Cellular usage measurement

I have an iPhone 4S running iOS 7.1.2 and using an AT&T plan that allows me 200MB of cellular data per month, which has been more than enough for my needs every month for several years now. Last Thursday I received two text messages from AT&T letting me know that I had used 137GB and, a couple of hours later, 189 MB of my monthly data allowance. This morning I received another message saying I'd gone over the 200 MB by about 1 MB, and I'd be billed $15 for another 200 MB. That would be OK with me if it weren't for the fact that my phone says (in Settings > Cellular > Current Period) I've only used a total of 186 MB since my last reset, which was an hour before my current monthly billing cycle began at 12:01AM on June 11.
AT&T Customer Support's story is that the Settings app's monitoring of my cellular data usage doesn't include all the apps or functions that actually use cellular data, but AT&T's monitoring does, and therefore it provides the only accurate record of my usage. I can certainly see why AT&T likes this explanation, but I'm suspicious of it. Why would Apple build cellular data usage recording into Settings if it wasn't going to be accurate enough to be useful? Is AT&T telling me the truth?
Are there apps or processes that use cellular data when no apps are open, or when the phone is asleep?
I really like being able to see in Settings how much cellular data I've used for each of my cellular-enabled apps (as well as for System Services), but AT&T's alternative usage reporting methods (either by dialing *3282# or by checking in the "My AT&T" app) only give me the grand total since the start of the current billing period, with no breakdown or detail at all. If Apple's reporting really isn't complete and accurate, I hope Apple will correct the defect ASAP.

eww wrote:
Are there apps or processes that use cellular data when no apps are open, or when the phone is asleep?
Absolutely! Any app that uses data while the phone is asleep will use cellular data, because the phone turns off WiFi when it is asleep to save the battery unless it is plugged in.
There is also never a time when there are no apps open. Closing an app from the Quick Launch screen does not kill the app's background process if it is a built in app. And if it is a 3rd party app the first Notification that the app receives will relaunch the app's background process.
Some functions always use cellular data, even if the phone is connected to WiFi, or asleep, or both. Visual Voicemail is one. Find my iPhone is another.
You can turn off background processing for apps in Settings; this is probably a good place to visit. And also see: http://www.overthought.org/blog/2014/the-ultimate-guide-to-solving-ios-battery-d rain. While it talks about battery usage, that's indirectly connected to cellular data usage.
I suggest a 1 GB data plan. It isn't that much more than 200 MB. And it is less if you go over 200 MB.

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