iPhone Wi-Fi glitch may affect users on other carriers
A bug that counts Wi-Fi usage against subscribers' data limits may affect carriers beyond Verizon. Apple's fix addresses Verizon iPhone 5 users, but the company hasn't said anything so far about other carriers.
The software glitch that gobbled through the monthly data allotments of some iPhone 5 users may be affecting subscribers on carriers other than Verizon Wireless.
Last week, iPhone 5 users on Apple's online support community complained that they were blowing through their data plans even when they were spending the majority of their time on Wi-Fi. Over the weekend, Apple issued a software update that fixed the problem for Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon issued a statement saying that the glitch had been fixed and no one would be charged for any overages related to the glitch.
It's still unclear what caused the problem. And it's unclear whether other carriers offering the iPhone 5 have had a similar issue. But there are complaints on Apple's support page that suggests the problem is not isolated to Verizon.
One AT&T iPhone 5 subscriber said Monday that he had reset his usage statistics this morning and noticed he had already used 382MB of data by midday. And this was when he was supposedly on a Wi-Fi network. Another AT&T iPhone customer said he has also seen an inordinate amount of data use on his iPhone.
"For two weeks it used 3GB of data already," said one poster on the message board named ksmolka. "And I have never passed the 2GB mark on my old iPhones."
So far, AT&T said it is not commenting. And Apple has not returned requests for comment. It's unclear if the issue is affecting Sprint Nextel customers, which also sells the iPhone 5 in the U.S. The company has not responded to a request for comment. But there have been some complaints from other iPhone users in other countries. For example, CNET received an email from a user in Canada complaining of the same issue.
"I've noticed I've already used as much data in 2 weeks as I usually use in a month," a user calling himself Ryan wrote in an email. "With no differences in usage times or locations. I am with Bell in Canada and am blown away at the amount of data already consumed."
Stay tuned for more information on this story.
