IPhone using cellular network to transmit/receive data even while on Wi-Fi

I have recently noticed a strange problem with my 15 month-old 3GS. Although my phone sits at home most of time time and is constantly connected to my wi-fi network, it is still using the AT&T network to send and receive some data. I can see this by tracking my cellular data usage via the usage page in preferences and via the AT&T app.
If I had an unlimited data plan, this wouldn't be an issue, but a couple of months ago I switched to the 200MB/month plan. If the phone is using the cellular network when it shouldn't be and using up megabytes that should be free under wi-fi, we've got a problem. Last month, I came within 5MB of my limit, in part, I believe, because my phone was not using wi-fi exclusively when connected to a working network (as it was a majority of the time).
This evening, I reset all my usage statistics, and in less than four hours the phone has used 319KB of cellular data, even though it's been on wi-fi the entire time. In the time it took to type this message, it used 22KB of bandwith, not a lot in isolation, but it adds up over the month.
Apple Care said to call AT&T, though I can't see why as it's either a software or hardware problem. They also said that MMS photo messages might account for the discrepancy, but I never send such messages and I've never received one either. AT&T isn't sure what to do, apart from giving me a credit if I do go over my limit.
So, has anyone else noticed this happening? And can anyone offer an explanation or a solution (apart from turning off my cellular data and/or data roaming, which should not be necessary and compromises functionality)?

If that's the problem, then I'll have to turn off the phone completely when I'm not actively using it, which sort of defeats the purpose of having a phone.
If your iPhone is running iOS4.0 or later, you can turn Cellular Data off at Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data which prevents any data access via the cellular network without having to power your iPhone off.
Do you have an email account or accounts set to be automatically checked for new messages?

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