How do you determine how much data your SIII is using?

interxavier

Member
Dec 31, 2010
7
0
0
Visit site
The mobile carrier in my area has a special promotion of providing cheap data service but only 50 MB.

I want to know if this is enough for basic data usage. How do you determine how much data your phone is using? For example, how much data does Facebook eat up if it's running in the background?

Thanks!
 

Mac.World

ΣΛΤ ΜΣ
May 3, 2012
132
15
0
Visit site
The mobile carrier in my area has a special promotion of providing cheap data service but only 50 MB.

I want to know if this is enough for basic data usage. How do you determine how much data your phone is using? For example, how much data does Facebook eat up if it's running in the background?

Thanks!

50MB?!? That is the equivalent of about 1 minute on 4G LTE.

If you bought an S3 and can only afford a 50mb plan, I think you may want to return the S3 for a cheaper phone. The S2 is currently going for $9.99 on at&t with 2 year contract.
 

L2 Fly

Member
May 27, 2012
23
0
0
Visit site
The mobile carrier in my area has a special promotion of providing cheap data service but only 50 MB.

I want to know if this is enough for basic data usage. How do you determine how much data your phone is using? For example, how much data does Facebook eat up if it's running in the background?

Thanks!

I'm not sure how much Facebook uses running in the background, but over the past 10 days that I've had this phone, Facebook has used about 2 MB. I haven't used it much yet, though. 50 MB is nothing. Unless you're going to be on WiFi every time you use your phone, I'd really suggest getting a higher plan. Also, I doubt this makes any difference at all, but I'm using a Nexus rather than an S III on Verizon.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums
 

Nashstruck

Well-known member
May 5, 2012
115
14
0
Visit site
The mobile carrier in my area has a special promotion of providing cheap data service but only 50 MB.

I want to know if this is enough for basic data usage. How do you determine how much data your phone is using? For example, how much data does Facebook eat up if it's running in the background?

Thanks!

Lol 50mb??!! They're going to be raiding your bank account with that plan. Get at least 1/2GB. At least!!
 

walcolm

Well-known member
Jun 6, 2012
293
11
0
Visit site
i used up about 30mb in a few minutes installing a few apps from Google play...no way 50mb is gonna be enough for anything more than switching your S3 off and on
 

monkeyluis

Well-known member
Nov 16, 2011
399
31
0
Visit site
I wouldn't try and be cheap when it comes to data. You're gonna need way more than that. I work from home and over the last 6 months I've used on average about 170mbs. So even just being out & about I use more than 50mb's.
 

Tkbredx

Well-known member
Apr 8, 2012
2,101
58
0
Visit site
You couldnt even watch a full youtube video with that. But To see data usage there might be an app. I know I can log in on sprint and see how much data I am using.
 

SiliconAddict

Active member
Jul 6, 2010
37
0
0
Visit site
The mobile carrier in my area has a special promotion of providing cheap data service but only 50 MB.

I want to know if this is enough for basic data usage. How do you determine how much data your phone is using? For example, how much data does Facebook eat up if it's running in the background?

Thanks!

A couple of things. First off while most of what everyone is saying is true, its also based on power users. So take what they say with a grain of salt. How much data you use will be based on network speed, what you do with the device, and your personal habits. To give you an idea, doing nothing else, and having a solid 3G network you would eat through 50MB in about two day. Four at the absolute outside.
You had asked about background services and how much they eat up. Your example being Facebook. *scratches head* that is like asking how many MPG a car in the US gets. Its relative to the car model. In this case its relative to what you have enabled on the device. Just setting up a Google account and having it sync from the cloud would most likely eat up 50MB in a half week. Add other services that are integrated into Samsung's touchwiz interface like weather, twitter, Facebook. Check your email a few times, browse a bit and you will find yourself blowing past 50MB in short order. You may not need 1GB of data. but IMHO at minimum 800MB. And that is assuming you tweak the device to make sure it isn't sipping data all the time which is difficult. You need to keep in mind that the S3 is a social device that was designed for always on internet. A good comparison would be trying to use Steam on a dial up connection. It wasn't designed for dial up, its an app that requires a big o fat pipe. 50MB sounds as if it was a promo designed for lower end devices, not the S3. If you mist have an app to keep track of the data you use do a search on the play store for Traffic Counter. Good app to monitor on a per app basis where your data is going.

Sent from my aokp_tenderloin using Android Central Forums
 

rlb

Well-known member
Jun 21, 2010
292
9
0
Visit site
My wife uses about 50-60 MB a month on her Captivate. She is usually on wifi and basically checks email, texts, and some internet. She has gmail syncing/pushing as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Android Central Forums
 

DAS

Well-known member
Feb 9, 2011
1,130
63
0
Visit site
A great app for managing and viewing data usage (wifi,roaming,and cellular) is titled My Data Manager.

I think it was free when I downloaded it. It will allow you to track your data instantly.

Galaxy Note! Phone. Tablet. Planner. Notepad. eReader. The only device I need!
 

Dreissig

Active member
Jun 16, 2012
31
4
0
Visit site
I just wanna say that the GS3 has a data manager built in. Go to settings -> data usage. It lets you select a data cycle, set a warning for when you are close to reaching your cap, and you can set it to cut off mobil data at a certain amount. It will also plot your usage on a chart so you can see your daily trends.

An example is how I have a 1gB plan. I set it up so it reminds me at 895mB that I only have 100mB left. At 995mB it cuts off my mobil data for the rest of the cycle (or until I reset the current cycle).
 

jroc

Well-known member
Jun 26, 2010
861
66
0
Visit site
I just wanna say that the GS3 has a data manager built in. Go to settings -> data usage. It lets you select a data cycle, set a warning for when you are close to reaching your cap, and you can set it to cut off mobil data at a certain amount. It will also plot your usage on a chart so you can see your daily trends.

An example is how I have a 1gB plan. I set it up so it reminds me at 895mB that I only have 100mB left. At 995mB it cuts off my mobil data for the rest of the cycle (or until I reset the current cycle).

I was gonna say since ICS...there is a built in data manager in Android. Or should be unless a phone manufacture was boneheaded enough to not have it in their custom UI. That and the task switcher are 2 of my favorite ICS features.
 

Dreissig

Active member
Jun 16, 2012
31
4
0
Visit site
I was gonna say since ICS...there is a built in data manager in Android. Or should be unless a phone manufacture was boneheaded enough to not have it in their custom UI. That and the task switcher are 2 of my favorite ICS features.

I hadn't known that all ICS mobiles had this. The GS3 is my first one.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Android Central Forums
 

Forum statistics

Threads
943,006
Messages
6,916,851
Members
3,158,770
Latest member
jcl678