Newbie with a problem

[GeorgeLawshe]

I am GeorgeLawshe, 74, living in Forney, Texas and retired owner of electronic company. I am now the owner of the smart phone that I laughed at my grandkids for having. Now, I do not think I can do without it. However, I am in Costa Rica, where I understand it is very expensive to use 3G and the internet.
So I am trying to find out if there is a symbol at the top of the page that lets me know if 3G and the internet is on, and how to turn it off untill I return to the states. I thought it was off, but I turned my phone OFF and when I turned it on again the internet was back (i think).

I plan to leave it on Wi-Fi for email and using the internet.

I have had a ATT HTC Android Phone for a little over a year.

I am posting this on the forum also.

George Lawshe

 

[Metroid Prime]

Hello George, welcome to Android Forums.

lol Smartphones are hard to do without nowadays huh? If I am correct you can turn off 3G by going into settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile data > and turn off always on 3G and data roaming.

 

[GeorgeLawshe]

Is there a way to tell how many bits have been used and is there a symbol at top of screen showing 3G is on?

 

[Metroid Prime]

To check your data go to your dialer and hit *3282# and AT&T will send you a message about how much data you've used.

 

[lunatic59]

Try an app like TrafficStats.

 

[!on]

If it's just your regular calls 2g network enabled, then all you'll see is the bars for the 2g signal strength. If you have data / 3g on then you might see a G for GPRS, E for EDGE (upgraded GPRS), 3 for 3g or H for HSDPA (I have no idea about 4g). HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) is faster 3g.

You can download data toggles off the play store which let you quickly turn on/off the data from wherever you have put it on your screen.

Your phone probably comes with such a widget anyways that let's you toggle WiFi, 3g, bluetooth, the GPS, etc etc. Press & hold on your screen & you get a menu, choose widgets.

You only need to have WiFi enabled if you are in a WiFi area that you can connect to, otherwise is best to only toggle that whan you need it, same with 3g (saves battery).

 

[nickdalzell]

the power strip widget does not contain 3G at least not for me. it has wifi, GPS, bluetooth, sound and display brightness. 3G/data is turned off via the menu mentioned. some phones will let you choose Edge data over 3G (disable 3G) and others don't--turning off 3g data turns off all data and only lets you place/receive calls unless you use wifi or turn data back on.

 

[sdrawkcab25]

I am GeorgeLawshe, 74, living in Forney, Texas and retired owner of electronic company. I am now the owner of the smart phone that I laughed at my grandkids for having. Now, I do not think I can do without it. However, I am in Costa Rica, where I understand it is very expensive to use 3G and the internet.
So I am trying to find out if there is a symbol at the top of the page that lets me know if 3G and the internet is on, and how to turn it off untill I return to the states. I thought it was off, but I turned my phone OFF and when I turned it on again the internet was back (i think).

I plan to leave it on Wi-Fi for email and using the internet.

I have had a ATT HTC Android Phone for a little over a year.

I am posting this on the forum also.

George Lawshe

Are you using the phone for voice calls at all? If not, you can turn on airplane mode, then turn on wifi to use it as a wifi only device.