Whenever a new Apple product comes out, there seems to be at least a few weeks where ripples of discontent flow through the community of technology devotees. One problem firing up support forums since the iPhone 5 came out centers around phones on the Verizon Wireless network gobbling up cellular data even when users are connected to a Wi-Fi network. That’s totally destroying monthly data caps.

Users were sharing stories of rapidly burning out their data caps in a mysterious manner all week, and Apple finally confirmed there was a real problem yesterday. It sent out a software update that’s supposed to fix the Wi-Fi bug for Verizon customers.

This update “resolves an issue in which, under certain circumstances, iPhone 5 may use Verizon cellular data while the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network,” Apple wrote in a posting on its support website, via CNNMoney.

And the even better news than a fix, perhaps? Customers won’t have to pay for any unwarranted data usage, a spokesman said today, without saying much else about the problem. Apple did say that it hadn’t heard of the issue until Friday night when CNNMoney called.

So far it seems to be just Verizon customers, but others on discussion boards have been venting similar frustrations with the AT&T network. No word on whether Sprint customers have had a problem yet.

If you’re on a network besides Verizon and find you’ve been mysteriously gobbling up data even when connected to Wi-Fi, send us an email to tips@consumerist.com and let us know.

IPhone 5 WiFi bug leads to giant cellular data overages [CNNMoney]

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