0. Data Consumption Education campaign
May 2014
Data Consumption Education campaign

1. Talk about Data consumption
When using a smartphone, you’ll need to have a suitable tariff with a large enough data allowance to ensure you do not have to pay the out of bundle data costs. Users do not understand how to select a package however that would fulfil their need. In South Africa most networks charges much higher rates for “out of bundle” data than “in bundle” data.
Almost all of the features on a modern smartphone requires data to work. Data is consumed when browsing the internet, sending instant messages, reading s, watching YouTube videos, updating Facebook and Twitter and calling friends over Skype. Every activity consumes data at a different rate. Data is charged according to the volume used.
One of the constraints for customers is the fact that a limit can’t be loaded to a data package. If this is a requirement we suggest that you migrate to a top-up package which offers you this option.
There is a wide range of tariffs with varying data limits. Most contracts give you around 500MB, 1GB or 2GB of data per month but there’s a large variation depending on the network chosen.

2. How much is a MB and how much is a GB?
Often you see KB, MB and GB. What do these mean? Well we can be short and simple on this: There are 1024 kilobytes (KB) in 1 megabyte (MB) and there are 1024 megabytes in 1 gigabyte (GB).

3. What can I do with 500MB or 1GB of data?
It’s hard to give an exact figure. For instance, web pages differ substantially in size. Some websites are incredibly simple (mainly text with a few images) whilst others are much more complex (with photos and videos embedded which increases data consumption). In order to produce the table below, we’ve taken a few averages. It should provide a rough guide on what you’re able to do with 500MB or 1GB.
Approximate figures for what you’re able to do with 500MB or 1GB of data. See the table below for a list of assumptions.
*Please note that we’ve listed what 500MB and 1GB correspond to: this isn’t a shopping list of what you can download with a 500MB or 1GB allowance. In other words, viewing 900 web pages, watching 1 hour of video or downloading 40 apps would use up the entirety of a 500MB allowance (a 500MB allowance does not allow you to do all of them in the same month). Realistically, you’ll do a bit of everything so each activity would contribute towards your total data usage.
500MB corresponds to…
1GB corresponds to…
Accessing Web Pages
900 pages
1,800 pages
Basic /instant message
150,000
350,000
Rich /IM (with attachments)
1,000
2,000
Downloading/streaming music**
100 songs
200 songs
Downloading/streaming video**
1 hour
2 hours
Skype voice call
15 hours
30 hours
Skype video call
4 hours
Listening to online radio
8 hours
16 hours
Downloading/updating apps
40 apps
apps

4. How much data does the average user require?
We would typically recommend choosing a tariff with at least 2GB of data per month. This is based on statistics for average data consumption and also allows for some data usage increase over the next 24 months. However, it is important to look at the way you consume data to determine what package would be most suitable to your needs.

5. How much is data “in bundle” versus “data out” of bundle?
“In bundle data” is included in your monthly subscription. Once you go over the included data, you will be charged per MB used. Each network subscription has its own costing per MB used – ranging from 39 cents per MB to R2.00 per MB – these differ on each network and each package. Make sure you know what the out of bundle cost is on your package when you take it out.

6. What uses up the most data?

7. Does having data on use up a lot of battery?
With continuous streaming of data the battery will drain quicker, however there are various battery saving tips pending your specific device on Google search

8. Everyone says that WhatsApp is free. Is this true
Everyone says that WhatsApp is free. Is this true? If not, how is it charged? The same goes for We Chat?
WhatsApp and We Chat are applications that allows for cross-platform messaging or communication amongst friends and family. The reason users assume it is free is because you are not charged per message like when you are sending SMS’s. However, this is not entirely free. The application works via your web platform and thus sending messages, pictures and video’s you would incur data charges. The same as when you download the pictures and videos, you will be incurring data charges. The charges will be based on the amount of data consumed.

9. If I have my data on, can any of the Apps on my phone be updated without my knowledge?
To answer this question, it is important to understand what “Apps” are and how they work.
A mobile app is a software program you can download and access directly using your phone or another mobile device, like a tablet or music player. To download these apps to your device you would need access to the internet. Depending what device you are using, you would download the app from your device’s play store. A way for the App developer to make money on the app is to put advertising space on the app. The companies will pay for the advertising space. However, this utilises extra data when your device downloads the adverts. Another way the apps could be using data is by updating themselves when the new releases become available. There is a setting on your device whereby you are able to switch off the usage of “background data”. Each device has its own settings so it is best to download your devices’ settings directly from Google. (The iPhone and Android instructions are at the end of this document)

10. What is the best way to keep my phone software and various Apps updated without using all my data in one go?
To save your mobile data it is better to update your apps and software using Wi-Fi rather than your mobile data. It is also important to delete the apps that you are not using, not only does this use your device memory but it might also cause unnecessary ‘updating’ that uses up your data

11. Do I need my data on to receive an MMS?
Not at all, SMSMO just needs to be active on the network and the device MMS Settings needs to be correct.

