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Monitoring Data Limits
For fun on the go, nothing beats apps such as Netflix, Pandora, Sling Player, Hulu+ and other streaming apps. But these apps and many others can be data hogs, hurdling you over your data cap in record time.
You must pay attention to your data cap on your mobile devices unless you have an unlimited data plan. Going over your data cap can be very expensive, but how can you possibly know how much data you’re using? You can have an idea of how many voice minutes you use, but do you know how much data you use streaming a five minute YouTube video? Probably not.
Fortunately, there are apps to help you monitor your data usage so you don’t have to pay any costly overage fees.
DataMan
For the iPhone and 3G iPad, check out DataMan in the iTunes App Store. This app lets you enter your data cap and monthly billing cycle and will notify you with an alert if you exceed your data cap. The alert feature of DataMan is what makes this app the one to get.
This app also has a geo-location feature that will track your data usage on a map, but unless you need this feature, you should turn it off to preserve battery life.
Both an iPhone and iPad version of the app are available at the App Store (iPhone $1.99, iPad $3.99). The iPhone app works on the iPhone as well as on the 3G iPad. I contacted the developer of the app, XVision, to find out the difference between the iPad app and the iPhone app. The developer replied promptly:
“DataMan for iPad with 3G is designed to take full advantage of the iPad’s big screen. There’s an always-on dashboard to show you your current usage at all times. It supports rotation and displays more statistics in landscape mode. These features are new and exclusive to DataMan for iPad. In addition, DataMan for iPad will be updated soon to include new features like chart and export.”
There is a lite version of the iPhone DataMan app that is free but doesn’t alert you when you have hit your data limit, you need to check and see what your usage is. I recommend you get the paid verision of the app because of the alert feature. The paid version of this app could easily pay for itself in the first month you avoid exceeding your data cap.
If you are concerned about going over your voice minutes with your cell phone plan, check out VoiceMan for the iPhone in the App Store ($1.99).
Android
For Android phones, check out Stats Free which provides data, voice and text usage and is a free app available in the Android Market. This app also gives an alert when you reach your usage limits. The app has ads which you can avoid by purchasing Stats Donate instead for $1.27.
AT&T
AT&T has an app that will help you monitor your use of voice, data and texts, called My AT&T. You log in with your account information and you can see your usage during the current billing cycle. You can view and pay your bills and manage your features from the app. The app is free but does not provide alerts like Dataman does. AT&T’s app is handy if you want to see if your data usage matches your data plan. For instance, if you have a 2 GB data plan with AT&T but find that you only use about 100 MB of data each month, you should think about downgrading from the $25/2 GB data plan to the $15/200 MB plan. My AT&T is available for iPhone, iPad and Android phones.
Verizon
My Verizon Mobile is a free app that will let you monitor your data usage, voice minutes and texts. You can pay your bills, manage your features and change your calling plan from the app as well. The app is available for iPhone, iPad and Android phones except for the HTC Thunderbolt.
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Do you monitor your data usage? Do you have a data cap or are you on an unlimited data plan? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Carolyn, we have an iPad 2 with 3G on AT&T. Does the iPad default to a wifi connection if it is available? Will it switch back from 3G to a wifi connection when wifi becomes available?
Thanks.
Hi Max, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech. In Settings on your iPad, go to Wi-Fi then turn Ask to Join Network to On. Then any network you have previously logged into will be joined automatically. If none of those are available, you will be asked if you want to join a new network.
So, yes, switching back and forth between Wi-Fi and 3G will occur seamlessly as long as you have Ask to Join Networks turned on.
Can you set Dataman to alert you when you come close or does it only alert you when you hit your limit?
Hi Shanika, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Great question! I wrote to the developer, XVision, asking your question and they replied with this answer:
“As for your question, you can set 4 levels of alert thresholds in DataMan. The default thresholds are 50%, 70%, 90% and 100%. Whenever the data usage exceeds these thresholds (e.g. above 90% of his monthly allowance of 2GB), an alert to the user is sent. Thus, to achieve what the user wants, he can set the allowance to 2GB and then customize the thresholds.”
I hope this helps you, Shanika!
is this too lame for the Dataman contest? (comment 2)
Hi Ron, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! No such thing as a lame comment at The Wonder of Tech. Congratulations!
How do they alert you?
Hi cho cho, Another great question! DataMan alerts you by push notification. So when you reach a data threshold, you will get a pop up window on your iPhone or iPad alerting you about your data usage. Hope this helps!
Hi Carolyn,
What a coincidence. I have been thinking about this today. I have been wondering how much data I have been using on the 3G, and I have no clue how much it costs. I’m using Facebook, Twitter, and checking my email all the time (and I have recently started with Geo Caching which uses the 3G as well). I was a little worried, and I still am 🙂
Seems like the exact app I need. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Jens, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! It’s true, without an app to monitor data usage, no user would know how much data he was using. I think the alert feature is essential because otherwise you would have to be checking constantly and might forget to check before you go over your limits. I hope you enjoy the app!
I like DataMan because now at least I have an understanding of how much data e-mails, Pandora, etc. use when I access them.
Hi Cole, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! You’re right, you need an app such as DataMan to monitor your data usage. Nobody can know how much data they are using without such an app.
Is there a data cap on the Kindle? I have the 3G Kindle.
Good news, Andrea! Your 3G data connection on your Kindle does not have a data cap. In fact, you don’t even have to pay a monthly fee for the 3G service. So use it as much as you want. 🙂