@Scotiagirl
You also have other options than buying that much add on data each month. You can renew your plan early by contacting customer support. You can change plans early and upgrade to a higher data plan. In both cases you add enough funds to your account to cover the plan amount then with the latter you choose the bigger data plan and choose change plan now.
For now you may want to choose a new plan and schedule it to change plan on next renewal. Keep in mind there are no "refunds" on unused days in your 30 day cycle and rewards will be applied on the following 30 day cycle. But paying $45/3gb of add on data when you could switch ftom the $49/5gb plan to the $50/10.5gb plan is more economical...unless you are already on the highest data plan.
Here is some more tips on data usage that can help you conserve data usage and/or find where high data usage is coming from.....
- Turn your data saver on.*
- Set your data tracker to the correct calendar dates of your 30 day cycle.
- Set your data warning. ( I set mine to 25% of plan data**.)
- Set your data limiter. (I set mine to 50%.**)
- Turn off all background data in your app usage settings.***
- Set video content to play on wifi only ( or off altogether) in each individual app's settings.
- Turn off wifi assist for iPhone or the Android equivalent.
- For low data plans turn off mobile data and turn on when needed or to download MMS.
- Use free wifi when available.
- Double check that your phone is connected to wifi. Your phone can sometimes not automatically reconnect to wifi after rebooting, resetting or leaving/entering a wifi area.
*Android and iPhone's data saver tools work differently it is prudent to check settings in each phone's apps for such things as your photo app for device syncing, backing up etc.... Note: viewing or searching for backed up/stored photos can use considerable mobile data.
**Public Mobile sends out a text from 611 giving a warning at 75% and 95% of total data usage. If you have data add ons these warnings include both plan data and add on data.
**So if you just have 1gb of plan data you will get a warning at 756mb/1024mb and 973mb/1024mb. However if you have 1gb of plan data and a 5gb data add on (1024mb+5120mb=6144mb) these warnings will recieved at 4608mb/6144mb and 5837mb/6144mb respectively.
**This is why setting your data warning and limiter is important so that an errant app's sudden usage can be noticed and/or stopped by your phone's data usage tools rather than relying on pm's limited warnings system.
***Background data can use up to 38% of your data that is pure wastage.
Get in the habit of taking screenshots of your overview page and payment history before and after renewal for record keeping and checking that your data and/or limited minute/text counter resets.
