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Help How to prevent excessive data usage. Need help!

assassin204

assassin204

Lurker
Hi,
Last month I used 6GB of data in my monthly plan, i am only allocated to 1GB of data. I have had the phone for only 1 month, and have only installed a few games, linked 3 email accounts and installed the facebook and ebay apps...

Currently, I am unaware of what could of caused this and according to my carrier it could be the phone searching for updates(which i believe to be complete crap), but am now focused on how to prevent it from ever happening again.

I have been told to perform a factory reset on the phone (which i have), but would also like to take any other precautions to prevent excessive data use.

I am aware that I can turn off packet data, but I believe that this will be really annoying when I need to use the internet, and will become a tiresome habit of turning it on/off when im using and not using the net (But if it is recommended by you, the 'forumers' then i will do this)

Any suggestions to help with my problem will be taken on board.

Thanks
 
assassin204 said:
Hi,
Last month I used 6GB of data in my monthly plan, i am only allocated to 1GB of data. I have had the phone for only 1 month, and have only installed a few games, linked 3 email accounts and installed the facebook and ebay apps...

Currently, I am unaware of what could of caused this and according to my carrier it could be the phone searching for updates(which i believe to be complete crap), but am now focused on how to prevent it from ever happening again.

I have been told to perform a factory reset on the phone (which i have), but would also like to take any other precautions to prevent excessive data use.

I am aware that I can turn off packet data, but I believe that this will be really annoying when I need to use the internet, and will become a tiresome habit of turning it on/off when im using and not using the net (But if it is recommended by you, the 'forumers' then i will do this)

Any suggestions to help with my problem will be taken on board.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I flew through my data in my first fortnight with my phone and was fortunate that when I rang up to enquire about more that they gave me another 500mb free and I've been able to reel it right in and stay under the 1Gb total.

6Gb is a LOT though. I assume you've done some browsing, have you been doing a lot on particular sites or streaming anything, watching Youtube maybe?

Get 3G Watchdog from the Market, it will keep an eye on how much data you're using and will tell you what your current usage is on course to be at the end of the month. Also, turn off images in your browser, just turn them on when you need them and use mobile versions of sites if possible. You don't want the phone to be unusable as a full browser but use 3G Watchdog at first to keep an eye on what sites are really caning your data and where you should be careful.

You can turn off auto sync, push email and background data too without affecting your browsing but having said that, I very much doubt that's what is using data in such quantities, that usage should be minimal.
 
I know things vary from country to country but in the UK on the 3 network you can ring them up and tell them to stop all calls/text and internet usage once you reach you're monthly allowance. That might be something you can do in Australia, its worth ringing them up to find out while you sort things out.

I tend to only use my internet allowance for browsing and email while I am away from home and do all my downloading at home using my broadband connection.

I hope you sort it out mate. Good luck and keep us posted with how its going.
 
+1 for 3G watchdog.

....and if you dont have a wifi router, get one. (leaving wifi on doesn't do me any battery life harm either) Do ALL you downloading of apps and updates at home, not via your network.

i also use "anycut" which alows you to create shortcuts, one set up to networks where im happy to turn on/off packet data manually.

If it really comes to it, over here ISP's allow you to "buy" more data packages to avoid going over. as in if you are getting NEAR your usage, you can pay like $10 or something for another 1gig. BUT....it wont matter if you have gone OVER you limit already, only before it.

i seriously would want a detailed description of WTF! was chewin that data. i only have 500mb and barely touch it.

(another reason to turn off you packet data is to stop add's when playing games :P )
 
yeah, 3G watchdog is good. im using norton utilities, which does the same thing among other things. its free too. however, thats just to monitor it. like others have said, keep ur wifi turned on, so that ur phone will use wifi whenever available, and use 3G only necessary. u could also turn off mobile data when ur not using it.

if ur rooted, u could use droidwall to block certain apps from accessing the internet. in case there are some apps that are constantly connecting and using data
 
yeah have done browsing on the phone...most of the time facebook (but facebook is free in my contract)..I still do not understand how it is possible to chew thru 6GB of data though...surely browsing cannot do this; especially when it was only maybe 10 minutes or so a day...when i am at home i always use wifi anyway.
 
Use 3g wAtchdog and set it to turn off data when you hit cap.

You must have been using youtube. the only thing that can use 6gigs in a.month is streaming video. either that or you have a malicious app. check your battery usage in options and see which apps are using battery.
 
6Gigs and you don't remember using it?!? Did you turn on WiFi hotspot and not set it as a secure connection and ended up with everyone around you leeching you data plan?

Oh and +1 for G3 Watchdog, very good app.
 
Are you streaming lots of audio or video? That's the only thing I can think of that would chew thru that much data. 6G is a LOT.

As mentioned... use wifi whenever possible, use juice defender or green power to turn on/off data sync on a schedule (I turn it on for 5 minutes every 30 minutes and when I turn the device on). It works seemlessly and really helps with battery life.
 
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