When you use your iPad you might notice that your data plan rapidly gets eaten up. It is important that you know how to conserve the data allowance that you have. This is important because you will have a limited amount of data for the month, and when this is used up you may face excessive use charges. These charges could be a lot more than you are expecting or can afford. There are a number of ways that you can conserve the data plan that you have, and you need to know what they are.
The Downloading of Apps
The first step that you have to take comes with the downloading of apps. You should try and do this only when you are connected to Wi-Fi. This not only makes the download faster, but you will also enable you to save the data allowance that you have with your mobile broadband plan. The app you are downloading could take over 50MB of data. This can easily use up all the data that you have if you allow your app downloads to get the better of you.
When to Update Your Apps
It is not only the downloading of the apps that will use up all of your data. As with all software there are new versions of the apps being released. When this happens your iPad is going to want to update the app. You need to be very careful when this happens because updating an app could use around 20MB of data. If you have a range of apps that are updating at the same time then you will be using up a large portion of your data.
You should disable the auto-update feature on your iPad. This means that the iPad will tell you that the app does have an update, but it will not automatically update it. You should only update apps when you are connected to a Wi-Fi connection as this will save your data plan.
The Streaming of Media
There are a lot of people who look at their iPad as the best way to stream media on the go. While this is a valid idea you need to consider the impact that this will have on your data plan. The streaming of media from the Internet via your mobile broadband will eat through all of your data. You have to consider the size of what you are going to be steaming.
A standard definition movie streamed from a service like Netflix can use around 500 to 700MB of data. If you are looking at watching the same movie in high definition then you could be looking at around 3GB of data being used. An episode of a TV show can use anywhere from 400 to 1500MB to stream.
It is not only services like Netflix that will use up you data when you stream from them. Watching videos on YouTube can also eat up your data. It you are going to be streaming radio stations live from the Internet then you are also going to be using large amounts of data. Apps like Spotify might offer you the audio files that you want, but you need to consider the data costs of this.
Checking Your Settings
The settings of your iPad can seriously affect the amount of data that you are going to be using. It is important that you consider the settings that you have and what they should be in order to conserve data. The first setting that you need to check is the notifications for mail. This should be turned off because each time you get a notification you are actually going to be using up some of your data. In fact, you should look at turning off any type of push notification including the ones for social media because they are going to be using a lot of your data.
You can also use settings for apps like iTunes to save your data plan. These apps offer you the choice of restricting the use of cellular data when you use them. This means that you will not be using your data plan and they will only allow you to use them when you are connected to Wi-Fi.
Checking Your Usage
The best way to ensure that you do not go over your data plan or use up too much of your data is to check your usage. There is a way to do this on the iPad, but many people find it a bit hard to get to. The monitor application is hidden a bit in the apps and can be found four layers down. This hard to reach nature of the application makes it easier for people to get other monitoring applications.
There is a number of Internet usage monitoring applications that you can get from the App Store. When you use these applications you will be able to see the amount of data that you have used as well as the applications that have used the data. The best application to use is down to personal preference and how comfortable you are with the app.
Getting a Better Data Plan
If you find that you are still eating through all of your data you need to consider whether or not you have the correct data plan. There are some people who need to have data plans that offer them a larger allowance than others. You can use a comparison website like uSwitch to find the best iPad Mini SIM deals and contracts for you. These websites will list all the data plans for the iPad according to a number of different criteria.
Conserving your iPad data plan is something that all iPad users need to look into. When you do this you will be able to use your iPad when you need to and not have to worry about going over the data allowance. You should look at the settings of the iPad and the applications that you have when you do this. You also need to consider what you are doing and how much data it is going to use.
Phil Turner checked out websites such as uSwitch to see what providers could offer the best iPad Mini SIM deals before he purchased one.
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