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Posts: 25 | Thanked: 10 times | Joined on May 2010
#1
My contract affords me 500MB download per month. Currently I leave the phone disconnected unless I want to use the net, because I don't know how much data my phone will transfer when it's just idling.

I have Skype and Google Talk set up, and I assume a small amount of data will be used to maintain the availability statuses of me and my contacts.

Do I need to bother with this, or would the phone at idle use so little bandwidth that there's no point in not leaving it connected all the time?

My newly-acquired Nokia N900 is my first internet phone, so I'm new at this.
 
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#2
Originally Posted by vectorspace View Post
My contract affords me 500MB download per month. Currently I leave the phone disconnected unless I want to use the net, because I don't know how much data my phone will transfer when it's just idling.

I have Skype and Google Talk set up, and I assume a small amount of data will be used to maintain the availability statuses of me and my contacts.

Do I need to bother with this, or would the phone at idle use so little bandwidth that there's no point in not leaving it connected all the time?

My newly-acquired Nokia N900 is my first internet phone, so I'm new at this.
I have had my N900 for about a month now. I have kept 2G/3G data always on while not at home WLAN and Dataplan Monitor now shows 167M downloaded, 22M uploaded. I have used various applications which download maps from the net and even installed some applications. Install Personal Dataplan Monitor to easily follow your data usage.
 

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#3
Originally Posted by vectorspace View Post
My contract affords me 500MB download per month. Currently I leave the phone disconnected unless I want to use the net, because I don't know how much data my phone will transfer when it's just idling.

I have Skype and Google Talk set up, and I assume a small amount of data will be used to maintain the availability statuses of me and my contacts.

Do I need to bother with this, or would the phone at idle use so little bandwidth that there's no point in not leaving it connected all the time?

My newly-acquired Nokia N900 is my first internet phone, so I'm new at this.
Gtalk IM and skype IM hardly use any bandwidth even while chatting, and I don't think it even registers when they are idle. With 500Mb/month you can chat all you like (seriously, I didn't do any measuring, but chatting for a few hours will spend, like, less than 1Mb) and surf very comfortably. Just don't download big files and you'll be fine.

And yea, it is quite common to leave N900 online all the time. Its designed for that purpose.

If you are worried, however, get the Personal Dataplan Widget. It will tell you how much data you "spent". Also, it is possible that your service provider can tell you how much Mb you have left for the month (mine does) via an USSD code. Until PR1.2 comes (which will support USSD codes from the phone app) you can use the USSD widget which works quite nicely.

BTW - be sure to install the 2G/3G switch app. Since this is your first mobile internet device, perhaps you are not aware that 3G spends your battery much faster (although it gives a much higher internet speed). Use 2G for IM and switch to 3G whenever you want to surf/download.

Last edited by ivanzorkic; 2010-05-06 at 05:55.
 

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#4
All good advice, thanks - I have installed both the Personal Dataplan Widget and the 2G/3G Switch App. I'll leave my phone connected for a while and see what it uses.

Unfortunately, my service provider does not provide an account balance USSD code .
 
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#5
Originally Posted by vectorspace View Post
My contract affords me 500MB download per month. Currently I leave the phone disconnected unless I want to use the net, because I don't know how much data my phone will transfer when it's just idling.

I have Skype and Google Talk set up, and I assume a small amount of data will be used to maintain the availability statuses of me and my contacts.

Do I need to bother with this, or would the phone at idle use so little bandwidth that there's no point in not leaving it connected all the time?

My newly-acquired Nokia N900 is my first internet phone, so I'm new at this.
Until last week I had it always on. Then in the space of about 3 days something in the background ate 400 meg of bandwidth leaving me with about 10meg of my 500meg monthly allowance left.

I've had to turn 3G off until my month ticks over. Damn annoying I must say and I've no idea what did it.
 
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#6
I used 853MB last month. I'm with Vodafone UK and for the first time in a year they actually contacted me to say im almost past my 500MB allowance and they will charge £5 for the next 500MB.

I usually leave 3G on all day until I get home (then wifi). 3G is just so the super Non-Push email service can update every 15 mins. Some ligh web browsing and thats it. Multiply that by 30 days and the occasional video fest on youtube when im out and you have >500MB a month.

I was on holiday recently and had only 2G available. In 2 weeks with HEAVY use i just about got to 700MB in 2 weeks. Chat was always on, web browsing done and flickr uploads of original sized images. So with 2G you are in good hands (though the speeds makes you want to cry when browsing the web- though IM/Chat isnt impacted by the slower speed).
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Posts: 25 | Thanked: 10 times | Joined on May 2010
#7
I'm Vodafone UK too, only had the phone for 5 days.

After installing Personal Dataplan Widget today I did a test where I left 3G on and the phone otherwise idle, for 3 hours. It averaged about 42KB an hour, which works out to a little over 31MB a month, if connected 24 hours a day (not likely).
I have Skype and Google Talk maintaining their respective statuses, and the Foreca Weather Widget (not on the main desktop pane). Email is set to update over WLAN only, so didn't have an effect - I'll test that tomorrow.
 
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#8
i find that having google talk and skype open/connected in 3g consume a lot of battery , does anybody have this issues ?
 
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#9
WOW! Hearing all you guys makes me feel good that i'm on T-Mobile with my unlimited (which really means 5GB) data.
 
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