Help What /is/ data, anyways?

[Xiatara]

Hello! I am very new to smartphones. This is my first time owning one. My last phone was a basic slider phone from samsung.

Anyways, I just got my phone yesterday, and I looked around and turned my roaming, internet, wi-fi, etc., off to conserve on my data. I have 4gb of data I can use.

My question is, what really is data? Not the definition of data, but what would be considered data?
Taking pictures and storing it?
Downloading apps from the market?
Playing with the apps/games?
Playing with the widgets on your phone?
Surfing the web?

And does anyone have a suggestion for a good data use tracker?

Thanks!

 

[saintdanbert]

I'll take a stab at some explanation ... and hope it (1) helps, (2) encourages others to add their comments.


My phone has some content. I want to share that content elsewhere -- be it another phone or a computer -- using the mobile network instead of wires. In similar fashion, my computer or server has some content. I want to access that content at my phone -- again using the mobile network instead of wires. This sharing uses the data portion of mobile services. Some examples:

• send or receive email
• read a list of email in your inbox
• gather details from a calendar server (Gmail or Exchange) for access at your phone
• view or interact with web sites and web-based services (Twitter, &c)
• download and upload business or personal documents
• download music or video files
• access a streaming music service and listen to your playlist (Pandora, &c)
• access a streaming video service and watch programming (Hulu, YouTube, &c)

Some History:
In the beginning, your phone came from a vendor and was whatever they provided. A basic "phone" connects to the mobile phone network and enables you to make and receive voice calls.

Since you are holding a small computer, you can do other things:

• take pictures and view them
• keep a calendar and ToDo list
• keep a list of contacts (address book)
• play games
• listen to stored music

... all of these are simply the running of your phone's hardware and software to provide features in your hand.

Text messaging on phones was follow-on technology to the Text Pagers of years past. First, Short Message Services (SMS) and later Multi-media Message Services (MMS) used the mobile phone network to send first character strings and later pictures between phones. Since this is not a voice telephone call, your mobile carrier now has a new service they can sell its customers.

As time passed, the mobile phone networks evolved from analog signals to digital signals -- a change not unlike what happened with broadcast television a few years back. This change opened the doors for phones to use the similar internet networking techniques that happens on your desktop and laptop computers.

Enter the world of mobile phone data.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year,
~~~ *<;-}( )( )// Dan

 

[Xiatara]

Wow, thank you for this!
And yes, I would also like to see other people's view of data use.

So, pretty much going on the internet and streaming videos is data.
Now, when you said downloading music, do you mean from the phone itself. Or is that where we put music into our phone with the USB cable from our computer?

 

[hilmar2k]

Data could be any of the following:

Internet browsing
Downloading apps
Updating apps
Sending/receiving emails
Any app that needs to update it's info (Facebook, weather, sports, stocks, etc)
Non-SMS messaging (WhatsApp, PingMe, etc)
Google Maps & Navigation
Stream music or video

Not data:

Phone calls
SMS/MMS

 

[saintdanbert]

Wow, thank you for this!
And yes, I would also like to see other people's view of data use.

So, pretty much going on the internet and streaming videos is data.

Exactly!!

Now, when you said downloading music, do you mean from the phone itself. Or is that where we put music into our phone with the USB cable from our computer?

If you have music or movie files on your phone and play them, there is no "data plan" use.

If you use a USB cable, BlueTooth, or wifi within your home LAN to move music or movies to your phone, there is no "data plan" use. You could also connect your "media card" (not phone SIM) to your workstation and copy files directly.

If you use email, a web browser, or other internet access to get the music or movies (or documents or spreadsheets or similar) onto your phone, then YES, you use your "data plan." It does not matter who operates the servers or which protocols are used over the internet. Your phone carrier sees the packets of bits and says "data in use" and starts the meter running.

Phones have all sorts of status icons that display the flavor of active connection -- Edge(tm) vs 3G(tm) vs 4G(tm). Some show an icon when one is "roaming" (aka, outside of one's home geography as stated in your plan). Mine has an animated icon "H+-splat" where the "H+" indicates that I'm 4G connected and the spat shows "checkmark" when idle, "X" when not connected, "up-arrow" "down-arrow" or "both arrows" for active transfer. In my case, I only see the arrows when using "data". Your phone may have similar features.

~~~ 0;-Dan

_____
HTC Inspire 4G, AT&T, Android v2.3.3, GO EX Launcher

Cheers,
~~~ 0;-Dan