Help: Samsung Galaxy S3 - Bandwidth killer

[ViperGTI]

So I upgraded earlier this month and got the Samsung Galaxy S3. Nice phone, but it is eating all my airtime as soon as I leave the house (when Wifi disconnects).
I have a Topup 315, so after my previous balance (around R700 from previous months) vanished, I reloaded a R275 voucher and added a 250mb data voucher. Then when I got a message saying that my data bundle is depleted, I went on and added a 500mb bundle to be automatically added monthly. That has now also been depleted and it is halfway through a new R275 airtime voucher already.

So basically I've set up the apps to update only with Wifi connection, I've got Whatsapp installed (but rarely use it), Skype, FNB, Facebook and then I have an ActiveSync connection which automatically syncs contacts, calendar entries and email headers. Can't think of anything else that runs passively that could be using bandwidth.

Any ideas? Using over 1Gb on a cell seems crazy to me. (and that excludes data transmitted over Wifi)

 

[DarthMol]

There's an app called 3G Watchdog that is supposed to help you monitor what's using your bandwidth and as far as I know you can set which programs are allowed to use data when you're not on wifi. Check it out see if it helps.

Edit: Oh ya also check that when the phone goes into standby that it doesn't disconnect from wifi, I found that out the hard way when I left an app to download and it switched off the wifi when the phone went into standby. There's an option somewhere to make sure it stays connected to the wifi.

 

[ViperGTI]

Thanks... I think that app is going to do the trick. Already installed it and will see it in action tomorrow.

 

[Avatar]

The S3 is known as data heavy phone, and my gf went through exactly what you're going through. The best way to combat it's thirst is to switch of auto-sync completely (Settings -> Data -> Menu key -> Auto sync). You can also switch off the sync for only some of you're accounts in the data page.

Another solution: I've bought Tasker, and made a profile that switches off Auto sync when my phone disconnects from my home wifi and then switches off my wifi when I leave home. It works reasonably well and Tasker is a massively powerful scripting program that has loads of other uses. Well worth pulling the free trial to try out.

 

[Wenzdayz]

i have also had that problem. i had over 1500 when i upgraded my phone and that vanished quickly. what i am doing now is i am switching my data connection off completely when im on a wi-fi network. i only switch data on when im in the car and need to send and receive e-mails that way. you still get calls and sms even with the data connection turned off.

 

[ViperGTI]

Thanks... It seems that Exchange ActiveSync is the culprit. It has used almost a Gig so far.
I've changed the settings so that only 20kb of each message is downloaded so hopefully that will have some effect. If not, I'll play around with some other settings.

 

[Uberutang]

Thanks... It seems that Exchange ActiveSync is the culprit. It has used almost a Gig so far.
I've changed the settings so that only 20kb of each message is downloaded so hopefully that will have some effect. If not, I'll play around with some other settings.

Exchange will rape your bandwidth.

 

[ViperGTI]

Exchange will rape your bandwidth.

Isn't there some way to reduce it? The 20kb setting didn't seem to do the trick. Another R200 gone in under 2 hours. It used 80mb and the actual emails received in the last 2 hours were like 1 - 2mb total (of which ActiveSync was only supposed to download 20kb per message).

 

[Wenzdayz]

Isn't there some way to reduce it? The 20kb setting didn't seem to do the trick. Another R200 gone in under 2 hours. It used 80mb and the actual emails received in the last 2 hours were like 1 - 2mb total (of which ActiveSync was only supposed to download 20kb per message).

Ja i had mistakenly set up my gmail there at first as well. i quickly deleted the account and am now using the gmail e-mail thats already on the phone. are you getting your normal work e-mail on your phone?

 

[Glordit]

Just disable auto sync and get EZ battery saver, it will shut down everything that\s running in the background when you are not using it. I got a Galaxy S+ and I can run it with R5 vodacom for 3 days easily.

 

[ViperGTI]

Ja i had mistakenly set up my gmail there at first as well. i quickly deleted the account and am now using the gmail e-mail thats already on the phone. are you getting your normal work e-mail on your phone?

Yes... It is basically our domain email account that I use for work, personal and everything else. Since I'm kinda self-employed, the chances of me leaving and thus changing my email address are slim to none which is why I don't really have a gmail or other ISP account... Actually I do have a gmail account, but I only use it to register on websites or forums that I'm afraid might spam me.

 

[Wenzdayz]

yes... It is basically our domain email account that i use for work, personal and everything else. Since i'm kinda self-employed, the chances of me leaving and thus changing my email address are slim to none which is why i don't really have a gmail or other isp account... Actually i do have a gmail account, but i only use it to register on websites or forums that i'm afraid might spam me.

oh ja well there is your problem then. Could you not maybe set up a gmail account for your work e-mail to forward to? I know its a shclep but it will save on bandwith used. Otherwise turn your mobile data off when you are connected to wi-fi and only turn it on when your on the road and dont have access to wi-fi

 

[ViperGTI]

oh ja well there is your problem then. Could you not maybe set up a gmail account for your work e-mail to forward to? I know its a shclep but it will save on bandwith used. Otherwise turn your mobile data off when you are connected to wi-fi and only turn it on when your on the road and dont have access to wi-fi

Will look into that.
The problem isn't when I'm connected to wifi. Not a single byte of my bandwidth gets used when I'm connected to wifi... but if I leave the house for an hour or three, by the time I get back, everything is gone.
I think I'm going to try to set ActiveSync to only work when connected to Wifi and then set up a new imap account to sync emails when travelling. I think imap uses very little bandwidth since everything remains on the server and only gets downloaded when opened.