Save Money By Maximizing Your Wireless Internet Usage Efficiency

Recently certain wireless carriers have announced that they are moving to place caps on their customers' wireless Internet usage every month. Apparently, some users have been using wireless Internet services to download gigabytes of data on a monthly basis, making their contracts unprofitable for wireless carriers. It is unclear whether this is a new trend in wireless services, or just a one-time measure. Nevertheless, in preparation for caps on wireless usage, or if you have a pay as you go plan that charges by the megabyte, this article contains some tips to keep your wireless usage within budget.

One thing you can do is turn off automatic upgrades to the applications on your smart phone. Not every upgrade for every application you have is totally necessary, and in total can add up to hundreds of megabytes every month. Many upgrades are released to fix minor bugs which the vast majority of application users don't even notice. You might just want to make sure that the five or six applications that you really use regularly are upgraded, and not download upgrades for the rest until the application ceases to work entirely. Additionally, if you have software that syncs your smart phone to your computer, you may be able to download application upgrades to your computer and then transfer them to your phone using a USB connection rather than your potentially expensive airtime.

Many people find themselves using the wireless Internet service on their smart phones out of habit more than anything else. Once you have the Internet at your fingertips, it can be very tempting to use it at any second you have a free moment, or to answer any question that might come up in a conversation. One way to combat this might be to make a list of the various questions that come up during the day, or the various things that you need to use the Internet to do, and e-mail it to yourself at various points during the day so you get a reminder to check the Internet once you get home for whatever you need. Sending one e-mail will clearly use up less airtime than checking multiple Internet sites, and may even be free, depending on your service contract. In fact, certain service contracts include free e-mail, along with free social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, giving you another way to save money on your wireless service.

Finally, probably the most obvious way to save your wireless airtime is to make sure your wi-fi service is turned on as often as possible. In fact, it depending on how mobile you are on a daily basis, and how many coffee shops or other businesses and public spaces with wi-fi you can visit, it may be possible to constantly use your smart phone as an Internet device without incurring any airtime charges. The disadvantage to this is that software such as Firesheep can be used to easily steal passwords sent over public wireless networks, so you will have to balance your need for security with your desire to reduce your airtime charges if you decide to go this route.