Cut traffic. Turn off mobile data and set a limit

The lack of Internet in the suburbs or in the villages is quite common.

Since it is not always possible to conduct wired Internet, mobile communications representatives have proposed an alternative - Mobile Internet . The quality of the mobile Internet leaves much to be desired and this type of Internet connection is more suitable for the phrase, but still it is better than nothing. Surfing the net via mobile internet is not only longer, but also more expensive.

Many tariff plans of various mobile operators combine a certain amount of traffic and a fee for it.

But as we know, this traffic is not always enough for at least comfortable surfing the net, not to mention downloading music or pictures.

In this regard, there are many traffic measurements, for exact definition using it, but today we will rather not talk about measuring traffic (more on this in one of the next articles.

Not to miss) but about ways to save traffic. Now there are a lot of recommendations on this subject on the network that prompted me to put them all together + add a few chips from myself, since I myself had to look for ways to save traffic at one time.

Advertising is our main enemy, since when viewing sites and information on them, we are unlikely to click on it to buy something or go somewhere. But the lion's share of the page is very often occupied by advertising. It is with the disabling of advertising that traffic savings begin.

What is needed to disable advertising on the Internet? To do this, I recommend using an excellent plugin forFirefox Adblock Plus . Read about the intricacies of setting up and working the plugin.

If you are using a different browser, then you can search for an alternative by asking in the search engine Yandex request - "Ad blocking opera » for example.

With the help of the plugins found, I recommend getting rid of all ads asflashas well as text. My traffic savings increased by at least half only due to ad blocking.

Traffic compression service

If you decide to surf a large number of sites where you can find a large variety of all sorts of pictures, then I recommend using a traffic compression service - Toonel.net.

This free service does real miracles of html code and image compression. It should be remembered that the service Toonel.net you should not use Google to work with it, as it will determine your location in Germany (servers Toonel.net are in Germany) and you will see everything on German. The rest of the sites will be fine.

Cash

A great thing for those who often browse the same sites - mail, news, blogs. Now in all browsers this function can be configured. Read about it in the article -. There are also special utilities such ashandycache. By usingHandycache you can save hundreds of megabytes of traffic daily, so I recommend it. You can download.

Images

Sometimes images take 80% of the spent traffic for themselves. Therefore, if you are looking for text or want to download something, instead of waiting for bulk images to load, I suggest simply turning them off.

Of course, images are important for some, but still, for the sake of experiment, I would advise you to try to surf the net without images for at least a week, then you can definitely decide if you need it or not.

Each browser has a function to disable images, if you have difficulty with this, write in the comments which browser you have and I will tell you how to set up displaying images on it.
So, it seems that he indicated everything, or rather, he painted ways to save traffic, now it's up to the small. It remains to configure all this for more effective work. Little advice: for mobile surfing, I recommend using the latest version of the browser.

First, install the plugin forFirefox-Adblock Plus .

We launch the downloadedhandycache. And in the proxy settingsFirefox (Options - advanced - network - settings) set port 8080 and HTTP proxy 127.0.0.1.

All cache is configured. In principle, I stop at this because the effect is quite enough for me. You can also disable images if you don't need them.

Also for those who have little connectionHandycache and Toonel.net. Download and install the programToonel.net set the compression ratio you need.

Further in the settingsToonel.net add proxy Host:127.0.0.1 Port:8090. All now we have all the requested data via the Internet will first be taken from the cache, and in case of absence, it will be compressed and cached throughToonel.net.

That's all. True withToonel.net sometimes there are some glitches, then the servers do not withstand something else, so I don’t use it.

In general, even without usingToonel.net by usingsimple settings for caching and disabling images, you can surf the web much faster, longer and cheaper. What traffic saving methods do you use?

Cellular networks provide more and more high-speed access to the World Wide Web, and traffic consumption by mobile devices is only growing. However, mobile Internet is still not a cheap pleasure: many people still use tariffs with a traffic volume of 4 GB, and many people travel, and Internet travel is much more expensive.
In this article, we will look at seven ways to save mobile data, from the simplest ones available in Android settings to data compression tools, a complete ban on data transfer, and completely non-obvious approaches, such as installing an ad blocker.

