How can I minimise data usage?

[punk_beatz]

Hi everyone,

My HTC Desire should be arriving today and I'm really excited. I'm with 3 and their 'unlimited' internet policy is 500Mb per month. I don't get a great signal at work as I'm out in the sticks and when at home I'm connected to wi-fi so there's no big issue there. I'd be surprised if I went over the allowance to be honest.

There will be times, however, where I'm away from wi-fi for a while and I'll be using the 3G connection more than usual. In this case are there any ways/apps that can help monitor usage and minimise it? I heard one of the browsers has the ability to compress images on websites but wanted to find out if anyone has anything they do to get the most out of their data allowance.

Thanks in advance

 

[sifi]

Don't be surprised if you go way over 500mb.

I'm with orange and my data counter shows I used 50mb yesterday alone!!! All I used was facebook, sky news app and a text based chat forum.

Orange unlimited has a 500mb FUP but I have had them confirm and write on my notes that there will be no excess charges on my account whatsoever.

I don't know where the mbs go. I never download video or music but it eats them up.

 

[punk_beatz]

It'll be interesting to see what uses the most data.

I'll be using the Desire for Twitter, email every now and then and some casual surfing with maybe a YouTube vid here and there. I won't be using Spotify or downloading music with it. Judging by my friends current phone contracts the 500Mb should be fine, but I'm more concerned with apps that help manage this, whether that be finding out the most accurate usage app or apps that help you squeeze more out, such as the browser I was told about.

Any tips?

 

[kejlyCZ]

Hi,
Opera mini get data via Opera proxy and saves bandwidth, but this browser is not as comfortable as internal browser or Dolphin.
I don't know personally any program which can minimize/control data usage, I'm using just data usage monitor NetCounter (net.jaqpot.netcounter), which displaydata transferred in last week and month. You can find more data monitors on netcounter | All | By date, Androlib, Android Applications and Games
Maybe if you don't need the connection sometimes (ie. don't need to check you emails, facebook or twitter automatically, check application updates and transfer changed contacts to Gmail on the fly), you can turn off the 3G data with APNDroid (com.google.code.apndroid), it helps me a lot, my data are normally turned off if I don't need it, at home I'm connected to wifi and if needed, 3G can be enabled with single click.best regards
Kejly

 

[sifi]

The problem is it is hard to know what is eating the data. You can measure your usage but you don't know what has used it. I have no idea why I use so much with the internet I use but I have seen others on here with the same complaint as me.

 

[punk_beatz]

Thanks kejlyCZ, much appreciated - I'll check those out.

sifi - that's a good point. I suppose it's just a case of trying to work that out.

 

[kejlyCZ]

The problem is it is hard to know what is eating the data. You can measure your usage but you don't know what has used it. I have no idea why I use so much with the internet I use but I have seen others on here with the same complaint as me.

You are right, the internal applications (and some installed also) use data transfers a lot. You can disable automatic synchronization to prevent this, even default installed apps can use MBs/day (checking and installing updates, synchronization with Gmail) with no problem. Just disable the automatic synchronization (Settings/Data synchronization and uncheck Auto-Sync) and check, if data usage decreases. If not, its caused by some installed application (weather forecast, stock exchange rates, twitter, ...)

 

[kejlyCZ]

Thanks kejlyCZ, much appreciated - I'll check those out.

sifi - that's a good point. I suppose it's just a case of trying to work that out.

Thanks for a thank, I've just found network monitor with warning levels called NetSentry (com.googlecode.netsentry), which is probably better than NetMonitor.