How Do I Manage My Monthly Mobile Data Usage with Straight Talk?
This article talks about managing your Straight Talk data usage. It discusses how vigilant apps drain your data, and how minimizing them can greatly reduce data use. It also provides a table on how much data the most common Internet activities uses, so that new Internet habits can be learned that use less data.
If you've been having a problem with reaching your Straight Talk data limit for the month when the month isn't even over, you need to manage your data usage. Below are some methods you can use to cut down on how much data you use each month.
Reduce Vigilant Apps
Some apps are constantly connecting your phone to the Internet, using your data without you even being aware of it. Multiplayer online games are constantly looking for updates, even when you're not playing them. Social media apps like Facebook and Twitter are constantly checking for new posts, Tweets, and so forth. Some of these "vigilant" apps may be too useful for you to do without. You should, however, delete all the game and social media apps you can, along with any others that are constantly updating their data.
Change Your Habits
The other thing you can do to manage your data usage is to change your Internet habits so that you use less data yourself. Use the following chart to estimate how you use your data every month, and see where you could make changes to reduce your data usage.
- 1 minute of surfing the Internet: 50 to 500 KB
- 1 social media post, including photo: 100 to 350 KB
- 1 minute of watching video media is SD: 4 MB
- 1 minute of watching video media in HD: 8 to 10 MB
- 1 email, without attachment: 15 to 35 KB
- 1 email, with attachment: 100 to 300 KB
- 1 minute of streaming music: 0.5 to 1 MB
- 1 download of a song, game, or app: 1 MB to 7 MB
Observe your Internet habits for a week. Make note of how long you spend doing each of these activities. Use the chart to estimate how much of your data was used for each activity. That will show you where all your data is going. Then you can figure out how to trim down your activities to get your data use under control.
If you need further help managing your Straight Talk data use, contact their customer service. It has phone, help desk, chat, and email support.
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