1. Standard Android tools

Several simple steps help to reduce the amount of data transferred.

1. Go to the Play Store settings and in the "Auto-update apps" option, select "Never". Uncheck the box next to "Available updates".
2. Go to "Settings → Location" and turn off "Location History".
3. “Settings → Accounts”, the “Menu” button, uncheck the “Auto-sync data” checkbox. Internet usage will noticeably decrease, but mail and notifications from applications will stop coming.
4. Now go back to settings and go to Data transfer. Press "Menu" and select "Restrict Background Mode". As a result, the battery life of the smartphone will increase and Internet consumption will decrease, but notifications from instant messengers will stop coming. Therefore, a better solution would be to go through the list, find applications that are not very important and restrict their access to background data and / or data on cellular networks.
5. Open "Google Settings" and go to "Security". I do not recommend disabling "Check for security problems", but unchecking the "Combat malware' would be the correct solution. At your own risk, you can disable "Remote Device Search" and "Remote Lock".
6. In the same Google settings» Go to "Data Management" (at the bottom of the list) and set "App Data Update" to "Wi-Fi Only".
7. Go back and open Search and Google Now. Go to the "Personal data" section and turn off "Send statistics". In the menu “Voice Search → Offline Speech Recognition”, download the package for offline recognition and disable its auto-update or select “Only via Wi-Fi”. You can also go to the "Ribbon" section and turn it off. The ribbon is the left screen of "Google Start" or the main screen of the Google app. Here you can also turn off the "Search on the screen" (Google Now on tap). Well, at the very bottom, turn off the "Recommended applications" item.
8. Do not forget to turn off auto-check and auto-download of updates in “Settings → About phone”.

2. Get rid of ads

Oddly enough, one of the ways to reduce traffic consumption is ad blocking. The indispensable program AdAway will help with this. It completely prohibits access to ad servers, blocking it at the system level. In other words, when an application accesses an address that is in its database, the request goes nowhere. By the way, activity tracking services (those that monitor user actions) are also blocked. The app requires root permissions (and S-OFF on HTC) to work.

When blocking is enabled, there may be problems with the operation of some applications for making money on advertising (for example, NewApp, AdvertApp, CoinsUP - the latter did not show anything at all until recently). Other incompatibilities are also possible: six months ago, the Weather Underground application did not work due to AdAway. AT latest versions everything was fine (either the Weather Underground changed something, or AdAway corrected the host addresses).

3. Savings with the help of the browser

There are not so many browsers with a built-in traffic saving mode. I chose five and tested them by opening seven web pages.

Firefox

Used for benchmark testing. There is no economy mode.

Consumption: 13.33 MB

Opera Mini

The most economical browser. Allows you to save up to 90% of traffic (up to 70–80% on average). The data is compressed so much that you can surf the Internet in Edge networks or even GPRS. It all works by using its own engine, which represents web pages not in the form of text, but as a binary code. And Opera servers are engaged in transposition of pages into this code. Plus built-in ad blocker, video and image compression.

There is also a super-economy mode, which includes aggressive compression methods, which in some cases break pages. For example, the site of the Eldorado store did not open at all in this mode, YouTube opened in the WAP version, the map could not be viewed on the OpenStreetMap site, and the article from xakep.ru opened with distortions. With the super economy mode turned off, these problems disappear.

Consumption: 12 MB

Opera

It differs from the Mini version in a different interface and the absence of a super economy mode. But it works faster.

Consumption: 12.15 MB

Chrome

This browser also has a traffic saver, but no ad blocker. According to the developers, the average savings is 20-40% depending on the content. But in practice, in almost a month I saved as much as 4%.

To activate, you need to go to the settings and turn on the “Traffic saving” item. There are no settings, the statistics of saved megabytes can only be estimated by traffic, there are no site statistics, there is no ad blocker and extension support (for installing the blocker).

The economy mode itself works absolutely imperceptibly. The quality of the pictures does not suffer, and the speed of loading pages almost does not change. That is, Chrome was one of the most fast browsers, so it remained. And he turned out to be the most greedy.

