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Best way to lock down data usage when roaming

Hello everyone.
I hope someone can advise me on the best way to completely lock down GSM/3G/HSPDA data usage (as opposed to voice or WiFi) when roaming.
I'm in the UK with 02 (Orbit2) with an all you can eat data package, but
I'm off to the US in a couple of weeks on business, and I'd like to be completely confident that I'm not going to get a nasty bill when I get home.
I know I could use the HTC communication manager, but I not yet sure I can trust it. It seems that when I hook up to data based apps (explorer etc.) it initiates a new data session anyway.
I also want to be able to use Wifi for my main data access whilst away, but Ideally, in a pinch I'd like to be able to send the occasional short email - but only if I'm sure what its going to cost. If I expressly block data via o2 whilst I'm away then my options will be limited.
So what does everyone else do?
What about the gotcha's like autoupdate of weather forecasts, quickgps etc - these I know about, but there are probably others...
So to summarise: I want free use of data, but only WiFi whilst away. GSM or 3G in emergencies, but only if I unlock it.
Alternatively is there a US based service I can subscribe to for a few dollars a day whilst I'm away?

Try This
Hi,
this this little tool... Makes it easy to change what type of phone connection you will allow.
Cheer
Rar9

Thanks.
Thanks, this seems to do just what I wanted.
it's very small, and when run it gives you the option to individually toggle your data connections.
I toggled to off:
- O2 Active
- Mobile Web
I then fired up explorer - no access (and it said that it couldn't re-establish the connection) - Good.
I then enabled Wifi and was able to use explorer.
Checked phone working, no problem
Then re-enabled GPRS data etc (toggled the two settings back to enabled), and everything returned to normal.

[Q] Possible to use Android without any data plan at all?

I'm sorry if this has been asked already.
I'm very interested in getting a Samsung Vibrant. I wasn't a big fan of Android at first, but it's really growing on me. However, I have absolutely no interest in getting a data plan -- Everywhere I frequent has open wi-fi. If I got the phone, I know no carrier would let me leave the store without a data plan, so I'd just get one on eBay.
Is it possible to completely disable data, contact/email syncing, cloud connection, etc. and still use the full capabilities of an Android phone through wi-fi without screwing anything up? I've heard that if you don't have a data connection it's possible that your contacts will delete themselves when the phone tries to sync -- Is this true? Is there anything I should know about using Android without data, or are there any apps I should get to help with the whole process?

I have no data plan at all, G1 on T-Mobile. Vibrant shouldn't give you any problems, but if you're worried about contacts deleting (which has never happened to me), you can turn sync on and off, so just toggle it when you connect to wi-fi. Glad to see more interest in Android, hope you can make some contributions to the community.

Thanks for the info -- I didn't know you could actually toggle the syncing!
I hope I get more into Android, too. I'm a huge Windows Mobile person right now, but after looking at the Vibrant, I think I've been converted.
I also hope I can help in the community a bit, too -- I've been coming here for a long time, and I think you guys are amazing at what you do.

guitargler said:
I have no data plan at all, G1 on T-Mobile. Vibrant shouldn't give you any problems, but if you're worried about contacts deleting (which has never happened to me), you can turn sync on and off, so just toggle it when you connect to wi-fi. Glad to see more interest in Android, hope you can make some contributions to the community.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, I've got one more thing to ask: So can you disable ALL data, except for the phone data (calls, texts, etc.)? I can actually still get apps and do pretty much everything data allows all through wi-fi without any issues?

You can do syncing/cloud connection over WiFi too.

Thee other say my wife forgot to pay her bill.they shut her phone off.. Connected phone to wifi in the house and was able to use google talk email market... No text or calls though
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

well i had a first gen my touch 3g, i unlocked it and put it on att. what i endened up doing was i set up a different apn and since the settings were wrong i couldnt get on the internet. i could be wrong, but i think thats what kept me from getting on the net with it. and then i realized i had a data plan on my contract so i put the correct info for the apn and got data.

U can delete all your APN Info so that your phone will not be able to connect via 3G or Edge only with WIFI ;-)
Have fun with this great os!

There is literally an option in the network settings to disable the "mobile network". This disables internet/3g data traffic but does not affect call/text (that is not considered "data").
Also, Android actually disables the mobile network connection when Wifi is active (at least on CDMA devices)

Awesome, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have no idea why I was told it wasn't worth using Android without data - This all sounds like just what I had planned to do. Thanks, everyone! :-D

deathsled said:
Also, Android actually disables the mobile network connection when Wifi is active (at least on CDMA devices)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Relying on that alone won't work as soon as you get in the car with the phone...when it loses the wifi connection, it looks for a cell data connection again. You are right though, so long as it has a wifi connection, it doesn't look for 3G data at all.

People say it's no use having Android without data because there's literally TONS of awesome stuff you can do with data (Google Maps walking turn-by-turn, for example. And Zombie, Run!, which is the best game ever made). But if you're like me and are cheap/broke, or you just don't see yourself using data much, you'll be golden. But I think as you get into Android more and discover what you *could* be doing, you'll want to add data. I intend to put data on when I upgrade

i dn't have a data plan and when i attempt to use a data connection w/o wifi i get an msg from my provider (asking if i really want to and telling me how much it will cost). If your provider allows you access to their data network without you agreeing and then charges you that's pretty bull**** and i would definitely switch providers.

