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What is traffic control in a mobile phone. How to save Internet traffic

IN modern society It’s hard to live without mobile Internet, gadgets, smartphones and other equipment that attracts users. But as practice has shown, “any” technology turns into a “brick” without Internet access, so today we want to tell you how to save mobile traffic using 5 interesting applications.

List of programs participating in today's review: Opera Max, Onavo Extend, Data Status, Osmino Wi-Fi and WeFi Pro.

Developer: Opera Software ASA

Version: 1.0.225.113

Onavo Extend

Developer: Navo

Version: 1.4.6-0ex

Onavo Extend is a simple and easy-to-use application that perfectly compresses data of any kind. The principle of operation of the program is as follows: the mobile phone contacts the operator providing the connection, then the data goes to the Onavo server, and after that you receive compressed data, which, in fact, is several times smaller than the original, and the quality does not suffer from this. Before you start using the program, you must allow the program to send mobile data to Onavo servers, after which you can start working. The application itself works through a VPN connection, which allows you to save data and also safely use the global network.

Data Status

Developer: Flavor Monkey

Version: 6.21

Data Status– a convenient program that allows you to save mobile traffic, which will also pass through third-party servers and compress it. The program will delight you with its clarity; on the start screen you will see all the graphs, scales, comparative indicators, various numbers and much more, which makes it clear how and where your traffic is going. It is not necessary to run the program in order to make sure it works; you can simply pull out the curtain and see how many megabytes were compressed and how many megabytes were spent by the user. Despite English language application, it is very easy to use.

Osmino Wi-Fi

Developer: RIWW

Version: 5.25.03

Osmino Wi-Fi – useful program on Android, which is a community-supported Wi-Fi network manager. According to the developers, with their application you will no longer have to worry about high-speed Internet on your device, since the program itself will find the right point Wi-Fi access and connect to it, even if you don’t know its password. We launch the applications, click on the large round button located in the center of the display and our smartphone/tablet will connect to the available network itself, while skipping settings and entering a password. You can also view a list of available Wi-Fi hotspots on a city map located near you, test your connection speed, and even view the location of nearby augmented reality hotspots (with your camera turned on). The program is in Russian, it’s easy to use, and its effectiveness has been proven by hundreds positive feedback in the shop Google Play.

WeFi Pro

Developer: WiFi

Version: 4.0.1.4200000

WeFi Pro is an application that will automatically connect to the most available Wi-Fi hotspots. It’s immediately worth noting a very nice feature - automatically turning Wi-Fi on and off to save battery power. That is, Wi-Fi will automatically connect in places where there is a constant signal (for example, at home or at work) and disconnect where there is none. There are convenient Push notifications for open networks, as well as networks that have passwords. If you wish, you can specify public networks that should be avoided (a blacklist, in other words). If you travel often, but do not want to pay for mobile traffic, then use this application completely free.

The list of applications given is not final; on Google Play you can find a huge number of similar programs, each of which will be unique in its own way and will allow you to save mobile traffic.

In your mobile phone settings you can find a section called “Data Transfer” or “Data Usage”. This section calculates the traffic that the user spends on his phone.

But many users do not know what traffic is and what to do with the traffic values that are displayed in the mobile phone settings. If you also have not yet figured out this issue, then we suggest that you read our article.

Traffic is the amount of information that a mobile phone sends and receives from the Internet. Traffic can be measured in packets, bits, or bytes. But in phones, bytes and their derivatives (kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes) are usually used as a unit of measurement. Traffic counting is necessary so that the user can control his Internet expenses.

When traffic is counted, it is usually divided into several types. This can be incoming, outgoing, internal or external traffic. But the phone usually doesn’t have such detailed statistics about traffic usage. Instead, the phone simply shows the total amount of data that has been used over a period of time. In some cases, separate counts may be kept for mobile Internet (traffic transmitted via cellular communications) and Wi-Fi.

