5 Key Reasons Your Data Subscription Doesn't Last

The advent of Smartphones in the
recent times has made it easy for
people to gain unrestricted access to
information. We live in a knowledge
driven world and environment, so
having access to information at your
fingertips has become a prerequisite if
you must gain competitive advantage.
The internet plays a pivotal role in
connecting people to web based
resources and PCs are the major
platforms people use to access the
internet.
Recently, mobile platforms are
increasingly becoming the most
important devices people use to access
the internet. The reason isn’t far
fetched. Most business activities in our
world today require people to be on-
the-go, mobility is key. This is where
our Smartphone comes in. It gives us
the ability to stay abreast of the latest
information and developments by
providing us easy access to the
internet, even on-the-go.
All Smartphones require internet data
to access to the internet or one form of
data subscription. However, we all
know how expensive it is to access the
internet via our smartphones,
especially in this part of the world. In
Nigeria, most telecom service
providers provide their customers
mouth watering internet data plans to
lure and retain them. But then, there’s
something common about these
service providers – “insufficient data
allowance.’’
Currently, the average price of a
250MB data plan, with a one month
validity period, goes for N1000, which
is grossly insufficient for the average
Smartphone user. Realistically, a
250Mb data plan should last an
average Smartphone user – 4days, but
it’s officially expected to last 30days,
based on the terms and condition of
most telecom operators in the country.
A lot of Nigerians have complained
about the insufficient data allowance
provided by telecom operators, and
these operators have advised that we
cut down on certain activities leading
to excessive data consumption. Here
five reasons why your data
subscription doesn’t last and you can
begin the cut down from there.
1. Failure to turn off push settings
We all know that the push settings in
our smartphones are highly valuable
and they keep us up-to-speed with our
emails and social media messages. The
push setting lets you receive instant
notifications on your social media
accounts as well as well as e-mails.
However, they have an adverse effect
on your battery as well as data
subscription. The constant
synchronization between your
Smartphone’s mailbox as well as
social media account requires
constant use of valuable data.
People with unlimited data plan,
which is very expensive, don’t need to
be mindful about adjusting their push
settings, except to conserve battery
juice when necessary. Business men
and women require constant update
with regards to their emails as well as
their business social media pages, so
it’s okay for these categories of
individuals to leave their push settings
on. Most times, these categories of
individual wouldn’t find the cost of
subscribing to unlimited data plans an
issue. If you don’t belong to these
categories of persons or you belong to
the low income cadre, you should
consider turning off your push setting,
and then manually synchronize your
emails messages as well as social
media accounts when you deem fit.
2. Creating Personal hotspots
The beauty about most modern
Smartphones is that they allow you to
create your own personal WI-Fi-
hotspots, which allows you to share
your Smartphone data plans with
friends and family as long as they are
around you and you have given them
unrestricted access to your hotspot.
The problem some Smartphone users
fail to realize is that these connected
Smart devices jostle for the same data
allowance meant for a single
Smartphone, making them exhaust
your data plan pretty quickly.
Creating personal WIFI hotspots are
meant for subscribers with unlimited
data plan or those with sufficient data
allowance.
3. Downloading too many free apps
Many Smartphone owners are in a
habit of downloading free apps, which
isn’t a bad idea to start with. In our
local parlance “Awoof they purge
belle,” nothing is really free in our
world today. It must cost you
something – either financial
consideration or in kind. These free
apps you download may not cost you
financially, but you’d definitely be
bombarded with irrelevant ads that
use up your valuable data.
4. Failure to keep track of data usage
Most modern smartphones come with
some kind of data counter, which is
popularly referred to as data usage.
This data counter or data usage utility
was created to help you keep track of
your mobile data consumption, so
you’d know when to slowdown on
activities that requires extensive data
usage. This will allow you prorate
your data allowance and spread it
over its validity period. Failure to
monitor your data usage will result
premature data exhaustion.
5. Updating apps via 3G/4G
It’s essential to keep your favorite
apps up-to-date, but then when done
over 3G/4G network; it results in
excessive data usage. People with
unlimited data plans wouldn’t have a
problem updating these apps via these
networks. It's preferable to program
your apps to automatically update
only via WI-FI, but you can choose to
update via 3G/4G manually when it’s
absolutely necessary.
Mobile data management can be a
very difficult thing to do. If you are
living within a budget, then it’s
absolutely essential that you master a
few tricks to keep your data usage in
check. You have to be careful with
‘push setting’ adjustments as well as
creating hotspot networks. Try as
much as possible to avoid
downloading free apps as well as
updating already existing ones via 3G
or 4G. Monitor your data usage with
keen eyes; you just might discover the
perfect formulae to help you
effectively manage your mobile data
subscription.