If you have any friends on Facebook, you would have noticed a lot more cursing and exclamation marks directed at cellular providers lately. Using the little data that they have left, people have taken to social media to express their concerns over exorbitant data bills.
Data in South Africa is pricey. It’s like owning a car but not having the moolah for petrol.
If your family isn’t one of the lucky few with an unlimited data package, here are a few ways you can save on your data bill:
1. Turn auto-play off on Facebook Video
The Facebook News Feed has become a lot more animated with the introduction of auto-play videos. Whether you like it or not, every video posted or shared will start playing automatically.
The good news is that you and your family don’t have to be subjected to every #EpicFail.
For computers:
1. Go to your options drop-down menu in the top right.
2. Click “Settings”
3. Select the “Videos” link on the left.
4. Turn the “Auto-Play Videos” from “ON” to “OFF”
For iOS devices:
1. Open Facebook app
2. Tap on More (Three bars on the bottom right corner )
3. Select Settings
4. Select Account Settings
5. Select Videos and Photos
6. Select Auto-Play and choose how you would prefer to watch videos
For Android devices:
1. Open Facebook app
2. Tap on More (Three bars on the bottom right corner)
3. Select App Settings
4. Select Video Auto-Play and choose your preference
Do the same on all your household devices to bring the bill down.
2. Install ADSL at Home
3G and 4G will laugh in the face of your household budget. If your family is constantly using this to connect, your bill will soar.
With an ADSL package from your Internet Service provider, you’ll have the option of an uncapped data offering, so your family can tweet/download/snap to your heart’s content without having to worry about paying more than a predetermined amount per month. This makes it easy to keep track of your expenses without putting a cap on your internet usage.
3. Turn off Wi-Fi Assist on your iPhone
This one is for the Apple users who have updated to iOS 9. Wi-Fi Assist is a feature that switches back to cellular data if the Wi-Fi connectivity is poor.
It’s superb if you have an unlimited data plan and can’t afford to have your favourite Taylor Swift video interrupted. It’s not so superb if this isn’t the case.
Head to Settings, tap Cellular, then scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to turn off Wi-Fi Assist.
4. Quit Your Apps
So you think that because you’ve hit the home button, you’re free of data costs? Sorry to break it to you, but your phone is still very busy behind the scenes. You need to quit the app entirely to prevent sneaky data from running in the background.
For iOS devices:
Double-tap the Home button and swipe Apps up.
For Android devices:
Hit the Recent Apps menu and swipe Apps to the right.
5. Enjoy images and videos later
As tempting as it is to keep up with every Vine featuring a goat that imitates Donald Trump, try and delay this gratification until you’re in a Wi-Fi hotspot. Rich media such as high-res images and videos consume bucket-loads of data.
6. Turn off your Cellular Data
If you’re running around during the day and know you won’t need notifications sent to your phone, turn off your cellular data. Even when we’re not using our phone, data is still being consumed in the background. With your cell data turned off, people can still call and SMS you.
7. Download Data Management Apps
There are great apps that can monitor your data usage. You can plug in how much data you expect to use over the course of the month and the apps will notify you if you are due to exceed your daily or monthly limit. I use My Data Manager and it breaks down usage per day and per month, and forecasts your monthly usage based on previous consumption.
8. Turn Off Push Notifications that you don’t need
From Instagram to email, many apps will push notifications to you every time someone comments on a post or sends an email.
Go into Settings or the app itself and switch off all unnecessary push notifications.
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