Motorola Moto G5 - stopping data use

YorkshireTraveller

This link may help others if they find that they have the same problems.  Note the icons next to the compose bar showing if your text is being sent by wifi/mobile data, SMS or MMS.

getmore4less

Observation
EE network £10 every 6 months(ish)

Candidate for a RWG SIM with 50mins|text and 250MB for £0 per month.

https://rwgmobile.wales/rates/

YorkshireTraveller

Well I thought that I'd solved the problem but no!   Having turned the chat features off on my phone and my Dad's phone we can both text each other with data off and no wifi but he can't receive messages from other family members and friends that still have their chat features turned on!

So looks like I'm back asking my original question:  with Data on, Play Store set to only update only via wifi, is there anything else I need to turn off to prevent the the unwanted use of data?

Grumpy_chap

Yorkshire_Traveller said:

Well I thought that I'd solved the problem but no!   Having turned the chat features off on my phone and my Dad's phone we can both text each other with data off and no wifi but he can't receive messages from other family members and friends that still have their chat features turned on!

So looks like I'm back asking my original question:  with Data on, Play Store set to only update only via wifi, is there anything else I need to turn off to prevent the the unwanted use of data?

Are the messages that don't arrive including extra graphics, GIF's etc. that cannot be received as simple texts?

YorkshireTraveller

Grumpy_chap said:

Yorkshire_Traveller said:

Well I thought that I'd solved the problem but no!   Having turned the chat features off on my phone and my Dad's phone we can both text each other with data off and no wifi but he can't receive messages from other family members and friends that still have their chat features turned on!

So looks like I'm back asking my original question:  with Data on, Play Store set to only update only via wifi, is there anything else I need to turn off to prevent the the unwanted use of data?

Are the messages that don't arrive including extra graphics, GIF's etc. that cannot be received as simple texts?

It seems that the only texts that arrive with Data off, wifi off, Chat Features off are plain SMS messages from a phone that also has Chat Features off and is sending plain SMS messages.

cx6

There was a (recent?) change to texting. You could either stay with the 'old' sms texting which did not require data but charged eg 35p per MMS etc (although the text itself was free if within your allowance) or the updated 'rich' format which allowed texting to send photos even videos etc free but which used data.

Your Dad needs to decide which to use. 

If old SMS then he doesn't need data but cannot receive texts from those who use the new format unless he connects to wifi or turns data on

If new rich format then he can communicate with everyone but needs data.

There is no middle ground.

YorkshireTraveller

cx6 said:

There was a (recent?) change to texting. You could either stay with the 'old' sms texting which did not require data but charged eg 35p per MMS etc (although the text itself was free if within your allowance) or the updated 'rich' format which allowed texting to send photos even videos etc free but which used data.

Your Dad needs to decide which to use. 

If old SMS then he doesn't need data but cannot receive texts from those who use the new format unless he connects to wifi or turns data on

If new rich format then he can communicate with everyone but needs data.

There is no middle ground.

Thanks for the info.  Most (all?) of my Dads contacts (family!) use the new SMS so think we will have to go with that.  What I'm concerned about is that if there are any Apps (or anything else) that would use data when not connected to wifi when he is out and about.  I have been through his phone and turned all the Apps notifications off apart from the text App and the phone App.

Neil_Jones

Most apps that require an internet connection (by design, by want or by accident) will use any connection they can find - wi-fi, data, hotspot... if its connected to a network that goes to the outside world, its game over.

Firewall app might be of use, something like this (first result that came back in Google, may not do what you want, have to try it and see how you go):

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts.firewall&hl=en_GB&gl=US

YorkshireTraveller

Neil_Jones said:

Most apps that require an internet connection (by design, by want or by accident) will use any connection they can find - wi-fi, data, hotspot... if its connected to a network that goes to the outside world, its game over.

Firewall app might be of use, something like this (first result that came back in Google, may not do what you want, have to try it and see how you go):

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.greyshirts.firewall&hl=en_GB&gl=US

Thanks Neil.  You would have thought that there would be a simple facility to only allow data use when connected to wifi but I guess not.  I may be getting concerned over nothing - I'll check how much £ he has left on his phone in a couple of weeks time to see if any data has been used, and if so the cost.

basill

You can see how much each app is actually using under WIFI and internet in setting and under apps and notifications restrict greedy apps data use individually.   You can also stop the google account synching to save some more data.

A phone that does not have many apps loaded and with background data restricted uses very little data, I second the use of an  RWG SIM,  50 minutes or texts and 250Mb free or 75 minutes or texts with 500Mb data for £1/month.   I presume you can top these plans up so have a bit of credit in hand incase you need a bit more.  I have ordered a free SIM to go in a spare phone to try.