iPhone 4S Users Charged Double iPhone 4 Data Fees Thanks to Siri

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Friday, January 06, 2012

Siri is apparently causing iPhone 4S users to be charge double the data fees of iPhone 4 owners and triple that of iPhone 3GS owners, according to a study from telecom network technology firm Arieso.

The Siri voice assistant feature seems to consumer large amounts of data when performing tasks such as getting directions or checking the forecast. The data showed that the iPhone 4 uses 1.6 times as much data as the iPhone 3G, and owners of the iPad 2 use about 2.5 times more data than the iPhone 3G so as technology progresses, using these devices at optimum level becomes costly.

“I use the iPhone 4 myself and when I first heard of the iPhone 4S features I was not compelled to rush out and get one,” Arieso’s chief technology officer, Michael Flanagan said. “However, the data usage numbers I am seeing make me wonder what I am missing.”

Siri eats up large amount of data when owners of the iPhone 4S speak commands and requests into the device turned those into audio files and sending them to Apple’s servers. Once they reach Apple’s servers they are translated into text that is analyzed by Apple for meaning and context.

Once the data is transcribed and understood, Apple replies with a message to the 4S owner instructing them on how to fulfill their inquiry. This might take several tries at times and involve heavy data usage by making phone calls, opening web pages and sending texts.

Another culprit in the recent overconsumption of data is video on mobile devices. All newer smartphones and tablets are capable of streaming video the way a computer does. Users are also creating video on their mobile devices and streaming it on the internet which also uses up large amounts of data.