Lawsuit accuses Apple's iOS 9 Wi-Fi Assist of burning through $5M+ in data

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  • Reply 81 of 166
    While I love the feature, I do agree that the phone, at least for the first time, should warn you of WiFi Assist usage and offer options on how to handle future situations. Or have the WiFi icon change to something different, indicating the assist feature is active.
  • Reply 82 of 166
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    I think you are right. I just tested it, but I'm still not sure how it differs from just switching over to cellular like it always did from an icon perspective.

     

    I originally read about it here http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/30/technology/ios-9-wifi-assist/

     

    I apparently have a really strong wifi signal, I had to walk about 50 meters down the driveway and out of line of sight to get out of wifi range and it did remove the wifi icon and replace it with the cellular. Surprisingly, I had to walk back towards the wifi router to within maybe 5 meters before it switched back to show 3 bars signal strength.


    Mine works every day at work. It shows the wifi connection symbol grayed out for a matter of seconds before it switches to showing I'm on Verizon's LTE network. This really isn't that much different from when you lose a wifi signal. At the end of the day, people need to be responsible and make sure they aren't on their cellular network if they are doing things like streaming movies. I think it's going to be tough to prove Wi-Fi Assist is the main culprit with people going over their data in this case. Check out this article:

     

    http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/609270/Apple-iOS-9-Wifi-Assist-Mobile-Data

  • Reply 83 of 166
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 21yr_mac_user View Post

     

    Crap, I didn't even know about this - it was buried at the bottom and I never even saw it! No wonder I got hit with $60 in overage fees and my wife's at $30 - I have a few bad spots in the house. This is a great feature for those with unlimited plans - but for the vast majority - it's something we will never want - unless it has a pop up "wifi data spotty - switching to cellular data - OK / Not OK"

     

    I'm tech savvy but who has time to go over every setting everything a new OS update is applied? We do hold Apple to a higher standard of "it just works" (within reason). That's why we pay more money - to avoid this kind of crap. This is a mature product and something like this should have been called out and not defaulted on and buried.

     

    I don't like lawsuits - but this is spot on. Glad I didn't update my parent's phones yet!

     

    I'm contacting Apple and AT&T about this!


    It takes seconds to look at your phone to see if you are on wifi or not. Blame yourself and your wife by not taking literally seconds out of your life to look at your phone. It's your own fault you don't want to take the time to go through your phone settings. Your laziness isn't Apple's fault. 

  • Reply 84 of 166
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Boltsfan17 View Post

     

    Mine works every day at work. It shows the wifi connection symbol grayed out for a matter of seconds before it switches to showing I'm on Verizon's LTE network. 


    If greyed out icon only lasts for a second or two I may have missed it, but if wifi assist is only on for a few seconds before it switches completely to cellular, how is that even useful? I would have expected it to have a wider and more significant effect than just a second or two at the absolute edge of your wifi range.

  • Reply 85 of 166
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,727member

    Maybe is these totally stupid and clueless user had not spent all their money on Magic Beans they would have the cash to deal with these overages. 

     

    Where exactly did people think the "assist" would come from?

     

    Sometimes I think that people cannot get any more stupid. Then a lawyer steps in and "poof" I am proven wrong again. 

  • Reply 86 of 166
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    If greyed out icon only lasts for a second or two I may have missed it, but if wifi assist is only on for a few seconds before it switches completely to cellular, how is that even useful? I would have expected it to have a wider and more significant effect than just a second or two at the absolute edge of your wifi range.


    It's extremely useful. It only takes a matter of seconds to switch from wifi to your cellular connection. Wi-Fi Assist makes that transition smooth so your internet doesn't stop. Before iOS 9, I would have to turn off wifi on my phone at work when I was at the borderline of the router range. I would still be connected to the network, but no data was transferring. Now with Wi-Fi Assist, it switches to my cellular connection and data doesn't stop. 

  • Reply 87 of 166
    Well anyone using iOS 9 clicked "I AGREE" to the terms and conditions, making this nice and legal. The plaintiffs did read the terms and conditions, right?

    [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/64582/width/400/height/800[/IMG]
  • Reply 88 of 166
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    This should always have been a non-default advanced users option. Use the tips app to explain it to people.

    Here's Apples own explanation

    [quote]Wi-Fi Assist will not automatically switch to cellular if you're data roaming.
    Wi-Fi Assist only works when you have apps running in the foreground and doesn't activate with background downloading of content.
    Wi-Fi Assist doesn’t activate with some third-party apps that stream audio or video, or download attachments, like an email app, as they might use large amounts of data.[/quote]

    They clearly realise there would be problems in those cases so it is clearly possible that there could be problems elsewhere.

    Even techies can't be expected to monitor the top left all the time and it might be hidden in full screen apps. Should always have been an advanced user option.
  • Reply 89 of 166



    The only point they have is lawyers are the scum of our society. If not for a sleaze bag lawyer looking for a payday via extortion and abuse of the tort system, this garbage doesn't happen. What this clown lawyer hasn't figured out is Apple will fight to the end no matter what it cost rather than let smegma like them collect a dime..

