mrdigitech
New Member
There is this excitement that comes around when you purchase a new gadget or Smartphone, especially if you are an internet junkie. These smartphones and tablets come with robust internet facilities that can be used for surfing the web, social media engagement, streaming online media contents, instant messaging, real-time video chat and many more. Besides that, there are a plethora of amazing apps and games that require frequent update from time to time, all of which combine in perfect harmony to make the iOS and Android-powered gadgets the mobile entertainment hub that they are.
What we, however, tend to forget is that these portable gadgets are data hungry devices and can burn a significant hole in your pocket if not well managed. In Nigeria, the average monthly data subscription cost for smartphones and mobile gadgets is N1000, which often comes packaged with a data allowance of 260MB. If you are to exploit your device to its fullest potential, you'll discover that 260MB can be exhausted within 24 hours. However, these are few tips you can use to manage your data subscription efficiently and make it last longer:
Understand your data package
Understanding your data package should be one the first steps to take if you want to effectively manage your subscription. Your data subscription would show you details such as subscription cost, daily, weekly or monthly data allowance (depending on your subscription), data consumption rate for different times of the data ( Peak and off-peak periods) and many more. Knowing these vital details about your data subscription would help you to manage better your subscription effectively. For example, many people are not aware that it cost more to browse during peak periods than off-peak periods. So, you might be wondering why you get billed for 10MB when you, in fact, downloaded a 5MB file? Check your daily browsing periods.
Track your data usage or consumption
For you to actually monitor your data usage, you must first understand your browsing habit. Are you the type that likes to download lots of games, stream videos on YouTube, chat heavily on WhatsApp or BBM, or moderately surf the web? All these internet activities have different effect on your data allowance. You can effectively monitor your data usage by going to the settings on your smart device and then click the data usage tab. The data usage tab will show your internet related activities and their impact on your data allowance. This strategy will help you curb some of your data-consuming activities so as to lengthen the span of your internet subscription or data allowance.
Scrutinize Apps running in the Background
By default, some apps are designed to synchronize constantly every few minutes, even when they are closed. Most social media apps and messengers such as Facebook, BBM, WhatsApp, Viber, etc. all carryout lots of background activities that gulp data without warning. It's advisable to turn off automatic updates in most unnecessary apps so as to conserve data. Only restrict automatic updates to a few apps you can't afford to do without such as emails and important instant messengers. You can choose the option that says update over WIFI, which offers more flexibility to data-hungry devices and is more affordable and easier to manage.
Watch out for the data guzzlers
Unfortunately, the most interesting apps and activities on our smartphones and gadgets are things that gulp data the most. Streaming online media content gives you so much fun and excitement because you have total control of what you want to watch and when you wish to view online videos unlike TV channels. However, the flexibility online video streaming affords comes at a steep price, which is excessive data usage. The irony of it all is that the most boring activities on our Smartphone are the things that consume data the least. Try to strike a balance between data-consuming activities such as Video streaming, video chatting on Skype, using GPS apps like Google maps and Waze, online multiplayer gaming and low data-consuming activities such emailing, chatting and moderate surfing of the web.
Switch of data when not in use
This data management technique is by far the easiest to implement. Once you are done surfing the web, chatting, emailing, etc. turn off your data. You can easily access your data tab by swiping down from the top of your Smartphone/gadget home screen. You would see the data tab on, just tap to turn either on or off. The advantage of using this technique is that it shuts off all data consuming activities at a go. No byte goes out or comes in. This strategy is particularly useful for curbing the activities of background running apps.
In conclusion, the strategies and tips for making your internet data last long aren't only restricted to the points given above. You can explore other areas or carry out tweaks here and there till you can efficiently use your data allowance within the stipulated period provided by service providers. People have different habits when it comes to data subscription management. The onus is on everyone to find and customize their data settings to their taste, so as to better manage their data subscription as well as derive optimum satisfaction from its use.
Photo Credit: androidauthority.com, khemes.wordpress.com