11-30-2011, 01:29 AM

Hi All - this may appear a very random question and I have searched hours for an answer.

I purchased an unlocked iPhone 4s 64gb yesterday from Apple Store Sydney. As I previously had a 3g I had to wait until I returned home last night to activate and set up etc as no iCloud option. All went without a hitch.

Today I was exploring the phone and discovered some strange things. Even though activated less than 14 hours prior the cellular usage showed 1 day and 23 hours of call time in the lifetime section?

Furthermore the Personal Hotspot had already been established with a password I would never use - should this be blank to begin with?

I have attached photos to demonstrate - just wondering if I have been given a new phone or somebodies refurb or is this the Chinese testing? The phone was full price and packaging was original including the plastic shrinkwrap.

11-30-2011, 11:43 AM

They gave you a used iPhone. There is absolutely no question about it (EDIT: Ok, there is question of it as per rest of thread)

EDIT: I'd like to add a couple other observations. First… that Lifetime Call Time cannot be reset. At least not from that screen. I'm not sure if a software restore can. Regardless, with a Lifetime history of 1 day and 23 hours' worth of calls… unless someone was on phone calls non-stop for 2 full days/nights, then that phone has been in use for several days at least. Although… I've been using my 4S for a little over 2 weeks now and have 6 days-worth of lifetime usage. There is no way I've logged that much call time in 2 weeks. Now you have me curious. My wife picked up mine the day it arrived at Best Buy after waiting a month, and I know they had a new shipment that day.

Still... the personal hotspot shouldn't have been enabled in advance with a strange password.

11-30-2011, 03:24 PM

I have a couple quick questions. Did you have an iPhone before you got this one? For how long? Have you ever restored it as a new phone? Does the serial number match the one on your box?

I'm trying to make sense of my own Lifetime call history. I'm wondering if it's cumulative for my account or rolled over when I restored my 4S with the backup of my 3GS. Can anyone else who has done a recent iPhone upgrade check their log and chime in?

11-30-2011, 03:42 PM

Interesting, I just got my 4s on Saturday.

So my wife got home, she got her 4s at the same time as mine (switched from a blackberry). Her lifetime usage is identical to her current period. I wonder if it carried over from my 3gs. Wish I still had it to take a look

11-30-2011, 04:30 PM

Ok, so this thread got me curious.

It was carried over from my restore from previous backup.


/var/wireless/Library/CallHistory/call_history.db

That's the file it's pulled from.

11-30-2011, 05:35 PM

Firstly thanks to all for the fast responses. Will try to answer all questions / observations:
- I knew I could not reset the lifetime but I was taking a snap shot to prove I had the phone for less than 24 hours so wanted the reset date and time to reflect that.
- Serial number matches the box and the receipt from Apple.
- Did have a 3g prior to the 4s so looks like it carried the history over from that. Currently in another state within Australia but still have the 3g at home so I will post again on Monday once I can check the call history on that - looks like it should match the call history on the new phone.

Still confused about the personal hotspot though - 3g didn't have it so it couldn't have carried over those settings? That password has no connection to my life.

11-30-2011, 05:44 PM

Yea, I tried to go into the personal wifi settings, but thanks to having an unlimited data plan, I can not even go into the settings without restricting my data to 4gb/mo max (at twice the cost for the plan).

I would think though, it should be blank.

Here's a thought.

You could go into Settings > General > Reset and do the "Erase All Content and Settings" bit. This removes the encryption keys and thus wipes the phone as it would have come from the factory. From there, you'd notice that the lifetime usage should be 0 and the password would be gone. You'd then have to restore from backup, or manually set up your phone again. So it would be a mostly academic exercise I'm afraid.

11-30-2011, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by MickFord

Firstly thanks to all for the fast responses. Will try to answer all questions / observations:
- I knew I could not reset the lifetime but I was taking a snap shot to prove I had the phone for less than 24 hours so wanted the reset date and time to reflect that.
- Serial number matches the box and the receipt from Apple.
- Did have a 3g prior to the 4s so looks like it carried the history over from that. Currently in another state within Australia but still have the 3g at home so I will post again on Monday once I can check the call history on that - looks like it should match the call history on the new phone.

Still confused about the personal hotspot though - 3g didn't have it so it couldn't have carried over those settings? That password has no connection to my life.

The Lifetime call history should be a holdover from your 3G. That's gotta be my case also. Even if someone had pulled a fast switch on me, they would have had to be on phone calls 4 hours a day every day since the 4S launched to log that much lifetime usage. I also called AT&T to see if that iPhone had ever been activated by someone else, and it hadn't been.

I think it's unlikely you got burned with a used model somehow. If you restored your 3G's backup to the 4S, then I would think that the password (or lack of one) for the hotspot feature would had to have carried over from your backup. If not, maybe someone was trying it out in the Store. In any event, if the iPhone looks brand spanking new and functions perfectly, I wouldn't sweat this too much. Even a new car has usually had a few other drivers before you buy it.