Consumption: 15.5 MB

puffin

Desktop versions of YouTube and Play Store sites have opened instead of mobile ones. But the savings are there.

Consumption: 5 MB

4. Lazy Read Services

Pocket allows you to save articles for later reading. And it has an interesting property that will help save traffic. When adding an article (whether from a PC or a mobile device), if there is a Wi-Fi connection, it is immediately downloaded to the device and becomes available for offline reading. Only the text and images from the article are saved, and all other garbage is removed, it becomes possible to change the font size and background.

Pocket has a competitor - Instapaper. In terms of functionality and quality of work, it is almost identical.

5. Auto sync files over Wi-Fi

If you often use Dropbox and other services to access your files from your smartphone, pay attention to
FolderSync. It can synchronize selected folders with your smartphone immediately when files are changed and only when connected to a Wi-Fi. So you never have to download files to your smartphone over the mobile network if you forgot to do it while at home.

6. Complete shutdown of applications from the Internet

AFWall+ allows you to disconnect selected applications from the Internet. You can unhook both installed applications and system services, such as ADB. Unlike the limiter built into Android, AFWall cuts off access not only in the background, but also in the active mode. It can also be used to give Internet access to only one application in the system. Such a function will surely appeal to users with per-megabyte billing (hello, roaming!).

In CyanogenMod 13, you can restrict access to the network through "Settings → Privacy → Protected Mode". In CM 14.1, this feature has not yet been added.

7. Data Compressors

There are several very peculiar applications in the market. They create a VPN tunnel, compressing traffic along the way. Two of the clearest examples: Opera Max and Onavo Extend. Their developers promise up to 50% savings. But we will not take their word for it and will conduct our own test.

So, the amount of transmitted traffic without savers:

• Websites: 14.62 MB (five)
• YouTube 173 MB (1080p video)

The changes became noticeable immediately: the opening time of sites increased due to a pause after clicking on a link. And the pages themselves began to load a little longer. The YouTube video (more precisely, the ad in front of it) took a very long time to load. And the download speed was almost zero. But what is most interesting - Opera Max itself gobbled up 12.5 MB.

• Websites: 11.59 MB
• YouTube 3 MB (video didn't play)

Onavo Extend

Here the situation is almost the same. Everything has become slower, although not as much as in the case of Opera. Yes, and the video started without problems in 1080p. Total:

• Websites: 14.73 MB
• YouTube 171 MB

We track the consumption and control the consumption of the Internet

The standard traffic manager in Android (Settings → Data transfer) is very convenient and quite functional. For most users who use tariffs with a monthly Internet limit, it will be enough. However, I recommend that the rest use the analogue from the Play Store. Yes, and third-party applications show much more useful information. - Xposed-module showing data transfer rate. It lends itself to excellent tuning, practically does not consume battery power.

Are unlimited tariffs so unlimited?

The line of postpaid tariffs "All" from Beeline, "Infinitely black" from Tele2, "Smart unlimited" from MTS and some other tariffs, according to the operator, offer full-fledged unlimited Internet on a smartphone. Is it possible to blindly believe these loud promises? Is everything so rosy and soon the Internet will become completely free?

In fact, not everything is so simple. Everyone knows about the restrictions on torrents and the use of a smartphone as an access point, and in addition, often after reaching a certain amount of received data, the speed is limited.

As a study of many forums has shown, almost all operators with so-called unlimiteds cut the speed after reaching 30 GB in 3G networks (up to 512 Kbps), and in 4G it is different for everyone. However, people also downloaded 700 GB per month (you have to try ...) from some companies without cutting the speed.

The author on Tele2 last month used about 170 GB of Internet in 4G and there were no restrictions. And after reaching the threshold of 100 GB, almost any operator will probably begin to analyze your traffic and apply restriction methods if you use the Internet too intensively. Long inquiries and "getting" the operator really confirmed this: "When a subscriber creates a large load on the network, the speed may be limited until the day the statistics are reset on the server." But they seem to have an honest unlimited.

Conclusion

As you have already seen, the most effective way save traffic - buy a more expensive tariff. And all supercompressors not only degrade the quality and make the Internet slower, they also don’t always save normally. But if there is no way out, then they will help to save something.

