On verge of selling S3 - too much data being used. Help

[Shadrack]

I know whenever I get a new phone my data usage goes up. But that much for Facebook is crazy!

[Technique]

3GS 320x480 = 0.2MP

S3 1280x720 = 0.9MP

Screen sizes perhaps is why - the 3GS's screen is tiny in comparison, you're looking at images which are almost 5 times as large (in pixels) and thus use 5 times the data; you'd perhaps find the same usage jump if she had an iPhone5. First run will always use some date to sync lists, new stories etc. But really it's likely to be due to the paltry display being upgraded to 720p. What you need to check is if it's foreground or background usage. May as well leave all the sync/notifications on if she's going to actively use it as it'll be downloaded then anyway and the later use minuscule amounts.

If she's really worried about going over she could disable background date usage for FB, only use it actively on Wifi, but use the mobile website through Opera Mini or the browser as it can load without images (opera will compress them nicely too)

If it is due to the screen then she'll have to sell the S3, no way about it. Upgrading her tarriff isn't an option.

[hjf288]

Lol any phone in its class will have a screen of similar or greater spec as pretty much every phone has a 720p screen.

Unless you go for cheap low end handsets..

I'd recommend she uses opera mini to browse and contact the operator to use their image compressing proxy services (they often implement a server that compresses images more to reduce data usage at the expense of image quality) so you can benefit from the savings on other apps

[Detection]

If it is due to the screen then she'll have to sell the S3, no way about it. Upgrading her tarriff isn't an option.

Naa, its not the screen size, the difference would be tiny unless you're comparing 640x480 to 999999x9999999 and even then it's dependant on what rez the site is displaying

Plus most phones will download images in a lower rez anyway for speed despite the screen size

[Technique]

Well she's going to run it a week without the Facebook app & will access Facebook through the standard web browser.

That said, the web browser was using a lot anyway, but still, we'll see how it stacks up in 7 days.

I'm not confident we can figure it out though as nothing so far seems to be working. Looks like she'll be heading back to Apple.

[Detection]

Well she's going to run it a week without the Facebook app & will access Facebook through the standard web browser.

That said, the web browser was using a lot anyway, but still, we'll see how it stacks up in 7 days.

I'm not confident we can figure it out though as nothing so far seems to be working. Looks like she'll be heading back to Apple.

So it has only been since the S3 that this data extreme has started ?

Has she had a different phone, used it in the same manor, and experienced much less data use ?

[Noir Angel]

Disable automatic notifications. When you have that feature enabled the app constantly polls in the background but if you disable that feature I believe it only does it when you refresh manually.

[Technique]

So it has only been since the S3 that this data extreme has started ?

Has she had a different phone, used it in the same manor, and experienced much less data use ?

I'm not being funny, but i've already said the answer to your first question is yes & the answer to your second question is also yes. The [different] phone was the iPhone 3GS which she ran for over 2 years until she replaced with the Samsung

Disable automatic notifications. When you have that feature enabled the app constantly polls in the background but if you disable that feature I believe it only does it when you refresh manually.

If you mean the notifications that is ticked in the above image then she says she can't as she needs some notifications. She gives 2 points:

1) Sometimes her workmates contact her via facebook if they can't make it to work. To this you will suggest they text her, which is what i'd suggest also, but this is the way they seem to do it, so this is the way it's done.

2) With her iPhone, ALL notifications were ON. She didn't need to turn damn near all of them off ........ and she had no data usage issue with that.

EDIT: Just throwing a suggestion out there - what if the data manager is wrong & it's not facebook that is using up all the data & it's something else?

[Noir Angel]

Was there a point to seeking advice from members when you're not going to listen to anything we say? It sounds to me as if you've already made your mind up, in which case we won't help you.

Investigate the issue. There must be something causing it, as the Facebook app on Android does not use that much more data than the iPhone version. Android has advanced multitasking and applications run as services, of course you'll get a little more data usage but it shouldn't be that high without a solid reason.

[Detection]

I'm not being funny, but i've already said the answer to your first question is yes & the answer to your second question is also yes. The [different] phone was the iPhone 3GS which she ran for over 2 years until she replaced with the Samsung

Its ok, there has been so many suggestions its difficult to keep up :)

[Scorbing]

That's not the phone's fault. It is yours. You have way too many apps that connect to the web on the background using bandwidth.