If necessary, traffic counting can be organized on any device that is connected to the network or the Internet. For example, if you need to count traffic on a computer with a Windows operating system, then you can use the following programs: TMeter, NetWorx, BWMeter or DU Meter.

How to view traffic on Android

To see the traffic consumption for mobile phone with Android you need to open the application " Settings" and find the section there " Data transfer" or " data usage" For example, on pure Android 8.0, to do this you first need to go to the “ Network and Internet", and then open the subsection " Data transfer».

Here you can see how much traffic was used for last month and take advantage of features that allow you to manage your mobile Internet costs. There is also information about the amount of information that was transferred via Wi-Fi.

If the information that Android provides is not enough for you, then you can install special applications for traffic counting. For example, you can use applications or.

How to view traffic on iPhone

There is a similar section with traffic information on the iPhone. If you have an Apple mobile phone, then you need to open the settings application, go to the " cellular" and scroll the screen to the item " Statistics».

Here you can see the total amount of data from the Internet, as well as data that was received while roaming. In addition, the iPhone gives exact value traffic for everyone installed application. This allows you to quickly identify the applications that access the Internet most often and increase your mobile communications costs.

If the information provided by the iPhone is not enough for you, then you can install special applications for counting traffic. For example, you can use applications or.

How to save traffic on your phone

If your Mobile Internet expenses seem too high to you, then you can take a number of measures to reduce the amount of traffic consumed:

Turn off mobile Internet when you don't need it. Simple but very effective advice. If you are severely limited in mobile traffic, then mobile Internet should be turned off at every opportunity.
Explore your phone settings. Explore the settings available on your phone. You'll likely find a variety of features and functionality that can help you reduce your data usage and control your mobile Internet costs.
Use a browser with a saving feature. Many browsers have built-in bandwidth saving tools. For example, you can use the Opera browser. This browser passes all traffic through its own servers, where it is pre-compressed.
Try to always connect to Wi-Fi. While you are connected to wireless Wi-Fi networks you transmit traffic through this network, while the mobile Internet is actually disabled.
Explore application settings. In the settings of many applications there is an item “Only via Wi-Fi”; after enabling it, the application will only use the Wi-Fi network.

Watching streaming video, listening to music online, surfing websites, monitoring Email And social networks– those things that owners of modern gadgets cannot do without. However, the extensive capabilities of your phone sometimes come to naught, because mobile operators continue to introduce traffic restrictions in order to siphon money from subscribers. For this reason, saving expensive megabytes is not only possible, but even necessary!

Disabling auto updates

If you use 3G or LTE technologies for network access and want to save on mobile Internet, the first thing you need to do is turn off automatic update programs on your smartphone!

Android operating system:

go to Google Play;
swipe to open the left side panel;
click "Settings";
In the “Auto-update applications” column, select the “Only via Wi-Fi network” option.

iOS operating system:

click system settings;
open the AppStore item;
Disable the “Cellular Data” button by first going to the “Updates” section in the “Automatic Downloads” menu.

Note! Phones operating without an operating system do not need this procedure, because software updates on such devices occur only by flashing them or by purposefully downloading installation files from the Internet. This also applies to subscribers who download network data via EDGE/GPRS. In this case, online markets will independently block application upgrades due to a slow connection.

Traffic limitation

In order to fully control the use of network traffic by system and third-party programs, you will need to set the required limit in accordance with the tariff plan.

On an Android smartphone, you can limit data transfer as follows:

go to “Settings”;
then select the “Data Use” sub-item;
Click “Set limit” and indicate the allowed number of megabytes.

In turn, in order to perform similar manipulations on the iPhone, you will have to download a third-party application from the AppStore. Free utility Traffic Monitor is just one of these.

Removing widgets

Currently, the Android OS and a number of less popular mobile platforms are burdened with the problem of power-hungry widgets. However, it can be quickly resolved by simply deleting the information block from the desktop.

Statistics show that one-time views of the content of interest in the browser require significantly less traffic compared to requests from a widget that requires an uninterrupted Internet connection.

