Just got my iPhone. I was checking with a few maxis customer service ppl abt tracking data usage. Unfortunately most of them told me that you can only check at the end of yourbilling cycle. One lady told me I can check via *100# but itried without success. maxis CS (123) also can't give me my data usage.

My question is, how are you guys tracking your data usage? Using iPhone itself is the only option I have currently but maxis CS told me it is not accurate. Looking at forums I read that some discrepency may occur because of packet loss, but that should be be alot.

Thanks tinkerbel. Mind to clarify what cause jailbroken phone data statistics to be inaccurate? I have fakeAPN on all the time unless when I want to connect. I also disable ads using the hosts file already.. thanks

Yes I understand that it is illegal and not endorsed by apple but that does not explain it. Unless my understanding is wrong, technically jailbroken apps are also calling the same dialer/protocol as the Apps Store apps to get to the internet. And so far in my experiment, using jailbroken apps via 3g, I still see the data counter increasing.

It's like you connect your laptop to the internet via a modem with data counter, and you're using illegal aps vs genuine apps. The only way data going in and out, regardless of legal or not is via the modem and the counter will still count all data. Unless of course, IF in iPhone case, the jailbroken apps are using separate dialer but I doubt that this is the case.

I have indeed check that my fakeAPN is working. I've tried with multiple apps (App Store & Cydia apps) and confirmed no internet connection is available if I turn off wifi and have fakeAPN enabled. Now I'm tracking my data usage using iphone like a hawk.. hahaha...

One thing I realized is that Maxis does not change your billing cycle. Mine was 17th before changing to iValue and still is afterward. Not sure how they're going to pro-rate stuff as I just got my iphone on 3rd Nov.

Does anybody know of a FREE app that can auto reset data statistics on your billing cycle? Hopefully there is one out there but so far I could not find it.. I know you can manually reset but.. in case we forgot..

Shame on maxis for not providing a way to track data usage online or otherwise. It should be illegal for them to do this!!

Anyway, many thanks for you guys out here.. this forum is a great help..

xpresside,

found some info from this forum:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=764706

from the forum, looks like the cause are push and notification. If you have these two things enabled, then your iPhone will be looking for connection when it needs to fetch data for push or notification service.

also from the forum, I find the tool "iPhone Configuration Utility 2.1" is a great tool to track what your phone is doing (console view). So far my phone is not connecting randomly or searching for updates "sesuka hati". I'll do some more tracking using this tool and I'll update if anything changes..

Glad to inform that my first bill is within my expectation. Data statistics from iPhone somewhat match Maxis. Since I forgot to reset on 17th (my billing cycle), I'd say the numbers are pretty close. This is my usage of two weeks.

iPhone: 107.3MB
Maxis: 101.9MB

My phone is Jailbroken 3Gs.

Let's see how it goes for this month..

This post has been edited by wz3k: Nov 19 2009, 04:16 PM

@hades86
yup from maxis bill.. can log in to maxis website and check.. mine shows like below. not sure where the 4 cents coming from but could be from before I'm on the iValue plan.


@loumou
do you have push and notification turned on? that could be onr reason why your data count keep increasing.. I suggest you consider using fake APN. But, if you have push and notification turned on and using fakeAPN at the same time, your battery could possibly drain faster..

This post has been edited by wz3k: Nov 19 2009, 08:10 PM

@wintzen
my typical daily usage like below, i basically have two "profiles.

1. Outside: Wifi off, fakeAPN off
mostly browse internet - read thestar, utusan, forums, facebook, gmail etc.

2. At Home: Wifi on, fakeAPN on
downloading apps, youtube video (using MxTube)

I always leave 3G and Edge - ON (SBSetting). So far, using fakeAPN is enough to stop my cellular data.
Oh, I also replace the standard "hosts" file to prevent Ads from loading. So far makes my internet surfing faster..