For the mom who gives us everything - Mother's Day gifts that connects us.
The Samsung Galaxy S24
markfinley's profile

Scholar

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162 Messages

Monday, December 27th, 2010 4:34 AM

forcing wifi usage?

my wife has the $15 data plan, we didn't figure she needed more than that because she's almost always near a wifi router. 

 

however, she's still ringing up around 5-6 MB a day a data usage, even when she's on a router... how can this be?  Is there a way to force the phone to NOT use the data connection, and instead use wifi?

 

 

Accepted Solution

Guru

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637 Messages

13 years ago

Android phones, by default, turn wi-fi off when the display sleeps.  That means you only use wi-fi when you're actively using the phone and for a few seconds afterward.   After that, the wi-fi radio turns off as a power-saving feature.

 

Go to Settings -> Wireless and network -> Wi-Fi settings.  Press Menu, and choose Advanced.  You can change the Wi-Fi sleep policy there.  You can choose to sleep when the display is off (the default), stay awake when the phone is plugged in (slightly more useful), or never sleep (which I use).

Scholar

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162 Messages

13 years ago

that worked perfectly... she went from using 6 MB a day to one or two

 

thanks!

Guru

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637 Messages

13 years ago

Glad to hear it.

Teacher

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21 Messages

13 years ago

I bought my housemate a Bravo about a month ago. She doesn't even know the phone can surf, yet I get a notice from at&t that she is almost up to the ceiling on her data plan. I'm going to make the settings change you outlined, but what could be happening with the phone to cause ANY data usage, when she's not doing anything?

Mentor

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106 Messages

13 years ago

Smartphones all use data in the background to try to keep you up-to-date at all times. Many settings, by default, allow the phone to check e-mail, social network sites, etc. on a regular basis. Android phones also sync up with your Google (Gmail) account to keep your contacts, calendar and other info backed up. Most of these options can be changed in the various settings within the phone. You can go in and set almost everything to only check/sync when you're on Wifi, or manually.

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