[Q] Sudden massive data use

I recently used Windowbreak, and set up internet sharing on my Samsung Omnia 7, following the instructions here. It all seemed to work fine, but I've now had messages from my network (Orange UK) saying that I've gone way over my monthly data allowance. My allowance is 750MB, and I never usually use more than about 400. This month I went over 750 in the first two days!
Orange won't send me a full breakdown, but they did say that the phone is using huge amounts of data at apparently random times in the middle of the night. Not only was I not using it, but it was connected to my home wifi at the time, so shouldn't have been using any 3G data at all! I have only used internet sharing a couple of times, and it's always turned off when I'm not using it.
I'm on 7.10.7740.16. Can anyone help me? Sorry if this has been posted before, I've searched, but only found people with the opposite problem (i.e. no data at all, instead of too much!)
I'm no expert with this stuff, just following instructionhs really, so I'd be really grateful for any help.
Thanks,
Steve.

Did you change any other settings when you used Windowbreak? Have you installed any apps that use frequently-updating Live Tiles? Do you have the user feedback option enabled? When you say the phone is on WiFi, is it actually plugged in? If not, it will turn off the WiFi when the screen is locked in order to conserve battery.
There have been some spikes of data usage in the past, but they were generally tracked down (having an auto-updating Yahoo mail account was a data hog for a few months, for example Some kind of breakdown would help, but You can always just try turning off as many data-using features (Find My Phone, email sync, Live and Facebook messaging, Live Tiles, etc.) as you can find. Then, re-enable them one or two at a time and try to find the culprit. Some people here in the US get by on 200MB or less of data limit (I have no idea how; I can use several times that in a day) so it should be possible.

Thanks for the reply. No, I don't think I changed anything at the same time as setting up Windowbreak and internet sharing, I just followed the instructions for each one. I haven't got any new apps either that would explain the sudden spike in data.
My phone is always plugged in overnight, so I don't understand why it didn't use wifi instead of 3G for whatever it was doing. It might be that it had always used that much data, but it had previously done it through wifi so I hadn't seen it.
The annoying thing is that Orange won't give me a breakdown of what data I'm using until after the end of the billing month, so I can't get real time information to show me what's working and what isn't. Is there any way to monitor data use, or to see which apps are using what?
Thanks,
Steve.

Sadly, that's not currently possible. You could just turn off the cellular data connection (in Settings) at night, but that's awkward and you'd need to remember to re-enable it.

WP7 is always data connected

Hello my friend,
I have recently migrate to WP7.5(Tango) and i have some little questions.
My data is always connected, but, i don't have activate the pushmail.
So, why my data are always on ?
Does Windows Phone has an autodisconnect feature ?
If no, is there a way in order to install an application in order to autodisconnect data after X seconds of innactivity.
Thanks a lot for your help,
Nixeus

What phone you are using?

Does your cellular provider charge by the minute, or something like that? All the rates for data that I've seen are either by the month or by the megabyte. I don't think I've heard of auto-disconnect as a desired feature since the days of literal modems (the kind that sent sudio tones over the telephone connection instead of using a communication protocol actually intended for data).
The only way I know of to turn off the data connection is manually, in the Settings hub. Be aware that a lot of the features of WP7 use data connectivity in the background, not just email sync. For example, syncing your Facebook (and Twitter and LinkedIn) account, syncing your contacts and calendar from the server, checking the Marketplace for updates to installed apps, and so on. These use very little data, but they connect fairly often.
In theory, I'm sure there's a way to programmatically turn the data connection on or off. It might even be possible to tell when it's not in use, and hasn't been for some time. This is not going to be easy, though, and as far as I know nobody else has figured it out.

Thanks for the answers,
So, i will coding an apps in order to turn OFF the DATA connection during a period.
( the night for me)

[Q] Disable WI-FI to Cellular handover (wifi to data fallback)?

Hi there
As you know in lollipop this fall back to data feature exists if the wifi connection has no internet(officially called "WI-FI to Cellular handover").
Has anyone investigated how does the system check for internet connection on wifi? It must ping something on the outside world.
Whats more important is there a way to disable this feature so that the system behaves like in kitkat?
Thanks

td32 said:
Hi there
As you know in lollipop this fall back to data feature exists if the wifi connection has no internet.
Has anyone investigated how does the system check for internet connection on wifi? It must ping something on the outside world.
Whats more important is there a way to disable this feature so that the system behaves like in kitkat?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It pings Google's servers.

I don't understand why google hasn't offered a switch(on-off) for this. I can imagine some situations where this is quite bad. Imagine you have a small data plan and you use wifi to download stuff and suddenly wifi stops reaching the internet so the connection falls back to data and all your data plan is vanished in just a few minutes.
There must be a switch for disabling this feature.

td32 said:
I don't understand why google hasn't offered a switch(on-off) for this. I can imagine some situations where this is quite bad. Imagine you have a small data plan and you use wifi to download stuff and suddenly wifi stops reaching the internet so the connection falls back to data and all your data plan is vanished in just a few minutes.
There must be a switch for disabling this feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just turn off data? lol

enable wifi-> remember to disable data
disable wifi-> remember to enable data
why do this shi" every time you switch to&back form wifi when you can set it ONCE for all, and let it work as it should!!

td32 said:
enable wifi-> remember to disable data
disable wifi-> remember to enable data
why do this shi" every time you switch to&back form wifi when you can set it ONCE for all, and let it work as it should!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always did it since GB so no big deal to me I guess lol, could be annoying for others.

still annoying
It is some time later but I have a particularly annoying issue with this, nothing to do with data volumes. I used to really like the feature but recently I have had to use gconnect on an internal network to sign in, by the time I have signed on the network is on 4g and he request doesn't go through. Annoyingly now I need to disconnect mobile data in order to login to my companies wifi.
Just a little inconvenient. I dont suppose anyone has a better solution?