Tired of surprises on your phone bill? Here’s how you can keep costs under control

September 5th, 2015

Ten years ago, we used phones just for talking and texting. Today, we so much more with them: surfing the web, downloading pictures, listening to music to streaming videos and making video calls.

But, the more we do, the more data we consume, and the more risk our phone bill can get out of hand. Using mobile data should not burn a hole in our pockets, right? Here are some simple ways to save on your mobile data while still getting the most from the mobile internet:

Set a data usage limit

The first step, if you are an Android user is to set a limit for your mobile data usage. This can be done in your device settings. Tap Settings > Data usage. Then, with data switched on, tap “Set mobile data limit” and then specify a warning level and a limit.

Force-stop unused apps

Smartphones constantly lose data to apps such as weather updates, live game scores, file sharing, etc. You can save data by pausing such apps and stop them from using data in the background.

Choose Wi-Fi for heavy data usage

Streaming videos and music, playing online games and uploading pictures eat up a lot of data and can swell your phone bill. It’s best to leave these for a time when Wi-Fi is available. And, with free public WiFi around, you are never too far away from doing what you want online without racking up costs!

Save webpages for offline viewing

A little planning goes a long way! You can save articles, map routes and any web stuff that you might need before you leave your home Wi-Fi. Apps such as Opera Mini help you save webpages on your phone, so you can access them later.

Use a smart data-management app

If you’re an Android user, you should start using Opera Max for data management and data savings. It compresses data, including images and video, across the apps on your device. You can view and track the data used by each app on your phone and easily block the data usage of apps you use less often.

With these tips, you can reduce your mobile data usage and thus avoid phone bill shocks. If you have other good ideas that we haven’t mentioned, share them with us in the comments section below.