 4.00-5.00 am.

I'd be happy to provide the downloaded logs but they're not that useful because the date/time entries only show the date, e.g. 'Apr 04, 2023 Apr 04, 2023'. Really? PM website has to be the worst one I use, period.

[Milk]

You must have the phones AUTO UPDATE activated - the latest iPhone update consumes close to 3 GB - However in your case 68.45 mb is insignificant and nothing to worry about. It's most likely your phone fetching / searching if for incoming emails etc. Why not turn off your phones at night before you go to bed?

[will13am]

@gancanny , even though Public Mobile reports mobile data usage in batches, depending on the status of WiFi assist, mobile data usage can take place at all sorts of times during the day/night even when connected to WiFi.  On iOS, WiFi assist toggle is in the mobile data tab.  For android, you need to enable developer mode (hidden menu option, tap build number 7 times to unhide) and the toggle is buried in one of the developer options.  I believe the default is WiFi assist ON.

[wetcoaster]

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@PointyCrow wrote:

Hello there,

If your wife's device has data turned on there may be occasions throughout the night where the WiFi connection may be lost and the device relies on data to download/upload in the background. Additionally, there is a toggleable feature on most phones termed "WiFi assist" which permits the use of data to improve WiFi connection. 

I believe one of, or both of these examples may be causing some amount of data usage even while the phone is not actively being used.

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Good suggestions for general data use. Most phones also allow the user to check data usage by app which might help tracking down a rogue usage.

However, as mentioned by softech, it's the way Public Mobile reports the cummulative data usage twice a day, about 12 hours apart. Obviously we don't know what the person did in the afternoon of April 3, if and how long they were away from WiFi and what apps they used in that time, but 70MB ish doesn't look excessive to me?

[PointyCrow]

Hello there,

If your wife's device has data turned on there may be occasions throughout the night where the WiFi connection may be lost and the device relies on data to download/upload in the background. Additionally, there is a toggleable feature on most phones termed "WiFi assist" which permits the use of data to improve WiFi connection. 

I believe one of, or both of these examples may be causing some amount of data usage even while the phone is not actively being used.

[softech]

@gancanny 

The data showing with that timestamp does not mean you used the data at that time.  

PM only update data usage twice a day.  So, the entry you said just meant  total amount of data you used between that timestamp and the timestamp of the previous entry.