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iOS 9 'Wi-Fi Assist' Could Lead To Huge Wireless Bills

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-just-works-for-the-carriers dept.

Dave Knott writes: One of the new features introduced in iOS9 is "Wi-Fi Assist." This enables your phone to automatically switch from Wi-Fi to a cellular connection when the Wi-Fi signal is poor. That's helpful if you're in the middle of watching a video or some other task on the internet that you don't want interrupted by spotty Wi-Fi service. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi Assist is enabled by default, which means that users may exceed their data cap without knowing it because their phone is silently switching their data connection from Wi-Fi to cellular.

5 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm leaving it on because it's damn useful.

    When I'm leaving work the phone would grab onto the ever more remote WiFi, creating a kind of dead zone in the parking lot where the WiFi was too weak.

    When I'm at an airport with crappy WiFi I'd rather have the phone jump ship.

    Or if you auto-join some pay network you used before but don't have an account for at the moment...

    All are great cases for why this makes the experience of using the device better.

    Shouldn't you just leave it on an monitor data use for cellular to see if it looks like you are using significantly more data? The article is no good in that regard because it's quoting a report from a beta version of iOS9, which may have been using lots more data for all kinds of reasons.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Why? by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If your WiFi router turns off any cellular device will switch over. At home the signal is never weak enough that it would have to switch.

      If the WiFi is just gone, then apps that aren't allowed to use cellular network (Netflix being one of this) will simply stop.

      I see very little downside for a lot of day-to-day usability benefit.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  2. Already on Android by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Android has had this feature for years and it hasn't killed my bill.

    I haven't had much seat time with it but my general impression is unless you have really shitty wireless it won't kick on. And if you have wireless that shitty then perhaps you want it to kick on.

    1. Re:Already on Android by ethan961 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah, I've been quite happy with this feature. Usually, if Android temporarily avoids the network, you weren't going to be able to use that network anyways. If you don't want Netflix using mobile data, restricting it from using mobile data would be wise. Before this feature was in Android, I more frequently found myself attempting to use a poor network, turning off Wi-Fi to use mobile internet, and forgetting to turn it back on. For this reason, this feature has saved me more data than it has used needlessly.

  3. Doesn't it already? by gnu-sucks · · Score: 4, Interesting

    sorry, not reading the article. But doesn't an iPhone automatically fallback to cellular data when out of wifi range? I'm pretty sure mine does.

    What's new here? Is it faster? More fault-tollerant?