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   Public Radio Group Finds iOS 6 Bandwidth Use Bug

   Glenn Fleishman

   The Public Radio Exchange (PRX), a clearinghouse for and producer of
   public-radio programs, helped This American Life and other shows sort
   out an iOS 6-related spike in bandwidth usage by [1]uncovering a bug in
   a fundamental part of the operating system.

   PRX was asked by This American Life for help in figuring out a spike in
   bandwidth bills in October, and found a similar problem in its own
   logs. It isolated the behavior to ensure its own streaming apps weren't
   at fault. Its analysis shows that apps that rely on iOS frameworks to
   handle networked audio streaming in iOS 6.0 make multiple overlapping
   requests for audio that substantially increase the total number of
   bytes downloaded. The blog entry noted that a 30 MB podcast consumed
   100 MB to downloaded, an exact ratio (30 MB taking 100 MB) that TidBITS
   and its readers have seen as well.

   PRX writes that the bug disappeared in 6.0.1 and couldn't be replicated
   in iOS 5, nor did the group test anything but access via Wi-Fi.
   Nonetheless, we're convinced that the problem isn't limited to
   streaming media nor Wi-Fi. Readers continue to post stories of massive
   data consumption over 3G, 4G, and LTE without using the Podcasts app or
   other streaming audio and video apps while they are within range of a
   Wi-Fi network in their homes, and when with programs that allow
   disabling mobile broadband usage. Twitter users also immediately noted
   that they continue to have problems with the iOS 6.0.1 update and other
   apps.

   Our previous coverage includes Matt Neuburg's deep dive, '[2]Mysterious
   iOS 6 Cellular Data Usage: A Deeper Look' (24 October 2012) and my
   earlier examination, '[3]What's Behind Mysterious Cellular Data Usage
   in iOS 6?' (29 September 2012).

   If you continue to experience mysterious jumps in cellular data
   consumption and are charged for it by your carrier, we recommend asking
   customer service to remove the charges, and documenting your usage and
   any calls you make to the carrier about the issue in case you are
   required to make a claim later to obtain a refund.

   (Hat tip to Michael Panzarino at The Next Web [4]for the link to the
   story, and his reciprocal link to our previous coverage.)

References

   1. http://labs.prx.org/2012/11/14/ios-6-0-devours-data-plans-causes-cdn-overages/
   2. http://tidbits.com/article/13354
   3. http://tidbits.com/article/13304
   4. http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/11/14/bug-in-apples-ios-6-0-triggers-multiple-downloads-of-podcasts-causing-big-data-overages/

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