Last updated by at February 9, 2017 .

Long gone are the days when providers kept track of the megabytes spent by users on the Web. Tariff plans for home Internet these days differ mainly in speed. But mobile operators are in no hurry to provide completely unlimited Internet and, as a rule, allocate only a certain amount of traffic.

But today, not only people, but also smartphones themselves cannot live without the Internet: it happens that he himself will steal something there in the middle of the night, update a couple of applications, and in the morning there is no more left to download attachments from the mail. Well, let's think about how you can deal with this and how to save on mobile Internet.

1. Disable automatic app updates

The first thing to do is turn off automatic update programs. Many applications download updates in the background, which means you may not even know about it. Allow updates only to those that you really need constantly. You can do this on iOS in the "Settings - General - Content Update" section.

Android owners need to go to the "Settings - Data transfer - operator" section. You can also see in detail which application consumes how much for a selected period of time. Clicking on each of them opens detailed settings for a particular program. We need to “Limit background traffic”, and if you wish, you can turn off auto-updating data.

2. Set a traffic limit

To control the consumption of Internet traffic, set the required limit in accordance with your tariff plan or option directly on your smartphone. On iOS, just download a third-party app from the App Store. Free utility Traffic Monitor is just one of those. On Android, you can limit data transfer as follows: go to "Settings - Data usage - Set limit".

3. Opt out of sync

Regardless of which network you use to access the Internet - 4G / LTE, 3G or EDGE / 2G, the smartphone regularly synchronizes available applications with remote servers. In order to avoid this and, accordingly, save money, you just need to disable such synchronization. On iOS, this can be done in two steps: first go to "Settings - iCloud - iCloud Drive - turn off Cellular Data", then "Settings - iTunes Store and App Store - turn off Cellular Data". On Android, just go to "System Preferences - Accounts– Disable sync/ Wi-Fi only”

4. Disable Widgets

Many smartphone users install widgets. Statistics show that one-time Internet surfing in the browser consumes significantly less traffic compared to requests from a widget that requires an uninterrupted Internet connection.

5. Download data in advance

Navigation apps Yandex.Maps, Yandex.Navigator and Google Maps can actually work offline. You just need to download the maps first. In Yandex, this is done like this: "Yandex.Maps - Menu - Download maps - Moscow - Download". And in Google like this: "Google Maps - Menu - Your places - Download map area - Select a map - Download."

Mobile phones are increasingly using mobile traffic. Read on and we'll show you how to manage your data.

Just a few years ago, it was almost unheard of to be able to transfer multiple GBs of mobile data. Now applications "weigh" more (often the applications themselves and their updates are larger than 100 MB), and streaming music and video is becoming more and more popular and with all this it is easy to use the data limit in a matter of days.

An hour of watching videos on YouTube and now you no longer have several gigabytes of traffic. And if you watch HD video, then the traffic flows like water ... Do you use streaming music services such as Google Play Music or Spotify? You can spend about 120 MB per hour. It doesn't seem like much, but imagine using these services every day for an hour, you already get 840 MB in a week. An hour a day for a month and you will already spend about 3.2 GB. If you use a tariff plan with a 5 GB traffic package included, then in a month you will spend 65% of the limit only on music.

Of course, you can buy extra traffic with money, but who wants to pay? Before paying for a more expensive plan or for an additional data package, we offer a few tricks to reduce transmitted data (and control).

How to view the amount of data transferred

First of all, you need to check how much data is transferred. If you do not know how much traffic you use, it will not be clear how you need to change the structure of data consumption.

The easiest way to check your data usage is through your cellular provider's web portal. If you never use the limit, then it might be worth switching to a cheaper plan. If you never fit into the traffic package allotted to you, then you should definitely read the article further.

You can also view data consumption statistics on Android device. Go to Settings -> Data transfer. You will see a screen similar to this:

If you scroll down, you'll see the apps' mobile data usage, as seen in the second screenshot above. It's important to note that these graphs only show data sent over a cellular data connection, not over WiFi connection. You can always "hang out" on youtube by connecting to Wi-Fi, but this will not be displayed in the statistics. If you want to see Wi-Fi data usage statistics, press the menu button and select "Show Wi-Fi traffic".