[argonite]

We keep telling you to try different things with the Facebook options in order to diagnose the problem, and you refuse to diagnose the problem ("she needs xxx feature of facebook").

Well, she also needs the phone to use less data, right?

The entire argument is almost as ridiculous as not taking a car to a mechanic for a month because "I need to use it to get to work."

So figure out what's more important and come back to us.

Work with us here, we want you to attempt different things in the short term in order to not have you make a long term decision you'll regret, just because of some crummy technical glitch!

[Davo]

The Facebook app for Android is horrid. Back before phones had a reasonable amount of internal memory (which only started happening this year), I'd see many people have low space warnings due to Facebook. The app would cache and store just about everything.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's eating data up like crazy for notifications, sync, etc.

[Manish]

Was there a point to seeking advice from members when you're not going to listen to anything we say? It sounds to me as if you've already made your mind up, in which case we won't help you.

We keep telling you to try different things with the Facebook options in order to diagnose the problem, and you refuse to diagnose the problem ("she needs xxx feature of facebook").

Well, she also needs the phone to use less data, right?

To me, it seems as if the OP has merely turned down advice that he/his wife consider impractical or non-implementable (even if temporary) due to personal/vocational reasons, which is fairly understandable. Additionally, while I am not offering a solution myself, neither are people suggesting that the OP's wife delete her Facebook account or ridiculing the use of a smartphone on a 500MB data plan.

The entire argument is almost as ridiculous as not taking a car to a mechanic for a month because "I need to use it to get to work."

What argument? The OP is asking (potentially) more knowledgable/experienced people for help. The situation is more akin to an individual taking their car to a garage because the indicators have stopped working properly, then having to hear some mechanics suggest either to stop driving or to stop bothering to indicate.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

The choices are pretty clear here from my reading of the thread. You should swap phones for a week or two and see what the data use is for her and make a decision from there.

If she needs to use all of the functions of the application and you are sure that the iPhone will use less data doing so (for whatever reason) then test that theory out. If it pans out make the choice needed.

Short of writing a custom Facebook app for Android for her you have no way of controlling the data use my Facebook's app other than scaling it back or not using it altogether.

[Sandor]

I only use mobile data (my home internet connection actually has less allowance than my phone's plan...go figure) so I can get a fairly accurate breakdown of what an app "should" be doing. I use FB most days to troll my mates and look at photos and so far in my billing period (on day 20) I'm at 160MB used. To be fair 124MB in about 2 weeks seems reasonable to me. Certainly not indicative of an app "EATING DATAS!"

I would check the "background usage" just out of interest. On my HTC on android 4.0.3 you go to Settings > Usage > scroll down to where all the apps are listed > and tap on Facebook. Should open a graph and pie chart where you can compare. If the background is high or more than say 1/3 of the total it might point to something odd.

Glad I don't have to give a **** as I have 6GB data a month. Couldn't be bothered checking my ass every day for a 500MB limit

[Sandor]

Just ran a quick test. Completely shut off facebook and checked my usage on the default scale. Seems to be the last week or so. 49.86MB through Facebook.

Fired it up and scrolled around a bit. Let it load the profile pics, the general photos people post and the usual text. Scrolled down for a few "loads" and then exited out. Usage now 52.08MB.

Completely legitimate and expected behaviour for a higher powered smartphone. If you have a big screen and a powerful device it WILL use more data than some half ass effort or clown phone from Apple. It just doesn't stand to reason for people to buy dual core/quad core phones with massive internal storage and screens that make your desktop computer resolution look crap and then expect it to elegantly "sip" data. It'll use what it needs to complete the request.

Suggestion: Get an appropriate data plan for your usage profile people!

[Growled Member]

Maybe this will help:

http://support.google.com/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1638168

[Technique]

I don't understand....

She's listened to the advice & acted on it. Just because she may not be following YOUR advice doesn't mean you should get upset & start having a hissy fit. It's been suggested that she deletes the app & runs facebook through the web browser, so instead of the actual Facebook app on the homepage, she'll have a web browser bookmark link. This has been suggested.

So yes, she has taken on advice. It just might not have been YOUR advice. She can't try everything at once though.

So she'll run it like that for a week to see how it compares to the previous week.

