[RobintheFrog]

I signed up for the cheap $10 for 1 gig hotspot plan to enable casual usage of an iPad in the car. I kept getting notices that my data was about to run out, even though I hadn't explicitly used it.

Suddenly it occurred to me. My iPhone was eating it up doing background activities. I have my phone set to do cloud uploads or other background activities only when on wifi...saves my cellular data for actual surfing and email. This is the must-have configuration for typical phone usage. Fatal flaw!!! The phone connects to my hotspot when I get in the car and thinks it is at home. Hence it eats up my 1 gig pretty fast.

I can't think of a solution that won't ruin my primary usage of my phone. Apple devices share known networks so I can't just ignore the hotspot on my iPhone while enabling it for my iPad.

Hence, I'm cancelling my hotspot.

Any ideas?

 

[jcanoe]

I signed up for the cheap $10 for 1 gig hotspot plan to enable casual usage of an iPad in the car. I kept getting notices that my data was about to run out, even though I hadn't explicitly used it.

Suddenly it occurred to me. My iPhone was eating it up doing background activities. I have my phone set to do cloud uploads or other background activities only when on wifi...saves my cellular data for actual surfing and email. This is the must-have configuration for typical phone usage. Fatal flaw!!! The phone connects to my hotspot when I get in the car and thinks it is at home. Hence it eats up my 1 gig pretty fast.

I can't think of a solution that won't ruin my primary usage of my phone. Apple devices share known networks so I can't just ignore the hotspot on my iPhone while enabling it for my iPad.

Hence, I'm cancelling my hotspot.

Any ideas?

I originally had this issue on my iPhone in my 2017 Volt until I turned off automatic downloads and updates in the iPhone settings. You can monitor data usage for the apps and set which apps use cellular service. For WiFi you can specify that the iPhone should not automatically join other than your home WiFi network. I later switched to the OnStar unlimited data plan for $20/mo now I don't think about it, stream Amazon Music from my iPhone using the Volt's WiFi connection every time I am in my Volt.

 

[obermd]

Can you tell your iPhone that your car is a metered connection?

 

[Cord]

Good point and which network.

also Spectrum (cable) just added a city wide WiIF which I had not noticed I had on - I get up to 129Mbps on download on Sprint and was only getting 12.4 Mbps as Iphone jumped to Spectrum wifi.

 

[caskConditionedAle]

iOS will not connect to an unknown wifi source unless you tell it to. Once it has that source in its list, it will connect to it automatically. Use settings to remove your hotspot as a known source.

 

[reciprocity]

I really wish Apple would allow advanced users to identify "metered" Wi-Fi hotspots so that iCloud backups, OS updates, etc. don't take place when connected to that network. If you agree, be sure to leave feedback about it so they know it's an issue: https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

 

[Barry]

This may not be as convenient as you need it to be, but 2 other options would be 1) after using the iPad in the car, delete (forget) the network in WIFI settings, or 2) set the iPad up on a different Apple ID so you can have different WIFI networks.

I doubt GM gives you this level of control, but for a regular home WIFI router, you can often exclude devices by MAC address.

 

[Lotus54]

At least on the latest OS- you can swipe down and touch the WiFi icon. This will temporarily disconnect the current WiFi.
That is a bit of a pain if you are in and out.

I do have automatic downloads turned off and that would certainly help a bunch I think.

You could also ‘forget’ the network- but then you have to join when you do want to use it.

 

[JRRF]

I can't think of a solution that won't ruin my primary usage of my phone. Apple devices share known networks so I can't just ignore the hotspot on my iPhone while enabling it for my iPad.

Any ideas?

Ideas? Apple sucks -- constantly trying to control everything you do. Get an Android phone and tablet and the problem will be solved. Unfortunately if sounds like Apple already has their teeth in you if you are regularly putting everything in their cloud.

 

[JRRF]

Ideas? Apple sucks -- constantly trying to control everything you do. Get an Android phone and tablet and the problem will be solved. Unfortunately if sounds like Apple already has their teeth in you if you are regularly putting everything in their cloud.

Secondarily, if your shelling out all the big bucks for all that Apple gear and cloud storage, another $10/month should be small change.

 

[Dutch]

I really wish Apple would allow advanced users to identify "metered" Wi-Fi hotspots so that iCloud backups, OS updates, etc. don't take place when connected to that network. If you agree, be sure to leave feedback about it so they know it's an issue: https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

I really wish service providers would stop dicking us around in terms of data usage models from the early 1990s

 

[Cord]

Spectrum wifi app was not following the normal forget rules so deleted the app for now.
Might be possible there were a LOT I picked up in the city and did not slide to forget all of them.
There were 10 hot spots where I was standing and the app may have been playing games with the main name.

 

[PJL]

This thread actually isn't about how the Volt WiFi hotspot works, is it? Rather it's about how Apple doesn't let you control a WiFi connection by either limiting downloads that are metered or to not connect automatically isn't it? Windows and Android WiFi functionality does both. Yet another reason for me to not get an iPhone.

 

[Barry]

^ iOS can be set to not connect automatically. The problem in this case is that he has 2 devices with the same user ID, so iOS assumes he has the same preference across both devices.

 

[RodSlinger]

I never even signed up for hotspot...here's why.

It basically sucks. I haven't even used the free data the car came with. Far too expensive considering any modern cell plan includes hotspot already and far more than 1gb to boot. It isn't as convenient to setup or use either. I also don't want my car broadcasting on WiFi channels that could interferes with someone else if I don't need it. Turning it on and off just isn't as simple as tapping the on/off hotspot icon in my Android pull down menu. Or just telling Google to turn on hotspot.

 

[PJL]

^ iOS can be set to not connect automatically. The problem in this case is that he has 2 devices with the same user ID, so iOS assumes he has the same preference across both devices.

Again, both Windows and Android allow the use of one user ID on multiple devices but also allow different WiFi settings on each device. Sounds like Apple again assuming they know better what the customer wants rather than the customer making their own decisions on what they want.

 

[Barry]

Not sure why this thread needs to turn into Apple-bashing. I think Apple has a pretty good idea of what many customers want based on how popular their phones are. I have used both and see trade offs with either OS. I am glad you like your Android experience. Android is far better for many users, but not the best choice for everyone.

 

[PilotAlan]

Apple devices share known networks so I can't just ignore the hotspot on my iPhone while enabling it for my iPad.

This is the root of the issue, right here.

In other matters, I found the hotspot very useful on road trips, in places with marginal coverage. I don't know where the LTE antenna is, but my phone inside the car had barely one bar and could barely get data (or not at all), while the hotspot built in to the car had very good service and lots of throughput.

Another time we were doing a disaster exercise, and the building's exterior WiFi went out. I pulled my car up, put it in park (so the engine was off), and provided WiFi to the outside workers without a hitch.

 

[Barry]

^ Having the antenna mounted on top of the roof of the car is an ideal location. You may also benefit by the fact that you may have a different carrier for your phone, so coverage in a certain location can be different due to that.

 

[RobintheFrog]

It's not the $10...it's that it leaks away in the background.