data usage

[KP2017]

Hello, I've just changed my phone (from galaxy s3 to galaxy s8) and have noticed a huge use of data (taking me beyond my SIM only allowance in just a few days; from virtually zero to 250Mb!)  - even though I have not been actively using data (i.e. I have not been using the internet or emails).  Is this a direct consequence of the phone change (i.e. how the new model operates), or could it be something else?  Is it Apps up-dating for instance?

Hope someone can shed some light on the problem.

[63johnw]

Hi @KP2017 250M of data is not a lot these days and most modern smart phones can quickly eat up that much data. You probably have quite a few apps refreshing and using data in the background, emails synching, news feeds etc. Without seing the phone it will be hard to find the exact culprit. In  settings, mobile data you may be able to look and get an idea of whats using your data.

You could also go to a vodafone store and they may be able to look at it for you.

[hrym]

You may well get a lot of app updates, especially if your new phone has a later version of Android than the previous one.   Some updates are version-specific, so this would be a once-only occurence in relation to that.  On top on that, apps which display large amounts of content (eg news) will need to download the whole amount in the first place, but will only add new parts in future.   If your data allowance is relatively small, it's a good idea to restrict how apps can update themselves and/or the frequency they do so.   For example, set Google Play and newspapers to wifi only.  Weather apps normally only use small amounts, so can generally be left on mobile data.  Take each one on its merits.   Some services (eg Google) will apply account-wide settings.   For others, you may need to change the settings on each device, and especially when you get a new one.   The default is usually "by any means and as often as possible" to provide the most up to date info.

The built-in data monitor is a useful tool and I think you can add a shortcut to the homescreen.  I also use My Data Manager, which has a few more display bells and whistles and also has a sequence of alarms you can set to warn you as you approach your limit.  If your Vodafone account is reasonably recent, it may have a data cap and you can set this via the My Vodafone app.

[DRUIDDOODE]

Hi you can switch from  the 4g  setting  to 3 g and as it is a touch  slower it saves a little  data 

I use my self on you tube and it on 144 resolution  and it  saves  quite a  bit of data and you can also turn the data  saver  on your device 

[hrym]

Does dropping back to 3G actually save data, or just use it more slowly?   A slower rate means less is used if you back out of something you didn't mean to get into, of course.

[DRUIDDOODE]

I can see your point here ill explain best i can.

Yes on you tube due to buffering and you get idiot click bait and stop your video as it is loading slower overall you will use less data especially over a month

But for internet browsing it depends on how you look at it as 4g is faster you will over the coarse of a month use more data as the pages load faster (but obviously we don't read faster) 

But over the coarse of a month as I watch a lot of you tube I have monitored this and as I dismiss quite a few videos as the video  wasn't what I was expecting I do save data by using 3g as the loading is slower but doesn't affect your experienced as it does web browsing once you get used to browsing on 4g 3g seems like a day to load so I see your point. 

My Main reason is I don't have a good 4g so I was more concerned about my battery life and that's when I realised I was using less over the coarse of a month

But I will admit I'm not an expert on these matters so if I'm looking at this wrong please let us know guys and gals