[HoochieMamma]

You should be on a 1-2GB plan (minimum!), with any smart phone nowadays.

[Technique]

You should be on a 1-2GB plan (minimum!), with any smart phone nowadays.

And please give me a good credible argument as to why?

I don't want to ruffle any feathers here, but people are coming in with statements & not giving anything further to back their statements up.

Take ME for example, not my wife, but ME.....

I have 500mb per month. I think the MOST i've ever used in 1 month in the past 3 years has been 250MB.

So please, i am really interested in knowing ......... why then, based on what you've just said, >>>I<<< should be on a 1GB-2GB per month plan when the MOST i've ever used has been approx 250MB. Please give me a good argument as to why.

This is ignoring for a minute the fact that 1) I couldn't afford such a plan 2) i clearly don't need such a plan (despite you implying EVERYONE should be on one)

Honestly, i am grateful of the help given, but comments like that, unless you can back it up with something credible, is NOT helpful.

[dancedar]

TBH I think the issue is clear: larger screen is pulling more date for larger images etc.

If it's foreground date is her FB use, simple. If it's background them something odd is going on.

You either accept she will use it and get stung for going over the limit, change plans (?10/1g+ a month is everywhere), increase cap w/ current plan (probably v cheap) or stop using the app. Or downgrade to a lower-res phone.

Her S3's screen is almost as large resolution-wise as my laptop's, and there's no way I'd expect to use only 300mb/month through the Facebook site.

[kazgor]

I have to agree, how is it helping by suggestion an bigger data plan... that doesn't solve the underlining problem.

There is another facebook app that i use instead called FriendCaster (on the Playstore) there is a free version.

Also for a good monitoring tool rather than use the builtin app, try My Data Manager, this gives you a very good break down off apps

by day/week/month. so you getting a good.

TBH I think the issue is clear: larger screen is pulling more date for larger images etc.

If it's foreground date is her FB use, simple. If it's background them something odd is going on.

You either accept she will use it and get stung for going over the limit, change plans (?10/1g+ a month is everywhere), increase cap w/ current plan (probably v cheap) or stop using the app. Or downgrade to a lower-res phone.

Her S3's screen is almost as large resolution-wise as my laptop's, and there's no way I'd expect to use only 300mb/month through the Facebook site.

I dont agree... i have a HTC One X and my usage is well below my own 500mb plan and even on Wifi the usage is no where near the OP. i dont break past

infact on the 1hour drive home i stream internet radio and i barely hit 15megs.

[HoochieMamma]

Ok, here goes..

I don't know what you're doing with your phone but 250MB in a month is absolutely nothing, you must not be doing anything with your phone other then calls and the occasional website look up. Anything that loads a pictures will burn through data like no tomorrow. Try running facebook or instagram for an hour and see what you use (a guy at work went through 700MB in about 30 min on his phone through instagram, was pretty funny when he told us!)

I'm about 3/4 through the month for me and I'm already on 276MB and that is ONLY exchange/work email data and Facebook, let along about 40-50MB of website data or any updates through Google Play which is another 120MB of updates (set to auto update so that's not really counted).

I don't even use this phone as my main phone!!

Without even doing anything with my phone (not including facebook or exchange) background data of all the various OS/android services and programs on my phone is hovering at about 170MB

So unless you have all your services turned off or have no programs installed then I really cannot see how you're only using 250MB of data, I consistently go over my 1GB limit at work every month, so does everyone else at work in my area who have iPhones/androids.

Data limits suck!

[Technique]

RE: larger screen ... some members say this could be the cause, others argue it's not. Someone must be wrong.

kazgor - thanks for the reply. I'll let her know.

As for i must not be doing anything......

250MB (let's stretch to 300MB tops) was when i took a weeks holiday & went away. We'd be out & i'd be texting, looking up places to go, looking up google maps a lot, browsing email, facebook, youtube, especially when back at the hotel. This would go on for a good few days while we're away. I could hammer it for hours.

Then i'd come home & turn WiFi on. If i'm at home i'll use my PC for the internet anyway as it's just easier.

So i may not be using it as much as you or the next person, but i use it enough for my needs. The wife's are very similar & when we were both running the iPhone 3GS, as has been said numerous times now, our usage was pretty much identical.