Apple Releases Update To Fix iPhone 5 Wi-Fi Bug For Verizon Users

Apple’s iPhone 5 has only been available for just over a week, but users have already detected a bug affecting data usage. On Sunday, Apple issued a carrier update to fix a malfunction causing iPhone 5 owners on the Verizon network to use cellular data when connected to a Wi-Fi network.

“Under certain circumstances, iPhone 5 may use Verizon cellular data while the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network,” Verizon spokesperson Torod Neptune told The Verge. “Apple has a fix that is being delivered to Verizon customers right on their iPhone 5. Verizon Wireless customers will not be charged for any unwarranted cellular data usage.”

These “circumstances” have not been specified by either Apple or Verizon.

Generally when a device is connected to a Wi-Fi network, the data plan is not being used. This particularly impacts those with limited or shared data plans who may connect to a network to avoid powering through their allotted data.

Verizon’s current Share Everything plan requires users to purchase a certain amount of data to be divided among various devices each month. This includes tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices. If this bug had persisted, Verizon owners of Apple’s new smartphone may have plowed through this purchased data quicker than expected.

Apple’s support page has outlined the following steps to resolve this issue:

1. Tap Settings > General > About.
2. Wait for an alert to appear that will say: “Carrier Settings Updated.”
3. Tap OK to install the update.
4. Hold the Sleep/Wake button down until you see “slide to power off.”
5. Slide to power off.
6. After the device powers off, hold the Sleep/Wake button to turn your phone back on.

Note: To finish the installation of the update, your iPhone 5 must be turned off and then on again.

After your iPhone restarts, tap Settings > General > About, then scroll down to Carrier and verify that “Verizon 13.1” is displayed.

This update follows numerous complaints in the Apple Support Communities from users receiving unwarranted data usage charges. The eight-page thread consists of Verizon iPhone 5 owners brainstorming the cause of the issue, with some blaming Apple’s iOS 6 for the problem.

Although the data usage bug is believed to be only affect Verizon iPhone 5 owners, there have been reports of AT&T customers, iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 owners facing similar issues.

This Wi-Fi bug comes on the heels of another noteoworthy issue iPhone 5 buyers have reported: When unboxing brand new black iPhone 5 devices, some users said scratches and scuffs were found along the unused phone's body. Apple's senior VP of marketing Phil Schiller responded in an email to one customer saying scratches are "normal" for aluminum products.