Refusal to sync

Again, regardless of how you access the network - LTE, 3G or legacy EDGE, your smartphone regularly synchronizes available applications with remote servers. In order to avoid this and save money accordingly, you just need to disable it:

Android: " System Settings– Accounts – Turn off synchronization/Wi-Fi only”;
iOS: step No. 1 “System settings – iCloud Drive – turn off Cellular data”, step No. 2 “System settings – iTunes, AppStore – turn off Cellular data”.

Compressing traffic via browser

How is traffic compression done? Everything is very simple. When you view web pages with the optimized data reception function, they initially undergo software reduction on the remote servers of the company of the browser you are using, and only then appear on your display. The process itself takes hundredths of a second, so there can be no talk of any freezes.

Google Chrome

To enable compression in the Google Chrome browser, you need to follow the following algorithm:

“Go to Chrome – Settings – Data Saver – On.”

Opera

Multiplatform browsers Opera and Opera Mini save up to 75% of network data - an absolute record for this market segment software. Traffic compression is set in them by default, so even the average user should not have any problems using the above web browsers. However, be prepared for the fact that it is not possible to watch streaming videos in the mini version, with the only exception being videos on YouTube.

Safari

Unfortunately, the Safari browser does not have a function that allows you to compress downloaded content online. But thanks to the Reading List option, you can save the sites you need while in Wi-Fi range, and then view the downloaded content anywhere and at any time convenient for you without using a mobile Internet connection.

However, keep in mind that you won’t be able to download videos this way, just like music.

TextOnly

The underground utility TextOnly is designed to remove text from a web page, allowing you to save more than 90% of expensive 3G traffic. However, it’s hard to call this full-fledged Internet surfing.

Obviously, TextOnly will be especially useful for students or schoolchildren who need to quickly download a cheat sheet without being distracted by third-party information.

Music and video

Today we can state the fact that most modern smartphones have at their disposal not even one, but several gigabytes. random access memory. As for ROM storage, 128 gigabyte has not been the ultimate dream for a long time. Why not take advantage of this?

Using Wi-Fi, download your favorite music, videos and other multimedia materials directly in the browser tab, then minimize and expand it when you have the opportunity to watch or listen to the saved content. In this case, you do not have to pay your mobile operator for access to the network.

Satellite positioning

Applications that navigate without using the Internet are expensive, and programs such as Yandex. Maps and Google Maps at first glance they cannot do without network traffic, but that’s the point, at first glance.

Instructions for downloading maps to implement satellite positioning offline:

Yandex: “Yandex. Maps – Menu – Download map – Select city – Select map type – Download”;
Google: “Google Maps – Menu – Your Places – Download Map Area – Select Map – Download.”

So, despite the abundance of opportunities to save traffic, perhaps the most in an effective way remains – disabling data transfer. Therefore, do not be lazy to turn off the Internet at those moments when you do not need it. After all, to do this, you just need to click on the corresponding icon in the control panel of your smartphone or uncheck the necessary box in the network settings menu of an ordinary phone.

Now mobile Internet is relatively inexpensive, but this is not a reason to throw it away left and right. Full unlimited service still costs a pretty penny, and many operators, by the way, are already giving up such luxury.

Most of the available tariffs are conditionally unlimited, that is, they provide a certain and rather limited amount of traffic per day or month. If you exceed the limit, the speed will drop to the level of a dial-up modem and it will become impossible to use the Internet.

Perhaps you do not fit into the volume provided under the tariff or are dangerously close to the limit. Perhaps you want to save some traffic reserve so that you can use it when urgently needed. In any case, it is useful to be able to save megabytes, and now we will tell you how to do this.

Get rid of pest apps

Increased traffic consumption is not always related to your appetite. Often the unjustified gluttony of individual applications is to blame. Such scoundrels sit in the background and constantly transmit and send something. You can find them using a standard tool that is built into any current version of Android.

Go to Android settings.
Select Data Transfer.
Select Mobile Data Transfer.

Here you will see a general consumption graph mobile traffic, and below it is the rating of the most gluttonous inhabitants of the system.

