A $10 Android App Could Save You Hundreds in Overages
One of the most challenging aspects of managing a mobile device is keeping tabs on how much data it uses during a monthly billing cycle. Sure, folks like me on an unlimited data plan don’t have to worry about this, but the two largest U.S. carriers now only offer tiered tablet data plans. And while most smartphone plans are unlimited today, Verizon has already stated that by this summer, those are likely to vanish; consumers will instead buy buckets of data by the megabyte or gigabyte.
While many carriers allow the setup of alerts when you get close to using up your data, such systems are often fairly basic and not configurable by the end user. Fans of the Android platform today have a new tool to help manage data usage, and although I personally don’t need it yet, I recommend it for those that do. The software is called SPB Wireless Monitor and it costs $9.95, which could be far less than any data overages you might pay without such a tool.
I installed SPB Wireless Monitor earlier today from the Android Market on my Samsung Galaxy Tab and put it through the paces. Here’s how it works: You set personalized alerts based on an amount of data, or the cost of your data, and the application quietly monitors the data used by your smartphone or tablet. You can even set multiple alerts in case you want a wide range of notifications. When the software sees that your data use has crossed a threshold, it immediately creates a standard, local Android notification to alert you. It’s that simple. But that’s not to say the app itself is unsophisticated.
wireless-monitor-alert
To better understand exactly what applications are using data on your device, SPB Wireless Monitor keeps track at the individual application level. One button tap will show you a listing of all apps that used data, along with how much bandwidth each has used. And all data monitoring, even the alerts, can be applied to either 3G or Wi-Fi connections. Other key features include:
- Per-application traffic reports or time-based reports (Android 2.2 or up)
- Daily, monthly, yearly or custom period cost reports
- Report sharing and exporting as CSV files
- Peak and off-peak tariffs support with 300+ different service plans from various countries
- Home screen widget
Again, I don’t personally need this app because I have an unlimited plan. But I’m actually considering a purchase anyway just to see which apps use most of my bandwidth, because it’s that solid a tool. And who knows how much longer I’ll actually be able to keep that unlimited plan.
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Why pay $10 when 3G and others are free?
I wonder how folks like VERIZON can allow bloatware on their phones and now charge per byte? Users cannot uninstall these apps without rooting their phones. I am sure these apps do not carry much overhead but still, these are data charges which rack up against the total data count. Among thousands of customers, this could prove to be a nice windfall and also create unessary traffic on their network.
Eric, that’s a valid point, but there’s a difference between an installed app and a running app. A quick check of the running processes on a Verizon Android handset ought to determine if any Verizon apps are running in the background and eating up data. If so, then that’s surely a problem!
Another reason to go with Sprint, for now anyway. No buckets, no limits, no caps on their 4g.
Do you know how long it would take to go through 200mb/mo. cap on a 4g phone on HSPDA or LTE? About as long as it would take the smile on Verizon, T-Mobile and At&T’s faces to reach from ear to ear.
I will never pay for a bucketed system, I’ll go back to a t9 nokia candybar from the 90s before I pay for limited data–and I’m not alone.
Sprint has 4G? They can claim that, but in reality they dont come close. Wimax is all but dead. It will take Sprint several years to deploy LTE nationwide. The only reason they don’t need to worry about caps is because they can’t get enough subscribers on their network to even have to worry about it. Sprint has many serious long term issues to deal with.
Thanks for posting this review, especially given that you have an unlimited data plan. Even though you don’t need it, because you have an unlimited data plan, you did this review just for us. Because you put your pants on just like the rest of us – one leg at a time. Except, when your pants are on, you have an unlimited data plan.
I have been using 3g Watchdog for almost a year and love it. I last month I installed 3g Watchdog Pro (the pay version) and it’s even better.
3GWatchdogPro works great on my Samsung Galaxy S and it is under $3, plus the developer gives great support.
I use 3G Watchdog (free) too and it works nicely.
Why pay $10 for this application when you csn download 3G watchdog for free (there is also a paid version). A good friend of mine has been developing it and I can tell you this runs on most common Android platforms.
See the following link:
To keep on right track at the application level SPB wireless monitor is good with many features like Report sharing that can be Per-application traffic reports or time-based reports and also there are many different service plans from various countries.
Great comments on 3G Watchdog, which looks like a solid app as well. I’ll be sure to give it a closer look; especially if my unlimited data plan goes away or I change providers. ;)
Sounds like a very good app but it also begs the question, why isn’t this sort of thing built into the OS? Shouldn’t a smartphone be able to keep accurate logs on phone usage (talk and data) that you can configure easily to meet your needs (night and weekend time, roaming, etc.) The carriers don’t want it because they like overages but the end user really desires those things because it helps manage costs.
Yup, I’d like to see it become a base OS addition too, even if it’s just a rudimentary implementation. But Google seems intent on providing the base platform (with core Google apps) in order to let devs add bits as they see fit.
Kevin–I agree that this appears at first glance to be a useful app. However–how do you/we know that the measurements provided by this site about usage measuerment is accuate? In other words, who is feeding the measurements of a startup, and how is it that it has taken so long for anyone (let alone a new company) to measure accurately (hopefully) one’s usage?
I guess what I’m trying to get across is that while this sounds like a fubu idea/concept, it seems quite odd that it’s taken this long for a company not aligned w/ any provider to give the masses data regarding the usage of a user. Am I being too much of a scrooge?
This certainly isn’t the first / only piece of mobile software that offers a way to measure your bandwidth. That doesn’t mean it’s accurately measuring, but it’s an answer to your question of “how is it that it has taken so long for anyone (let alone a new company) to measure accurately (hopefully) one’s usage?” And the development shop, SPB, isn’t a startup: I’ve used their mobile software since Pocket PC days a good 7 or 8 years ago. They’ve been in the mobile app business since 1999. ;)
As far as the accuracy of the bandwidth measurement, the best way to do that IMO is to use the app for a monthly billing cycle and compare it to a bill.