cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Data

TomT1
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Data is used when no Wi-Fi is available.  Wi-Fi takes precedence.  Do you turn off data when no Wi-Fi and phone is idle to conserve data?  Do you use airplane mode?  Does data usage only start when sending texts, emails, etc.  In other words, can it be on and idle and not eat up the amount of data available?

9 REPLIES 9

Korth
Mayor / Maire

@TomT1 wrote:

Data is used when no Wi-Fi is available.  Wi-Fi takes precedence.  Do you turn off data when no Wi-Fi and phone is idle to conserve data?  Do you use airplane mode?  Does data usage only start when sending texts, emails, etc.  In other words, can it be on and idle and not eat up the amount of data available?


Data across wifi is abundant and cheap (or free). Data across cellular is limited and costly.

There's no reason to use cellular data when wifi is available. Although some apps, updates, and logins will only work across cellular for "security" (and tracking) purposes.

 

I turn off wifi and turn off data whenever I'm not actually using it. No need to let my phone consume data or consume battery (or report my movements) when I don't actually need to access something online.

 

Airplane mode completely disables all radio transmissions. It disables wifi and bluetooth and cellular service (data and talk and text). Not much point in having phone service if you always keep the phone radio completely turned off. Although Airplane mode is useful when you need to recharge your battery quickly.

 

You can control your phone's data with software settings. Disable all background activity, syncs, and updates - there's really no reason your apps need to be updated every second, there's really no reason they need to be updated until you actually intend to use them anyhow. The built-in software in some phone brands/models (and operating systems) can offer settings which do this better or worse than others, although you can usually replace bad built-in apps (dialer, texting, data usage tracker, etc) with other apps which work better.

 

On Public Mobile there's no way you can use more data than you've already prepaid, and there's no way you'll have to overpay for exceeding the limits. Although badly (mis)configured apps can waste your precious cellular data if you don't keep their settings tightly leashed.

NeoAnderson
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

All phones consume data when email is checked, etc. so if you really want no data use charges, turn off your data. Picture messages use data so you may have data usage there though I suspect you will receive the text but without the picture loaded. Location uses data so that's another feature you may want to adjust.

I believe you can restrict email sync intervals if you want to save data there and still have the service.

jporso1
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Apologies 2GB

jporso1
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

You can get 2MB of data for free from PM right now. Go to self service to activate...

cin7
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle
Good question!

As an Android user, I check all my apps under settings to disable their use of background data, just to be sure.

PM is great in that I never have to worry about data overages, but I try to conserve the data on my plan for times when I really need it 🙂

Helpershelper
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

@TomT1 

 

Great question for discussion. Since I turn off background app refresh, I don’t worry about app usage in the background although it shouldn’t matter too much especially on Apple devices. I don’t stream things outside Wi-Fi zones either. Data can be used when sending iMessage for example and data can be used anytime you have the data option enabled. Keep in mind that you don’t have to watch your data count constantly if you don’t stream things including WhatsApp calls. Being on Public I assume you don’t use lots of data to begin, with so just don’t stream things outside Wi-Fi and you’ll be fine.

JK8
Mayor / Maire

@TomT1 

 

Have a look at this article:

 

Save data, save money: How to reduce your data usage on Android or iOS

 

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-reduce-your-data-usage/

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

I believe that iPhones have WiFi assist which allows mobile data to run alongside the home WiFi.  It is best to disable features like this so that WiFi ON will disable mobile data usage.  

kb_mv
Mayor / Maire

@TomT1 wrote:

Data is used when no Wi-Fi is available.  Wi-Fi takes precedence.  Do you turn off data when no Wi-Fi and phone is idle to conserve data?  Do you use airplane mode?  Does data usage only start when sending texts, emails, etc.  In other words, can it be on and idle and not eat up the amount of data available?


I am on a 250MB plan. I leave my data on all the time with the phone set to log onto know wifi networks. No wifi assist and I went into settings and restricted back ground data for most apps. I use very little data this way.

Need Help? Let's chat.