As many Ugandans continue to stay and work at home following the COVID-19 imposed lockdown, there is increased demand for internet data connectivity to facilitate work, business, or keeping in touch with loved ones.
UCC is recommending ways how you can optimize your data bundle usage which still remains a mystery to many people, leading to suspicion that they are being ripped off by the telecom companies that they subscribe to. In a blog post, UCC shows Ugandans how to hold the key to their data bundle usage, only that many don’t know how to use it with the following tips.
How to monitor your Internet usage
There are various apps and tools available on the Internet that can help you check your data speed, your connection, and even conduct a detailed traffic analysis.
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One such application is available on your smartphone. This can be accessed using the following process:
- Tap ‘Settings’ on the main menu
- Tap ‘Network & Internet or Connections’
- Tap ‘Data usage’. On some Android phones, you might see this option immediately in the Settings menu
- You will see a graph of your usage going back one week. You can change this cycle to match the dates of your data bundle to provide a better insight into your data usage
- If you scroll further down, you can now check how much data each app that is on your phone is using.
However, it is important to point out that some operators measure data usage differently. We, therefore, recommend that you check with your operator to provide you with their measurements.
Some operators also provide a tracker or app to subscribers to facilitate them in monitoring their data usage.
How to improve your rate of data usage
Specifically, to improve your mobile data usage, you need to address the causes of high usage highlighted above. Accordingly, the following are proposed:
- Disable auto-downloads for updates
- Turn off Auto-sync data (Go to ‘Settings’ then ‘Accounts’ then ‘Auto-sync Data’)
- On the Data usage feature on the phone, tap on the app to ‘Restrict background data’
- If you have access to a trusted WiFi connection, periodically check for updates and update as often as you can while using the WiFi
- Delete unused apps
- When using social media apps like Facebook, switch off ‘Autoplay’ and decide which of the videos you want to open and watch
- Switch off Data roaming (Go to ‘Settings, then hit ‘More’. Scroll down to mobile networks, and under this, you will see ‘Data roaming’)
- Restrict your video streaming to “low quality”. Remember the default is “auto” and adjusts based on the bandwidth of the provider
- Do not share your MiFi or router or phone (if tethering) passwords with other people without regulation
- Change your Netflix setting. Select the Menu icon, App settings, Cellular data usage, and then Standard definition (SD) quality of stream.