To curb the ardor of an individual application, tap on it and turn off the background mode. After this, the sly one will not be able to receive and send data in the background.

The problem is that in order to identify scoundrels, you need to understand what the normal Internet consumption is for a particular application. Obviously, the browser, music and video streaming services, as well as maps are capable of eating hundreds of megabytes, but offline-oriented and working with a small amount of data have nothing on this list.

Set up a warning and traffic limit

Go to Android settings.
Select Data Transfer.
Select "Payment Cycle".

The billing cycle is the date when the subscription fee is charged. Usually a new Internet package is given on the same day. Specify it so that the system knows the date the traffic counter was reset.

Enable "Alert Settings".
Select Alerts.
Specify the amount of traffic upon reaching which the system will notify you about it.

If you want to strictly limit traffic consumption, enable “Set traffic limit” and specify the value, upon reaching which the system will turn off the mobile Internet.

Disable app updates via mobile network

Go to store settings Google applications Play.
Select Auto-update apps.
Select the "Wi-Fi Only" option.

Enable data saving in Android

Go to Android settings.
Select Data Transfer.
Select Data Saver.

After enabling traffic saving mode, the system will prohibit background data traffic for most applications, which will significantly reduce overall traffic consumption. To allow data sharing in the background for individual applications in economy mode, tap on the appropriate item.

Save data with Opera Max

In fact, the Opera Max application does the same thing as the built-in Android mode saving traffic, that is, it blocks background data, but at the same time it looks a little nicer and more visual.

Enable data saving in individual applications

Any normal developer, if his application works with potentially large amounts of data, can optimize traffic consumption using settings. For example, almost all Google tools can save precious megabytes of mobile Internet.

Google Chrome

Go to settings Google Chrome.
Select Data Saver.

In addition to Google Chrome, a traffic saving mode is provided in the Opera browser.

YouTube

Go to YouTube settings.
Select General.
Turn on the “Traffic Saving” mode.

Google Maps

Go to Google Maps settings.
Turn on “Wi-Fi only” and follow the “Your offline maps” link.

Offline maps allow you to save hundreds of megabytes of traffic. Be sure to download the area where you live and don’t forget to add areas you plan to visit in the near future.

Click Other Area.
Use pan and zoom gestures to select the area to download and click "Download".
Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the Downloaded Areas menu.
Select "Download Settings" and select "Wi-Fi Only".

Google Press

Go to Google Press settings.
Select Data Saver Mode and select On.
In the "Download" section, turn on the "Wi-Fi only" mode.

Google Photos

Go to Google Photos settings.
Find the “Use mobile internet” section and disable the option for photos and videos.

Google Music

Go to your Google Music settings.
In the Playback section, lower the quality when streaming over a mobile network.
In the “Downloading” section, allow downloading music only over Wi-Fi.

If necessary, allow music playback only over Wi-Fi.

Google Music can save albums for offline listening. You can download music to your device if you have Wi-Fi and play it without an Internet connection.

Go to the artist's album list.
Click on the vertical ellipsis icon in the lower right corner of the album and select “Download” from the menu that appears.

Google Movies

Go to Google Movies settings.
Under Mobile Network Streaming, turn on Show Warning and Limit Quality.
In the Downloads section, select Network and select Wi-Fi only.

Monitor your carrier's rates and options

Often a person overpays for communications simply because he is on an outdated tariff. Find out what's new with your operator. It's possible that you can get more internet for less money.

Long gone are the days when Internet providers everywhere kept track of megabytes spent by users on the Internet. Tariff plans Home Internet connections these days differ mainly in speed. And here are the operators cellular communication are in no hurry to provide in full unlimited Internet and, as a rule, allocate only a certain amount of inexpensive traffic.

But today not only people, but also smartphones themselves cannot live without the Internet: it happens that he himself downloads something in the middle of the night, updates a couple of applications, and in the morning there is no more prepaid traffic left to download attachments from mail. Well, let’s think about how we can deal with this and how to save on the still expensive Internet.

