How do I save data useage

Question

There are a lot of resources on the internet to help... you might find this useful
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/help-support/advice-and-news/advice/understanding-mobile-data-for-dummies
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/06/15/how-to-curb-your-smartphone-data-usage-and-get-lower-bills/
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/digital-crave/10-easy-ways-reduce-mobile-phone-data-usage-202551706.html

Answer 1

lizdance40 wrote:
Never too old to learn a new trick!
Fully agree here.
In reality, age has little to do with it, so don't despair!   My mother in-law is well into her 60s, and knows her Android phone better than folks half her age.
And the concept of "data" is less than obvious, and confuses young folks, too.
You only know what you know.  Everything has a learning curve.  And for the most part, the huge majority of folks have only been using smartphones for 5 years or less (aside from the earliest of adopters, such as tech nerds like myself).
When speaking of data usage or your data plan, this is internet data that utilizes AT&T's cellular network.  So this can include:
1)  email
2)  web browsing
3)  picture or video messages (although the 160-character text "SMS" messages without pics or video are not considered data, but is a seperate feature of your cell phone plan)
4)  Streaming videos (YouTube, Netflix, etc.)
5)  Streaming music (Pandora, Spofity, etc.) But not that music files (MP3, etc.) that actually are copied onto the phone are not "streamed" and therefore won't use cell data
6)  any other "app" that uses the internet to download information, such as weather, stocks, news, backup your personal data, etc.
Its the last one that is the pitfall for many folks.  There are apps that are built-in that can be downloading or synching data in the background, without you even knowing it.  Or apps that you install can be doing this (again, without you knowing it).  Liz's recommendation to shut off the background data usage is a good one.  Although once you learn a bit more, you might want to go into the settings for each app and tailor if/when the apps download data, as some of those features can be quite useful; while others you may find less useful, and can shutoff the data synching altogether.
If you have a home WiFi network setup, you can connect your phone.  That way, any internet usage you have on your phone while connected to your home WiFi network will not be counted against your AT&T cellular data allowance, but instead will use your home broadband internet connection (if applicable).
Read up until you understand more.  Feel free to come back here and ask more questions.  Good luck!