iPhone 5/iOS 6 Phantom Cellular Data Affecting More Carriers, Devices.

iOS 6 and the iPhone 5 have had no shortage of issues since they both launched almost two weeks ago. Everything from camera flare issues, WiFi problems and iTunes Match issues have been attributed to the two newest additions to Apple’s mobile line. The most recent problem attributed to iOS 6 in particular has been occurring to Verizon Wireless customers in particular, and involves phantom data use gobbling down massive amounts of data even when connected over WiFi. And after Apple issued a carrier update late Sunday to correct phantom data usage while connected to WiFi, it appears that they will have to add other carriers and hardware to the aforementioned update. 9to5Mac highlights growing reports from AT&T users complaining of the same issue. One user in particular claims he went through 3 GB in the matter of a few days all while connected to WiFi. The New York Times separately notes that both AT&T and Sprint users are having similar issues, and that the phantom data usage isn’t solely on the new iPhone meaning iOS 6 is the real culprit.

This is happening to me now on AT&T. I’m using an iPhone 4S running iOS 6.money.cnn.com/2012/10/01/tec…

— Tim Acker (@tjacker31) October 1, 2012

Reading through this thread in the Apple support forums will reaffirm the claims echoed above – that Verizon isn’t the only carrier with users seeing cellular data being mowed through while connected to WiFi, nor is the iPhone 5 the only device; people on the iPhone 4 and 4S are also seeing similar problems.

With mounting issues popping up what seems like daily, a growing number of customers are desperately looking to Apple for relief. Based on our own experience thus far, we’d say iOS 6 is Apple’s buggiest software release in recent memory. (Their mobile Vista.) Seriously. We’ve never had any serious issues with any iOS release, and already in just a week have surpassed the last 3-4 iOS releases in terms of frustration and witnessed bugs.

Have you experienced phantom data usage and if so, what carrier? Also, Verizon users who have received the carrier update, how has your data usage been post-update?

Sources: 9to5 Mac | NYT | Apple Support Forums