⇡ Traffic control using standard operating system tools

First, let's see what we can do without installing additional applications. IN Android settings there is a “Traffic Control” item, with which you can separately monitor data transfer via Wi-Fi and via mobile networks. You can also turn off data transfer altogether, that is, the use of mobile Internet.

The operating system displays a graph of traffic usage for a selected period of time (you can change it by moving the sliders along the graph) and shows which applications consume the most data. By clicking on an application, you can see a consumption graph generated specifically for it.

On the mobile Internet tab, you can also set a limit on traffic consumption for a certain period. The limit is set on the same chart, and a threshold is selected using a separate slider, upon reaching which the system will display a warning about the imminent exhaustion of the limit. If the traffic ends, the device will automatically turn off data transfer.

Many Android applications communicate with the Internet in the background and, as a result, traffic is consumed even before the phone owner has time to wake up. To prevent this from happening, you can prevent certain applications from using mobile traffic in the background. To do this, click on the application name in the traffic consumption window and check the Restrict Background data box.

This feature can also be disabled globally. To do this, being in the “Traffic Control” section, go to the settings and check the box of the same name. You can also disable automatic data synchronization here. True, with a global ban on downloading via the mobile Internet, some important applications - for example mail client- may not work as you expect.

A lot of traffic is spent on application updates. To prevent downloading updates from eating up expensive traffic, you can go to Google settings Play and in the “Automatic application updates” section, select updating only via Wi-Fi or (as an option) disable automatic updating altogether.

By the way, don't forget to check the settings of your favorite applications. In many, you can enable synchronization and downloading of data only via Wi-Fi.

⇡ Traffic control in Google Chrome

Data compression function is also available in mobile version Google Chrome browser. It works like this: the content of web pages is first sent to Google servers, where it is optimized and loaded in a compressed form. The quality of the images, of course, suffers, but much less traffic is consumed.

You can find and enable this option in the “Settings → Traffic Control → Traffic Reduction” menu. Depending on what web pages you view on your mobile device, the savings can be significant - up to 50%. True, data compression will be useless when loading web pages that use traffic encryption - Google will not be able to send such data to its servers. In addition, it is worth keeping in mind that compression will not be performed even if you enable incognito mode in the browser.

To save mobile traffic in Google Chrome, you should also disable the function of preloading web pages. It is located in the same “Traffic Control” settings section. You can allow the browser to download pages in the background only when there is an active Wi-Fi connection, or disable downloading altogether.

⇡ Control over traffic consumption using specialized applications

The main purpose of mobile traffic accounting applications is to help you save money. For this purpose, both simple consumption statistics and restrictions on different periods time.

Perhaps the most simple program for traffic accounting - Internet Speed Meter Lite. It only performs monitoring and statistics collection functions. The application monitors mobile and Wi-Fi traffic consumption in real time. The current data transfer speed can be seen in the notification panel, and if you expand the notification menu, you can also see the name of the current network and the amount of traffic that was consumed today.

The application window shows how much traffic was used in the last month by day, the amount for the last seven and thirty days, and the total since the beginning of the current month. Mobile and Wi-Fi traffic is counted separately.

The Data Usage application is interesting because it can count not only mobile, but also Wi-Fi traffic. And not only count, but also notify when a specified limit is exceeded, and also block data transfer when a certain value is reached. Why might you need Wi-Fi traffic metering? For example, some hotels practice providing free access to Wi-Fi within a certain limit. If it is exceeded, you must pay additionally.

In the application settings, you can specify how much traffic (mobile and Wi-Fi separately) is provided for a given period. Data Usage will not only collect statistics per day, per week and per reporting period, but will also calculate how much traffic should be consumed ideally so that the Internet definitely doesn’t cost a penny. It also shows predicted consumption, separate statistics on received and transmitted data and, most importantly, how much free traffic is left until the end of the reporting period.

Data on mobile Internet and Wi-Fi are shown on separate tabs, but you can view the total history of traffic consumption on a visual graph.