  • Reply 90 of 166
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,389member

    Oh, **** these greedy, dimwitted, lazy douchebags. You have a CONSTANT indicator on the phone that shows if it's using LTE or WIFI. If someone notices that it is NOT connecting to WIFI in places where it would, doing of Google search will get them the answer in 2 seconds. And if one is too fucking stupid NOT to notice this, it's not Apple's fault. This is beyond frivolous and insane. This is why we can't have nice things, because every new feature needs to be wrapped in a million cautionary warnings, notifications, terms, and other bullshit to appease the stupidest behavior of the lowest common denominator and prevent lawsuits. 

  • Reply 91 of 166
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    boltsfan17 wrote: »
    It's extremely useful. It only takes a matter of seconds to switch from wifi to your cellular connection. Wi-Fi Assist makes that transition smooth so your internet doesn't stop. Before iOS 9, I would have to turn off wifi on my phone at work when I was at the borderline of the router range. I would still be connected to the network, but no data was transferring. Now with Wi-Fi Assist, it switches to my cellular connection and data doesn't stop. 

    Good. As an advanced user who needs this you should be able to use it. Not so much for mom.
  • Reply 92 of 166
    Don't know about you but I get an email from my cellular provider when I am within 500Mb of going over on my wife's data plan. That is plenty of advance warning.

    Apple supplies manuals for their OS in the form of terms of service and tips. What's that old adage.. Not knowing the law does not excuse you from having to follow it.

    This is the same "not my fault" mentality that is wrong in this world. Kanye wants to complain about his 2 year old making in app purchase after his wife defends them as her source of revenue because there are plenty of ways to avoid them. Be responsible for your own actions people.
  • Reply 93 of 166
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    slurpy wrote: »
    Oh, **** these greedy, dimwitted, lazy douchebags. You have a CONSTANT indicator on the phone that shows if it's using LTE or WIFI. If someone notices that it is NOT connecting to WIFI in places where it would, doing of Google search will get them the answer in 2 seconds. And if one is too fucking stupid NOT to notice this, it's not Apple's fault. This is beyond frivolous and insane. This is why we can't have nice things, because every new feature needs to be wrapped in a million cautionary warnings, notifications, terms, and other bullshit to appease the stupidest behavior of the lowest common denominator and prevent lawsuits. 

    Is that indicator really constant? What if I am downloading content from a full screen game? What if iOS 9 had a back button which hid it.
  • Reply 94 of 166
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,617member
    If they can prove they got jipped out of $5m of data then fair enough. If it is less than that then they should be counter sued.
  • Reply 95 of 166
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 2,026member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by happywaiman View Post



    5M for over the data limit?

    Where do they live? Mars?



    It is a class action and the $5M "burned through" is likely an estimate of usage by the entire "class"

  • Reply 96 of 166
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,913member

    I see Wifi Assist as a refinement and improvement over the previous Wifi-to-LTE switching.  iPhones have always automatically moved from one network type to the other when the signal was weak.  In the past (pre iOS 9) I found that the handoff from Wifi to LTE was not very good and often caused certain apps to hang or lose data briefly.  Now, with Wifi assist, the handoff happens more smoothly with no hangs.  What I have observed however, is that the move from WiFI to LTE happens much sooner than it did in the past.  If I walk out to the backyard, my 5GHz Airport signal drops off really fast and the LTE kicks in immediately.  Before iOS 9 it hemmed an hawed and really made me move well away from the house before the handoff, all the while the phone was experiencing slow data flow if not downright stoppage. This new behavior could result in a slight increase in LTE data usage, but it doesn't seem to me it would add up to much.  I suppose in certain circumstances the data usage could be large, but I doubt it is a frequent event.

  • Reply 97 of 166
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member
    Had this on since day one of getting my 6s Plus on day one, well if anything my usage is down.

    People's mileage will vary but come on. This is a nuisance suit, if anything signals that it's the peanuts 5 mil.
  • Reply 98 of 166
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    I do have to agree with most people here, Apple thought that people
    were smarter than what they actually are, they should've left that off
    And have a 10 step warning system telling people what would happen
    When the phone automatically disconnects from wifi and chooses to use data
    So they can watch all those cat videos, uninterrupted. Apple needs to realize
    That people are dum and some of them think that things just happen magically,
    Not even trying to put some logic into it.

    In the other hand if you can't afford your bill, maybe you shouldn't be buying an iPhone,
    Or having a cellular data plan.
  • Reply 99 of 166

    Come on Apple, cut all these assholes their $5 cheque for going over on data and move on.

     

    In fact, maybe they could set up a webpage where people can send their previous months bill showing the data overage, and then they'll be reimbursed by Apple. I bet so few people would bother for a couple dollars that it would cost Apple next to nothing.

     

    Plus it would cut the lawyers completely out of the picture, since there would no longer be any need for a class action lawsuit.

     

     

    I know, not realistic, but for once I'd love to see something proactive like this happen which would deny the lawyers their (huge) cut of some lump sum payout.

  • Reply 100 of 166
    I would agree that I've had this on since it was implemented in the iOS 9.0 betas and have yet to notice any increase at all and as a user of a mobile device if your on a limited plan maybe practice due diligence and keep track of your data usage instead of wanting to blame someone else. As an adult you should be able to figure simple things like that and if it's your kids then maybe you should manage them like a parent.
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