Way too much usage

Shawn Asbury

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I upgraded from a Droid Charge to my Galaxy s4 almost 3 weeks ago & this phone uses way 2 much data. I had the old unlimited data plan with my old phone& I would watch YouTube, WSHH, Netflix & listen to music almost every single day & not use more than 12gb a month, every single month, but as soon as I change my plan (14gb plan) w/this new phone I did the same exact thing I normally did & not even 2 weeks into my bill cycle I was already at 9gb. I had to upgrade my plan twice n completely stop doing what I normally did to conserve my gigs 2 WEEKS INTO MY CYCLE. Either VERIZON is calculating their data differently from the old unlimited plan to the current plans they offer or this phone is horrible w/ data...if I could've stayed on my unlimited plan I would've but Verizon wouldn't let me.

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B. Diddy

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Welcome to Android Central! It's not that the phone itself is responsible for the increased data usage--it's most likely the apps that you've installed (or came preinstalled) that are constantly accessing the web to refresh data. Things that you can do to cut this down:

1. If you don't need to be constantly connected to the web, then toggle the mobile data connection off. Install a toggle widget like Power Toggles, and put it somewhere easy to access on your homescreen, or put it in your Notification shade.

2. If you want your mobile data constantly connected, then consider turning off background sync, and toggling it on only when you need to sync data. There's a sync toggle in Power Toggles.

3. The types of apps that usually access the web a lot are social, news, and weather. Check all of these kinds of apps (like Facebook), open their settings, and look for options to change the refresh rate to manual (or never). Whenever you open these apps, they often will do an initial data refresh, or you can initiate it yourself.

4. Google Maps and Google+ use a feature called Location Reporting that uploads your location periodically to Google, so that other people that you share your location with can know where you are. It requires fairly frequent access to the web, and uses data (although probably not too much). Since I'm not interested in having anyone else know where I am at all times, I turn this off. Go to Google Settings (in the Apps drawer), select Location, and turn off Location Reporting.

5. Google Play Music can use up a LOT of data, especially if you have All Access. Be careful what you're listening to. If you have some of your music stored locally on your phone and only want to listen to those tracks, then make sure you select "On Device Only" at the top of the screen. This will prevent you from mistakenly listening to your music in the cloud, which will require data usage.
 

B. Diddy

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Also, you can see what apps are using the most data by going to System Settings/Wireless & Networks/Data Usage. There are good apps out there that also help you track data usage, like GSam Battery Monitor.
 

Golfdriver97

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The power toggles B. Diddy talked about should be the same as the stock ones in your notification shade.
 

B. Diddy

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Thanks, Golfdriver97! Yeah, I don't have an S4, so I can't be sure what toggles are available. And the stock Android "Power Controls" toggle bar lacks the mobile data toggle.
 

Golfdriver97

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Thanks, Golfdriver97! Yeah, I don't have an S4, so I can't be sure what toggles are available. And the stock Android "Power Controls" toggle bar lacks the mobile data toggle.

Pretty sure Sammy still has a Sync button in their toggles.

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B. Diddy

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Oh yeah, the stock Power Controls has a sync button too, but just no 4G button--that's what I was talking about.
 

Golfdriver97

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I am not meaning to hijack the thread or anything, but, what does the sync toggle do?

Allowing the syncing of Google apps, like contacts, calendar, etc... I think carrier and OEM app sync falls in this too.

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B. Diddy

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Yes, if you have sync on, then Google apps will refresh in the background at a regular interval. So for example, if sync is on, Gmail will sync every 10 minutes or so (I'm not sure of the exact interval). But if you turn sync off, it won't sync in the background. That doesn't mean you can't sync the app manually--so if sync is off and you open Gmail, you can manually sync it by swiping down.
 

CR6

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..if I could've stayed on my unlimited plan I would've but Verizon wouldn't let me.
Bummer to hear about your increased data on the S4. :banghead: Just an fyi for those looking to keep their unlimited with Verizon....you still can, you simply have to purchase the phone outright in order to do so. My monthly average is in the high 20s, so I'll have to pay full price for my next upgrade. Can't afford to lose unlimited. Ugh!
Hopefully you can figure out what's eating up your data.


tap'n
 

B. Diddy

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I think the days of unlimited plans with Verizon and anywhere else are numbered. Enjoy it while you can!
 

rjaus

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I had a data surge at the end of last month, beginning of this month. I highly recommend downloading the My Data Manager app and monitoring that frequently. It has better management tools and charts than the native data usage functionality. Also I recommend go to Settings --> Accounts to review through "My accounts" and check your sync settings for your accounts.

In my case it was NOT apps. I left the house to go to the store for 15 minutes, so I was on mobile data for 15 minutes. In that time, my phone used 150 MB of data. The two culprits were Exchange services and OS Services. Neither Verizon or Samsung could explain why after being on Wi-Fi all day, the minute I left the house to go on mobile data I consumed this much data. I've adjusted my sync settings and this hasn't happened again but I've been monitoring it every day.
 

Almeuit

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You could of kept unlimited if you paid full price for the device.

Going from unlimited is a hard thing to do for some.. Either way the phone shouldn't be using more data. It would not be able to use what you have it use.. Or syncing.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.
 

HPferoxCraft

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You mentioned Netflix, now I haven't used it on my phone but does it stream in hd? I know on my old phone some streaming sites gave the option of quality and some auto detected the phones capacity for quality and would send the best quality.
If you have an hd screen and great speed I could see how you could blow through gigs easily in just a couple hours.
Just tossing an idea out there.

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