struggling to stay under 1g/month

ooter

as the title says i'm finding myself struggling towards the end of every month to stay under my 1g allowance on my desire,is there any way i can reduce my internet use through the settings on my phone?
would there be certain apps/websites running on my phone every time i connect to the internet and if so would these be eating away at my allowance much?
i installed mini opera on my phone last night just to try it out and my allowance seemed to shoot down so i un-installed it today.it was at 82mb this morning and i checked about an hour ago and it was down to about 40mb,can't understand why it's going down so quick.my new allowance kicks in on saturday so i'm not overly bothered for this month but it'd be nice to know for future refference.
i wouldn't leave the internet on all the time,i just switch it on and off as i need it.am i using up more of my allowance by doing this or does it matter?

axer

Wow, I struggle to get to 1GB. I have 2GB allowance from Vodafone and I don't I have ever gone over 1GB even when I first got the phone and was downloading and installing apps. Are you watching a lot of youtube clips or something?

Keano

axer wrote: »

Wow, I struggle to get to 1GB. I have 2GB allowance from Vodafone and I don't I have ever gone over 1GB even when I first got the phone and was downloading and installing apps. Are you watching a lot of youtube clips or something?

On top of this OP are you browsing full websites instead or mobile versions of the sites?

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I've found the best way of cutting down on data usage was to use Opera Mini.

Gryzor

you'd struggle to get to 1GB a month just browsing. Are you tethering, downloading alot of apps??

With 3G watchdog you can break down your usage, and see how the data is being used (It won't tell you what apps), a constant trickle, or big chunks at differant times...might point you in the right direction...

long_b

Another for Opera Mini - it's the only thing that keeps me under the gig myself.

blaz

Op, describe how you are using your phone during the day.

ooter

blaz wrote: »

Op, describe how you are using your phone during the day.

just basic web browsing,mostly forum based websites,twitter etc.hardly ever go on to youtube.i do text a lot and use cabbage app for webtext when my 200 phone texts run out,can't imagine that'd use up too much.
i'd say on and off over the day i'd be on the net on my phone for 1-2 hours a day max....
is opera mini really that good?
have to say i wasn't overly impressed with it when i tried it out last night.
might give it a go for when my new allowance kicks in on saturday...
thanks for the replies lads

Idleater

I haven't gotten as far as 100mb yet! WiFi at home and in work, as well as cycling/motorbiking means I tend not to idle time away browsing on the bus/train.

blaz

ooter wrote: »

just basic web browsing,mostly forum based websites,twitter etc.hardly ever go on to youtube.i do text a lot and use cabbage app for webtext when my 200 phone texts run out,can't imagine that'd use up too much.
i'd say on and off over the day i'd be on the net on my phone for 1-2 hours a day max....
is opera mini really that good?
have to say i wasn't overly impressed with it when i tried it out last night.
might give it a go for when my new allowance kicks in on saturday...
thanks for the replies lads

There is no way you could use up 1GB with the kind of usage you are describing.

The two big users are streaming radio and Youtube. For example 30 minutes of streaming radio at 128Kbps will use around 30 megs. If you do that every single day you would use around 900 megs.

Install 3G watchdog. Click on refresh and look at the "Today" counter and remember the value. Then leave the phone idle for about 30 seconds. Click "Refresh" again. Did the counter change?

If it did, go to Settings -> Applications -> Running and see what applications are currently active and uninstall them one by one. This way you should be able to figure out which application is causing it. Also, you can go to Settings -> Accounts & Sync and temporary disable Auto sync and Background data.

Check your data usage after every of those steps. This way you should be able to figure out what is using your data.

antodeco

Im using about 1.5GBs a month from browsing, emails and apps. It is possible. OP, do you have pull emails switched on?

5starpool

If you have wifi at home, then switch to that when you get home. Also only update/download apps when on wifi, assuming you have wifi.

Bugzy

haha i love the way every one is shocked some one uses more that 1gb on their phone lol

just this morning on the train i used up 100 mb just about 2 hours around 3 videos and lots of websites

blaz

Bugzy wrote: »

haha i love the way every one is shocked some one uses more that 1gb on their phone lol

just this morning on the train i used up 100 mb just about 2 hours around 3 videos and lots of websites

That's normal, 3 videos use up a lot of data. But the op said:

hardly ever go on to youtube

Even with hard core browsing of non-mobile web sites it is hard to reach 1GB.

Gryzor

long_b wrote: »

Another for Opera Mini - it's the only thing that keeps me under the gig myself.

don't get this?? How is it differant to the stock browser??

Mr E

Gryzor wrote: »

don't get this?? How is it differant to the stock browser??

From the Opera website http://www.opera.com/mobile/help/faq/

When you request a page in Opera Mini, the request is sent to the Opera Mini server that then downloads the page from the Internet. The server then packages your page up in a neat little compressed format (we call it OBML), ready to send back to your phone at the speed of ninjas on jetpacks.

By using Opera Mini, our servers do most of the work, so it works well with less- capable phones. Pages are often smaller (saving you money) and faster to load due our server-side compression.

Gryzor

ninjas on jetpacks eh... :eek:

I'd imagine the big data hitters on webpages like video & images will be in a pretty much compressed state already, i can't see jetpack ninjas being able to compress them much more....i don't see how opera mobile can drastically reduce data usage....open to correction though...

Fresh Pots

Gryzor wrote: »

ninjas on jetpacks eh... :eek:

I'd imagine the big data hitters on webpages like video & images will be in a pretty much compressed state already, i can't see jetpack ninjas being able to compress them much more....i don't see how opera mobile can drastically reduce data usage....open to correction though...

Its proven that it does reduce data usage. Quite popular with alot of people on here. I'd say give it a go. Only reason I don't use it is, I prefer the layout of the stock browser.

Mr E

It makes a difference on text-heavy pages. They compress really well.

ooter

blaz wrote: »

There is no way you could use up 1GB with the kind of usage you are describing.

The two big users are streaming radio and Youtube. For example 30 minutes of streaming radio at 128Kbps will use around 30 megs. If you do that every single day you would use around 900 megs.

Install 3G watchdog. Click on refresh and look at the "Today" counter and remember the value. Then leave the phone idle for about 30 seconds. Click "Refresh" again. Did the counter change?

If it did, go to Settings -> Applications -> Running and see what applications are currently active and uninstall them one by one. This way you should be able to figure out which application is causing it. Also, you can go to Settings -> Accounts & Sync and temporary disable Auto sync and Background data.

Check your data usage after every of those steps. This way you should be able to figure out what is using your data.

funny you should say that blaz,i actually clicked on an audio link for the liverpool-northampton game on wednesday night but i was honestly only on it for a few of minutes.i'll know in future not to go near radio streams on my phone.
i honestly don't go on youtube that much,i'll avoid it completely from now on..
i'll also give that 3G watchdog a go.
thanks

Zagato

Gryzor wrote: »

don't get this?? How is it differant to the stock browser??

It pulls down compressed web pages

Royale with Cheese

I only have the 250mb add on and I haven't gone over that yet. Don't browse the web for too long though, usually only about 20 minutes on the train in the morning and even then it's mostly boards which doesn't take up much data.

I find some of the sites I browse are fairly heavy on data though, maybe find out what sites you visit eat up a lot of data and then try and look at them as little as possible.