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posted by CoolHand on Monday December 28 2015, @07:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the helpful-tips dept.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/personaltech/how-to-track-data-use-and-choose-the-right-smartphone-plan.html

I looked into a number of different approaches for calculating cellular data use. Each of the big American carriers offers an app or web tool for monitoring data consumption. But I recommend against those solutions because in my testing, they were generally time-consuming or poorly designed.

Instead, the quickest way to monitor your data use is by simply using your phone. Each carrier has a hidden code that you can punch into your phone to get an update on data use.

For AT&T subscribers, the method is simple. You place a phone call to *DATA# (*3282#). AT&T will send a text message showing the amount of megabytes you have used out of your monthly allotment. It showed that so far this month I have used 464 megabytes out of 3 gigabytes.

[...] Similarly, Sprint customers can send a text message containing the word "Usage" to the number 1311 and get a text message with a data report. T-Mobile subscribers can place a call to #WEB# (#932#) to receive a quick data summary.


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  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Monday December 28 2015, @09:28PM

    by Francis (5544) on Monday December 28 2015, @09:28PM (#281853)

    It really depends on your carrier. I switched to T-Mobile a while ago and I get 2gb of 4G each month after that they throttle the bandwidth and I get to keep surfing as much as I like without any further issues. If I wanted to, I could pay a fee and they wouldn't throttle my connection until I hit some ungodly amount of data, but as it is, I haven't yet hit the 2gb.

    Anybody who is still with AT&T pretty much deserves the ass-raping that they get from AT&T, you pay huge sums of money for lower quality service than you'd get with the other carriers. One of the nice things about T-mobile is that they include WiFi calling with every plan, so as long as I'm near a WAP, I have reception, even if I'm miles away from being able to make a call over their network. Plus, if I'm closer, they provide signal boosters for just a $25 deposit.

  • (Score: 1) by FunnyItWorkedLastTime on Monday December 28 2015, @09:37PM

    by FunnyItWorkedLastTime (4713) on Monday December 28 2015, @09:37PM (#281861)

    Man I'd love to get a signal booster around here, unfortunately unless you're looking at an enterprise scale deployment, no carrier here would deign to help you.
    Putting up your own booster is punishable by severe fines ranging from $2000 and up.
    Also my carrier is supposed to throttle my data plan to 256kbps if i go over the monthly limit(no extra charges), but I've never actually managed to get even close to that.. Maybe if SoylentNews had more ads.. *hmm*