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Help Data use question

lordofthemoon

lordofthemoon

Newbie
Hi all,
I just discovered the other day that I'm getting perilously close to my monthly data limit so I'm doing what I can to make sure that the S2 doesn't do anything I don't know about. I've turned off cellular data (I think!) using the pull-down menu and delselected "Data" and I've also gone into Settings -> Accounts & Sync and turned off auto-sync and Background data.

My question is, is this necessary? Can I leave Background Data/Auto-sync (and what really is the difference between those two?) checked so that they'll work when I have wifi, but not over the mobile network?

Mind you, turning those off really does seem to radically boost my battery life (although at the expense of turning my smartphone into a dumb phone :D).

Thanks,
Raj.
 
If you deselect data from the drop down menu there's not much point turning off auto-sync and background data, as they won't be able to sync without a data connection anyway.

If you just leave Data switched off, you will not use any mobile data, you will definitely have a lot more battery, and you can switch on wifi when you like and your apps will automatically sync then.
 
jeremy_inc said:
If you deselect data from the drop down menu there's not much point turning off auto-sync and background data, as they won't be able to sync without a data connection anyway.

If you just leave Data switched off, you will not use any mobile data, you will definitely have a lot more battery, and you can switch on wifi when you like and your apps will automatically sync then.
Click to expand...
This is what I do, turn the data on as and when, I never get near to my monthly 500mb limit and that's using the satnav sometimes, and also using home wifi and hot spots when possible.
 
How did you get the data toggle in the pull down notification bar? Never seen it there. The place is actually long pressing the power button and get an option to on/off data line. I did set up a toggle on my homescreen for easy access.

You can leave your settings as is and just off the data when you don't need it, to control usage and to improve battery life. Can leave the sync on since it can't sync without data anyway. Like the other guys mentioned.
 
Does anybody know what "normal" data usage is if you are not actually using your phone? I too have a 500mb allowance with o2, and for the first time last week got a warning text that i was near my limit. I have since kept a very close eye on my data usage, & today after being out of the house for approx 1.5 hours I am shocked to see that my data usage has increased by 2mb. This was with my phone inactive in my pocket. I am sure something has "gone wrong" with my handset?
 
I am also with o2 and had the same warning twice of the past 8 months or so. After the second one i downloaded an app called My Data Manager which is pretty cool.
I could not put my finger on exactly what it was but the both times i did it i set up my work email so i guess it may have downloaded a load of stuff through that. Also the first time i got this i noticed that an app called News And Weather was eating a fair bit so i changed a setting and not seen it since.
On an average month i eat about 250Mb data currently at 233.6Mb with 3 days to go.
 
I use widgetsoid to set up all kind of toggles. Use 3g watchdog pro to check usage. Email should not take up much memory since it doesn't download attachment automatically. That is with stock. Not sure if use other email app. Not sure what you mean by normal usage since everyone is probably different.
 
Russell Ng said:
How did you get the data toggle in the pull down notification bar? Never seen it there. The place is actually long pressing the power button and get an option to on/off data line. I did set up a toggle on my homescreen for easy access.

You can leave your settings as is and just off the data when you don't need it, to control usage and to improve battery life. Can leave the sync on since it can't sync without data anyway. Like the other guys mentioned.
Click to expand...

I flashed Jkay which lets you change all the toggles in the dropdown notification, but I think data was there before I flashed it anyway? Not sure....
 
i used droidwall.. to stop all programs except the ones i wanted to from using regular data.. you can also select which ones can access data thru your wifi.... very useful cuz i used to have a blackberry and i almost went over my data usage till i realized almost all the programs default ones try and use data in some way shape or form... even with all the sync options off... and even when the phone is sitting idle... installed droidwall.. set it up to run well facebook internet browser email.. shit like that.. everything else cant access.. and the phone runs fine... and my data is back around using 20 30 megs a day and thats using those things now i dont get krazy amounst of emails... hope that helps maybe... cheers
 
Thanks all, in future I'll leave "background data" turned on, and just turn off the mobile data. I'm also not sure how I used that much data, normally I get close (ie to within a 100MB or so) but never this much.

Russell Ng: I think I've always had that in the top bar. I'm on 2.3.5.
 
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