I want to ask you a question, dear reader: could you tell me how many megabytes of internet have you consumed in what you have been this month? Do you usually keep track of mobile data consumption or do you just get carried away? I must admit that until a little more than a year ago I was one of those who gave a boost to data traffic until my internet consumption peaked, and then I had to go until the end of the month suffering to load a sad web page from time to time. when. "Enough. I want to keep megabytes of internet until the end of the month, and I'm going to get it no matter what, "I said to myself one day. And it turns out that I got it (you just had to put a little effort and control in the matter). Therefore, in today's post I want to share that experience with you and show you all the tricks and guidelines that I use to save on internet consumption and mobile data on my smartphone. Let's go there!
Trick # 1: Visualize the speed of internet connection and consumption of megabytes in real time
The first measure that helped me improve my data consumption was to install the app "Internet Speed Meter Lite". It is a very simple application that shows in the notification bar the data download speed on my phone Android in real time. In this way, if I am browsing or using an app that consumes megabytes of the internet, I can see at all times how much data per second I am consuming. If consumption is very high, I can decide to close that app and reopen it when connected to a WiFi network.
Internet Speed Meter Lite also offers the possibility of seeing the consumption of megabytes broken down into mobile data and WiFi and it helps a lot to keep track and to have an overview of day-to-day consumption.
Download QR-Code Internet Speed Meter Lite Developer: DynamicApps Price: Free Trick # 2: Avoid excessive use of streaming apps
Streaming apps are those types of applications that play live multimedia content from the internet, that is, there is a continuous flow of data downloads that make it possible for me to listen to music or watch videos from my phone. When I installed Internet Speed Meter I found that a large percentage of my precious internet megabytes went to apps like Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube or apps to listen to podcasts.
My advice: try to use streaming apps only when you are connected to a WiFi network, and if you do not have any fence, make moderate use of these types of applications.
Trick # 3: Reduce internet consumption by setting alerts and data limits
This is perhaps one of the most important points. You can mark alerts on your mobile so that you trigger an alert when you have consumed a certain amount of mobile data, and also establish a limit of megabytes so that from a certain point the data service is disabled.
As of Android 4.0 you can set these limits from "Settings -> Data usage”. You can even set certain applications to stop downloading data in the background when they are pulling the mobile data network if you wish.
Trick # 4: Disable the automatic download of images and videos in WhatsApp
WhatsApp is fabulous, everyone loves WhatsApp, but do you know who loves WhatsApp more than the rest? Internet providers. Whenever they send you a video or an image by default, WhatsApp automatically downloads them to your device, and if they send you a lot of photos and videos, the data consumption can be really considerable. Luckily, you can disable automatic download from WhatsApp in "Settings -> Data usage”. Click on "Connected to mobile data”And uncheck all the boxes.
Additionally, you can enable the download of this type of files to be done automatically when you are connected to a WiFi network by clicking on "Connected to WiFi”And enabling the download of all types of files.
Trick # 5: Browsers, the key to saving internet megabytes
Many times we usually delete the data and history of the browser to save some storage space. It is important that if we want to save on data consumption we do not delete the cache of our browser, since this is information that, otherwise, if we re-enter a page that we have already visited, we have to download all the page data again. If we keep the cache in the browser, we do not have to download that information again and we consume less internet.
On the other hand, if you are an Android or iOS user, you can install the Opera Mini browser, which is specifically designed to compress data and consume less when browsing the web.
Download QR-Code Opera Mini Browser Developer: Opera Price: Free 
Download QR-Code Opera Mini web browser Developer: Opera Software AS Price: Free Trick # 6: Beware of email
If you usually receive many emails with images embedded in the body of the message, keep in mind that these images also consume megabytes of the internet, that is, your phone has to download these images to display the full content of the email. Some mail services disable the automatic download of images by default, but that does not happen with all mail apps, so it is a factor to take into account.
If your email app automatically downloads the images, or if you simply want to download a large attachment that has been sent to your email account, always try to do it when you are connected to a WiFi network. Which brings us to tip number 5 ...
Trick # 7: Take advantage of WiFi networks
WiFi networks are a source of mana for internet users. If they have sent you a video or you want to listen to a song and you don't want to spend mobile data, wait a bit and take the opportunity to get to a place with WiFi coverage to do so. Free WiFi networks are becoming more common, and it is very easy to find a bar, shopping center or library that offers free WiFi. This "trick" or advice is very obvious, I know, but in many cases it can become the key between running out of internet megabytes and having a good reserve fund.
