500GB is/was enough on iPhone. Can it be enough on a Galaxy S3?

Nine_Lives

The wife & I were both iPhone 3GS users. We both used pretty much the same amount of data each month, give or take a little. 250mb would always see us both right, but we had a 500mb plan.

She replaced with the Galaxy S3, i replaced with the iPhone 4S.

Neither of us are using the phone for anything drastically more. My usage remains the same as when i had the 3GS, however hers has dramatically shot up. Last month she ended up going over her allowance & was being charged £1 per day.

She looked into it & found that she had Facebook notifications switched on - so that it was checking for updates constantly. She turned this off as Facebook was her biggest drain.

Anyway, we both topped up 1st Dec. I've used about 95mb now up to 12th December which is in line with my usage for the past however long i've had an iPhone - years.
Normally she'd be somewhere the same - but she's at 250mb. She'll end up going over her limit again.

She likes the GS3 & doesn't want to give it up. She can't afford to up her plan to a bigger data allowance (before that one gets suggested) but she also can't afford to keep going over it.

If you have a smartphone then you don't want to turn off all features.
Has anyone else experienced the same moving from iPhone to GS3? Have you managed to sort it out?


Or is it a case of - tough, this is how the GS3 works, like it or sell it?

brutus1983

you need to set s3 to update via wifi only you can do this on the playstore settings also i use onavo app i dont know how it works but it extends your data usage somehow also the s3 can give you warnings on how muc data your useing and can automatically switch off mobile data if you exeed your allowance

jm2926

http://support.google.com/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1638168

jem16

Nine_Lives wrote: »

Or is it a case of - tough, this is how the GS3 works, like it or sell it?

As I said the last time you asked this question, I'm using more or less the same amount of data since switching from the iPhone 4 to the Galaxy S3.

Did you try any of the suggestions on your last thread?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4293401

If you install the likes of Onavo or My Data Manager, you can find out what is using the data.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobidia.android.mdm&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onavo.android.onavoid&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5vbmF2by5hbmRyb2lkLm9uYXZvaWQiXQ..

Ultrasonic

Nine_Lives wrote: »

Or is it a case of - tough, this is how the GS3 works, like it or sell it?

It's most likey to be a question of different apps or differents settings using up more data on the S3. Both of which are things which can be adjusted to solve the problem.

Have you gone into Settings, Data Usage, and then scolled down the page to see how much data each app is using? This will help identify how best to proceed.

Nine_Lives

jem - i mentioned to her that a thread was made & apps suggested. She said the phone itself has some sort of data logger which shows Facebook is her most used (in terms of data) app & how much it's using.

I'll check tomorrow as to whether she read the last thread. I assumed she had, hence this new thread (for new suggestions), but i don't know for sure.

Ultrasonic

Nine_Lives wrote: »

jem - i mentioned to her that a thread was made & apps suggested. She said the phone itself has some sort of data logger which shows Facebook is her most used (in terms of data) app & how much it's using.

It does, that's what I was referring to above (not sure what the apps recommended might do on top of or better than this feature that would be helpful here, if anything).

Is Facebook still using the most data now that the continuous updates you mentioned above has been switched off? Also, are there apps using lots of data that weren't on her iPhone?

Ultrasonic

One other quick thought. When at home I guess you connect to a home WiFi network? If so does your wife switch off mobile data at this time? If not I guess it is possible that the GS3 is having more trouble connecting to the WiFi network than the iPhones, causing it to revert to mobile data more often and therefore using more of the data allowance. I've no idea how likely this is, but I mention it as it is a way that two phones running identical apps with identical settings could use different amounts of mobile data.

Emy1501

If the phone has a data counter like my data app the you should be able to see which apps, browsers are using what data and adjust usage accordingly.

It breaksdown usage across mobile data and wifi data

Nine_Lives

Just a note before I hit the sack-

When at home we're both connected via home WIFI. We are both on O2 & there is no O2 signal at our home (unless we position our phones in the corner of the window) so neither of us could be using mobile data at home simply because we can't get a signal at home.

Nine_Lives

I text her the links to both threads to read on her break at work & this is what she said:

She did all of the suggested before her most recent top up. If you go to apps & running there's a load of stuff running in the background constantly. The only widget she has which updates is the clock. All auto syncs are turned off & she does manual updates.

Any more info required as to why there's a massive difference?