Data Usage can warn you that your prepaid traffic is about to expire. Moreover, there may be three such warnings. The default is when using fifty, seventy-five and ninety percent, but this parameter is configurable. In addition, the application can completely turn off the Internet when a certain value is reached (99% by default) and automatically turn it on when the next reporting period arrives.

Another traffic monitoring application that may be useful is “My Internet Manager” (My Data Manager - Data Usage. Its feature is the ability to set separate data plans for roaming and mobile Internet. You can set a traffic limit, as well as the date and plan start time.

As for data received via Wi-Fi, it is impossible to set a traffic limit here, but you can specify when the number of downloaded data is reached, the program should notify the user. “My Internet Manager” displays information about traffic consumption in a convenient form, with each type of connection located on a separate tab.

A full report of total data consumption can be seen in the graph. Also, information on consumed traffic is displayed on the notification panel.

The app also keeps track of the data consumption of different apps. This information can be presented in chart form or as a list.

Pleasant bonuses of the application include the ability to backup data to an SD card and quickly restore it.

⇡ Non-standard approach: not only control, but also traffic reduction

Even before the advent of smartphones, mobile browsers from Opera Software were extremely popular. And one of the most popular features of Opera Mini was traffic compression. Thanks to this, on the one hand, the loading of web pages on a slow connection was accelerated, and on the other hand, mobile Internet bills were reduced.

The same compression technology that was used in the Norwegian company's older products forms the basis of the Opera Max application for Android. It is currently being tested, but is already available for free download from Google Play in our country. The main difference between Opera Max and the corresponding function in the browser is that it works with all applications. That is, if Opera Mini compresses only the content of web pages, then Opera Max works with any browser, as well as applications for viewing video content, reading RSS, downloading photos, etc. In particular, with the help of Opera Max, traffic in the VKontakte, Viber, and Odnoklassniki applications is significantly saved.

Technically, Opera Max works through a VPN network. All network traffic from mobile device passes through Opera servers, where it is compressed where possible. Thus, the user downloads much less data.

How much data has been saved is shown in the application window. Detailed statistics by date and by application are also available. As our testing has shown, web pages and photos are best compressed; with video, the situation is worse. But the application does not work with Facebook and Twitter at all - this is because these social sites use an encrypted connection. Accordingly, the application is unable to intercept this traffic in order to send it to Opera servers. It's also worth keeping in mind that the app is useless for compressing web pages if you're using the Google Chrome browser with data compression enabled. In this case, you cannot save even more. Opera Max also does not compress application updates or files downloaded to the device.

Opera Max only works with mobile Internet. As for Wi-Fi traffic, it is not taken into account and is not saved. But the application has a convenient option for banning the use of mobile traffic for individual applications. This can be handy since the Wi-Fi update option may not be found in all apps.

Finally, when using Opera Max, it's worth keeping in mind that the app works offline for seven days. For his further work you need to “recharge”, that is, click on a special button on the corresponding tab of the application. For now (at the testing stage) it is free, but in the future, most likely, you will have to pay to extend the service.

However, if Opera Max becomes paid in the future, it is worth keeping in mind that this application is not unique. The same features have been available to users for over two years now. famous program Onavo Extend, whose developers came under the wing of Facebook in 2013.

Like Opera Max, it free application works through a proxy server and compresses all mobile traffic from the device. When you turn on Wi-Fi, it turns off automatically. In the application you can see statistics on saved traffic for a week and a month. And in the settings you can control the quality of graphics, as well as set the cache size for saved graphic elements. This is true if you constantly load the same web pages. Onavo Extend saves the graphics from them, they are not re-downloaded, resulting in even greater savings.

⇡ Conclusion

I really hope that in five to ten years the demand for all applications for saving mobile traffic will decrease. Perhaps very soon they will become as rarely used as programs for monitoring traffic on a PC are now rare. And just as inexpensive internet via cable came to our homes without taking into account traffic, so our smartphones will receive inexpensive unlimited access to the Internet.

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