Verizon’s iPhone 5 Math: Using The Same Amount Of Data Faster Counts As More Data

We keep hearing about a wi-fi bug that leads to iPhone 5 owners racking up huge data bills when they thought they weren’t on the mobile data network. When Matt contacted Verizon about it, the ever-helpful customer service representative told him that it was just because the iPhone 5 is a 4G LTE device. This is probably the cause of many data complaints that new smartphone users have, but isn’t the case for Matt. He says that he hasn’t changed his browsing habits: using the same amount of data in a shorter amount of time doesn’t mean that he uses more data. At least, not according to the math that everyone except Verizon uses.

I just got off of the phone with Verizon customer service having called them because my iPhone 5 data usage in the first 22 days of the month is way over my highest ever full month usage on the iPhone 4s. They tried to give me the “since its 4g it uses more data quicker” nonsense. I said you still have to use the data and I haven’t changed my habits a bit. I also pointed out that curiously the Verizon Account Analysis tool is down on their website.

Just when you need to evaluate past versus current data usage the most Verizon can’t (won’t?) provide the tool.

I explained to Verizon that my account shows 490mb of downloads yesterday while I was at work and connected to my office network. They mentioned that there is a bug with the iPhone 5 and that all accounts with data plan overages would be wiped at the end of the billing cycle. We’ll see…..

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