It is worth noting that you will need to enter your billing cycle here in order to accurately calculate data usage. Since your data will be reset on the first day of a new cycle, it does not matter what you used a month earlier, so the result will not be distorted.

In addition to the graphs, you can set a traffic limit at which a warning will be shown to you, or you can set a limit by adjusting the slider on the graph at which the transfer of mobile traffic will be disabled. Don't forget to turn on the "Mobile data limit" option.

After reaching the limit, mobile traffic will not be transmitted until you turn it on again.

How to control data usage

There are two types of traffic consumed: when the user is using the application and knows that it is working over the Internet, and data usage in the background. When watching a video or downloading a new album, you consume a data package if you use mobile data, and not WiFi Internet. Obviously, in order to use less data, you need to stop streaming content and downloading files.

A less obvious transfer is "background transfer" which uses a large number of traffic. Checking for new messages in the VKontakte application client or checking for new messages in email and other background processes constantly consume traffic. Let's see how to reduce background data consumption.

First, find out which applications are consuming data

First, let's look at which applications are actually using a lot of traffic. Go to Settings -> Data transfer and you will see the applications using data. Click on one of them to see more information. Here we see the normal data transfer and work in the background:

Now that you know which apps use the most data, you know what needs to be optimized.

Using Data Saver in Android Nougat

Android 7.0 Nougat has a new feature with the telling name "Data Saver". It allows you to limit the consumption of background traffic and provides the ability to maintain a "white list" of applications that are allowed to use data in the background.

To get started, pull down the notification bar and tap on the gear icon to access the settings menu.

In chapter " Wireless networks» Click on Data Transfer.

Under the used traffic, you will find the option "Traffic saving". This is where the fun begins.

The first thing to do is turn on the switch located on the top right. The new icon will be displayed in the status bar, as well as to the left of the other data icons (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, cellular, etc.).

Remember that once you enable this, background data access will be restricted for all applications. To change this, click on Unrestricted Data Access.

After that, a list of all installed applications on your phone will appear. By using the slider next to apps, you can whitelist them by allowing background data transfer.

It should be borne in mind that this applies only to mobile traffic and will not affect the Wi-Fi connection in any way.

Limit background data transfer

If you don't have Android Nougat, then you have other options.

Open an app that uses a lot of data. Look at the settings of this application, it may be worth reducing the number of notifications (for example, VKontakte) or turning them off completely. This will have a great effect not only on the consumed traffic, but also on battery discharge.

True, not every application has such settings. There is another way...

Go to Settings -> Data transfer and click on the app. Turn on the "Restrict background mode" toggle.

Disable all background data transfer

If that's not enough, you can also disable all background data transfer with a single toggle - this will reduce data usage in most cases, but it can also be inconvenient. From the data transfer point, click on the menu and select "Limit background. mode". This will turn off background data for all apps.

Disable Background App Refresh

Google understands how valuable mobile data is, so app updates will only happen automatically when you're on Wi-Fi by default. To check this, open the Google Play Store. Go to the settings and make sure that in the item "Auto-update applications" "Only via Wi-Fi" is selected.

Buy frequently used apps (to remove ads)

Apps are often offered in a free version with ads and a paid version. The fact is that ads are not only annoying, but they also use traffic. Therefore, if you want to reduce traffic consumption, you can buy a paid version of a frequently used application.

Hello! Despite the fact that the number of gigabytes (included by cellular operators in their tariffs) is growing every year, while the price, on the contrary, is falling, still not many can afford completely unlimited Internet on the device. Yes, and here it’s rather not a matter of “allowing”, but simply not many people need it. There is a conditional one gigabyte per month and it is enough - why pay more?

But in some cases (especially when switching to an iPhone from another device), these same gigabytes suddenly begin to be missed - when turned on, an Apple mobile phone starts wildly eating traffic and eats up the entire available limit in a few hours. And this is where the screams begin: “The iPhone is bad, I just inserted a SIM card - I don’t do anything, and the traffic leaves by itself (and the battery is also running low!)”. Ai-ai-ai and all that...:) Why is this happening? Believe me, not because the iPhone is bad and the company decided to ruin you. No.

