Keep A Check On Your iPad/iPhone Data Usage
Keep A Check On Your iPad/iPhone Data Usage
If you have opted for a limited 3G data plan on your iPad or iPhone and want to make the best use of it, you have landed at the correct place. If you more often end up using 80% of your 3G data well before the next billing cycle, you need to be very careful as overage charges are perhaps the last thing you would ask for.
If you are in search of techniques to conserve your precious data in a proper manner, you need to first track the usage of data. Although your carrier can give you 100% accurate readings on your data usage, you can always get an idea of your data usage with the help of data usage monitor, a built-in app in your iPhone.
Procedure to follow for checking data usage:
- First of all, go to Settings.
- Next, tap General and then tap Usage.
- Scroll down and find Cellular Network Data.
In case you happen to use Tether Data, you need to take it into consideration as well while making calculations.
It is advisable that you set a reminder for tapping Reset Statistics when you start with a fresh billing cycle. This will give you a better idea about monthly usage of data.
Things to avoid in order to keep a check on Data Usage
Streaming
Media (Video) Streaming plays a major factor in data usage as it consumes maximum data. Many sites are known to offer HTML5 video streaming for iPhone. You can view anything from news to entertainment but these sites eat up all your data within no time. The same thing holds true for audio. Try to avoid this as much as possible until you get on Wi-Fi.
Others:
- Online games include a lot of graphics which consume a lot of data.
- Google maps also use your data while downloading map tiles.
- Though downloading of apps from App Store is restricted to 20MB, it still consumes enough to bother you.
Change Some Settings
Now that you have taken appropriate measures to control streaming, you have to make a few changes in settings and turn off apps which tend to use more data, especially the ones running at the background.
1) Push Email needs to be turned off. You can fetch emails using manual mode. For this, you need to launch Settings, go to Mail, Contacts, Calendar and look for Fetch New Data. Simply set it as “Manually”.
2) Push Notifications need to be turned off. Launch Settings, go to Notifications and put it “OFF”.
3) Cellular data also needs to be turned off unless it is absolutely required in order to prevent any apps from running at the background. Launch Settings, go to Cellular Data and change the setting to “OFF”.
Avoid Visual Voice Mail and MMS
Though SMS texting consumes no data, Visual Voice Mail and MMS use a considerable amount of data for transmitting pictures, audio and videos.
Go for an Upgrade in Data Plan if needed
If you happen to frequently cross the data limit and in turn get billed with overage charges, it is better to get your data plan upgraded and check if a better deal is available. You can expect better advice from the retention department as compared to regular customer service representatives.
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If you have switched all the data streaming switches off as you sugested can the iPhone still download and upload any data. I have a standard 3Gs (no modifications) and have been told by apple that it isn’t possible, but my provider is saying that it still makes access and I am left with heavy charges.