Smartphones have grown in numbers, and the prices are very competitive. But internet data prices for mobile devices are high and you have to keep the usage under a cap too. Now people use more apps, download games and view multimedia on their smartphones. Service providers limit the usage because they have to save bandwidth for voice calls, which earns them the maximum profit. So, you really have to be proactive to keep the usage under control and save money. You can try some simple things that would help you manage your usage wisely.
1. Use Wi-Fi connectivity
Try connecting to a Wi-Fi network whenever possible. This is going to save you the most by using connectivity from the existing Wi-Fi internet connection. Data on Wi-Fi costs just a fraction when compared to mobile data transfer. Wi-Fi becomes even more important if you are using streaming, downloading and multiplayer online gaming. Wi-Fi would make these things fast along with saving you money.
2. Keep track of your internet usage
If you want to save money, you should know what kind of plan you need. You don’t need a 5 GB plan if your usage is under 2 GB. Also you should not choose a plan that would fall short for your needs. In this case, cap comes under picture and you have to pay even more when you cross the threshold. Now, government has made mandatory for service providers to inform users when they cross their cap. You can also use your usage history of last 30 days to find out which plan would suit you best.
3. Turn off apps when not required
Some apps use more data and this includes GPS. If kept on, it regularly updates itself with latest location. This is done many times per minute and hence it uses a lot of bytes. You should close such apps to use your data plan smartly. You should go to the task manager system and close GPS activities. You can even install an app called Advanced Task killer which would make everything so much easier for you. This would make sure that there are no hidden apps running in the background, feeding on data.
4. Choose you smartphone wisely
You have to understand your needs first before going for ultra high end phone. There is no use for paying for what you’re never going to use. Some phones use more data than others, for example, the new iPhone uses 3 times data as compared to iPhone 3GS. Other heavy data using phones include HTC Desire and Sony Xperia Play.
5. Use social networks wisely
Checking every update would eat your data; install a third party app instead which would inform you about the updates. So, instead of loading the page every time, you may rely on such apps to intimate you. Hence, you can make a choice whether you want to check the update or not.
6. Don’t be a video junkie
Streaming video uses the most number of bytes, so watching a lot of videos over your mobile plan can be expensive sometimes. So, make sure when you want to watch videos you are connected to a Wi-Fi connection. Same goes out for online gaming.
7. Use Opera mini
Opera uses compressed pages from their server for fast loading. This compressing makes the loading content smaller in size. It is a win-win situation where you load pages faster and pay for less data. Though, compression leads to a little inferior image quality but you can adjust the settings just right for you.