12. Do I need to set my phone up for MMS or is this automatic?
Unfortunately you will have to set up your MMS. To set up your cell phone for data or MMS, go to the internet settings menu on your phone and set the APN to Internet and the MMS APN to MMS. Each network has their own proxy and MMS port

13. Is MMS data or is this on the voice platform?
MMS is messaging service and does not form part of any data or voice platform but it requires GPRS gateway.

14. If I have data on and I activate my WIFI will my phone automatically default then to the WIFI and use that data instead of my 3G data?
If the WIFI is switched on and logged in, your device will revert to the WIFI setting first, however it also depends on which connection is the strongest, your device will automatically select the stronger connection. We suggest that you rather switch off your mobile data and then connect to WIFI.

15. If I turn off my data, will WIFI still enable data on my phone?
As long as your WIFI has been switched on and is logged into in a password protected WIFI environment, you do not have to have your 3G/mobile data switched on to surf the net, receive and send mails, use social media platforms etc.

16. Do I need to get international roaming for data?
You will only need to have your international roaming services activated should you wish to use your data while abroad. Any network allocated data or active data bundles cannot be used abroad. Users will be charged international data rates, depending on the country. These costs are extremely high so make sure you have a clear understanding of the rates per MB before you decide to switch on the international roaming.

17. If I have not loaded data on my phone and I activate data does it use my voice airtime?
It will only use your airtime if you are on a top-up or prepaid package and load airtime which you would need to convert. On open contract, you are billed separately for data packages on top of your voice costs.

18. What should you avoid when you don't have a flat fee data plan?
There are a few simple tips to reduce your mobile data costs:
Do's
Download and install a data monitor, a simple free app that monitors how much mobile data you have used.
Download and install data crunchers, such as Onavo. They shrink and compress data reducing the amount of incoming mobile data.
Do a balance check as often as you can to see how much data you have remaining
Ensure that your automatic updates are off as this can result in very high data charges
Use a Wi-Fi connection for heavy downloading large files, programs or movies etc.
Don’ts
Streaming or downloading video's is by far the largest data consumer
Video calling programs are like streaming video and consume a lot of data

19. Autopage Recommendations
Download an app on your device to manage your data usage, check regularly to see how much data you have left. Vodacom and MTN also have app’s that can provide you with up to date information on how much data you have left on your package or alternatively you can look at Data monitor, Onavo Count, 3G Watchdog, Data Usage or My Data Manager.
Do not take an open package, rather select the option of a top up bundle on your package. Autopage have a very easy platform where you can order your bundles online through My Account with various payment options
It is impossible to get a breakdown of the URL’s that you utilised, this information is stored on your device. It is important to check daily what you have used and what you have left
Switch off any app’s that you are not using, these consume data without you even using them
Switch off your GPS until you need it
Get WiFi or MiFi set up at home and remember to use your WiFi access whenever possible
Set your download settings to “Manual Download” to avoid downloading s that you might not even want to look at or open
Be aware of when your new data cycle starts, depending on what network you are
Be aware that the first month there is a pro rata data on your 2 year contract – this could affect your first month’s bill as you will be charged for out of bundle data

20. Removing Back ground data on iPhone
Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 7 or higher.
Now tap on General.
Choose Background App Refresh.
Under this screen you can either choose to turn Background App Refresh completely Off using the master switch at the top, or you can fine tune exactly what apps can poll data and refresh themselves in the background using the individual toggles next to each app.

21. Disable background data in Android for all apps
For disabling background data for all the apps at a time, head over to Settings menu where you can find the option Data usage. Tap on it and you can find a graph which clearly depicts the data consumption in your android. You can monitor your data usage from here by settings cycles, can also set warnings and can enable or disable mobile data. All these features come in handy.
To disable data, tap on the menu option present at the top right corner of the screen.You can find lot of options as shown in image below. Now check the option “Restrict background data”. When you are done following these steps,background data will be restricted and you will  get a pop-up as shown in the below screenshot. Path is Settings > Data usage > menu.

22. Disable background data in Android for selected app
If you want to disable background data for a specific app of your choice which you think is consuming a lot of data,  follow these steps. Navigate to Settings menu and tap on the option Data usage. You can find all the apps in the descending order of data consumption by them. You can find two more options when you tap on an application which are Foreground and Background. At the bottom of the screen, you can find the option Restrict background data. Check this option to restrict the background data. If you want to disable background data for other apps then you have to repeat the same procedure for those apps also. Path is Settings > Data usage > Desired app.
Note: If you disable background data in your device, it  will automatically stop fetching updates for applications. All the apps will be updated only when you manually update them or open them or when you individually set the refresh interval for them. Hence disabling background data will be helpful and could be considered only if you are running short of mobile data. If you constantly follow social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.., then I would suggest not to disable background data