The thing is that the iPhone, like any modern smartphone, has a number of settings that you just need to pay attention to in order to avoid such “arbitrariness” of your smartphone with your own Internet.

But first, a small list of where iPhone traffic can go without your knowledge:

An experienced reader and user will say: “Yes, there is still a lot where traffic can flow!”. And he'll be right - updates mailboxes, push notifications, browser, etc. all this also affects the number of gigabytes consumed, but:

• Say that push notifications, mail downloads, etc. downright strongly devour the entire cellular Internet - it is impossible. They use it, if at all, in very small quantities.
• And if you disable all this, as they suggest on many sites (the most ingenious advice I have come across is to turn off the Internet in the settings so that it does not waste you), then why then the iPhone?

Therefore, let's try to get by with little bloodshed - we will prohibit the iPhone from consuming the Internet on its own, but without much damage to us.

Update or download apps from the App Store

Current applications and games can reach 2-3 gigabytes in size and Apple company took care of saving traffic - officially download the program with a volume of more than 150 megabytes from app store it is impossible (though we know something). But at the same time, there are a large number of programs with a volume less than this threshold (150 MB). And that's it they can devour your Internet package.

Here we are talking not so much about downloading (you see what you are downloading), but about updating these programs on your own via a cellular network. Therefore, such an update must be disabled:

That's it, now the programs will no longer use the cellular network for their update, and will only do it via Wi-Fi.

How to find out which application "eats" traffic on the iPhone

Installed programs, in addition to simply updating their version, can consume the Internet in order to perform their usual functions. Therefore, if you really feel that megabytes are running away, it makes sense to check - or maybe some application is too “snuffy”? You can do this:

Just in case, remember this moment so that in the future you will not be surprised why these cards (for example) refuse to work and update their data.

Sending "service information" can also waste the Internet

In fact, of course, this option does not consume mobile Internet so much and I myself have not encountered this, however, I have seen several stories that tell about this particular “glitch”, or a failure, when this very service information was sent constantly. Therefore, I decided to include this item here - it will not be superfluous to disable sending it for sure. How to do it?

As we see in the explanation, this information is sent daily, and does not carry any special load, apart from the fact that we help Apple in improving products. Therefore, if you turn off its transmission, then nothing terrible will happen, and traffic (even if small) will be saved.

"Help with Wi-Fi" - traffic on the iPhone flows away very quickly

"Wonderful" option, which is enabled by default for some reason. Its essence is that if your Wi-Fi signal "does not pull", and the cellular network can provide best speed- Wi-Fi will automatically turn off and data transfer will go through the SIM card.

I myself fell for this bait not so long ago - I sat watching videos on YouTube, did not bother anyone. Then the iPad did not like something in my Wi-Fi (bad signal, insufficient speed) and he considered it necessary to turn it off (which is important - no notifications come!), And I continued to enjoy the video through happy ignorance cellular communication. I came to my senses only after the operator sent an SMS message with the text: "Your Internet package is coming to an end."

Therefore, in my opinion, if you do not have an unlimited tariff, this option should be disabled immediately. How to do it:

I repeat, this option should be turned off in almost any case, so that there are no surprises with the disappearance of traffic.

iCloud services sync eats up mobile data

iCloud is really good and convenient, and backups are generally beyond praise. However, if you care about saving precious megabytes on your tariff, then in this case the "cloud" will have to be turned off.

We are now talking about iCloud Drive - this is a kind of cloud data storage (I already talk about the principles of its operation). So, synchronization (loading and unloading data) with this storage can occur over a cellular network. And it’s good if you sent a small object there, but what if it’s 100-200 megabytes? While it is downloading, all traffic will go away.

Yes, and ordinary programs can store their data there. And who knows how much they will load there? But it's good that all this can be turned off:

After that, the "cloud" will synchronize exclusively via Wi-Fi.

It would seem that each of the actions is quite simple and does not require much effort. But shutdown and execution of all items.