Date Posted: 11/25/2013 1:49:16 AM
Posted By: Wishstar Membership Level: Gold Total Points: 7507
A while back, most people used to access the internet using their computers. Nowadays, popularity of mobile phones has displaced the computer as being the most popular gadget for accessing the internet. From facebooking to research and even the downloading of resources, the phone may be able to do them all. With the development of smartphones, WIFI technology has in some way enabled people to access free internet in some areas. However, accessing the internet from mobile phones, at least here in Kenya, is mainly done using the resources provided by mobile service providers. Since airtime is involved in accessing the internet, it would be beneficial to ensure efficient and maximum utilization of the resources available. Also, saving on costs while accessing the internet will be highly appreciated. Here are ten ways that may enable you to save on airtime while accessing the internet on tour mobile phone. 1. Download a data saving browser. Normally, the default phone browser doesn't compress WebPages to save on internet bundles. Downloading such browsers as opera mini, UC browser and Nokia Xpress browser will enable you to save on bundles as they compress Web Pages, with some promising you data savings of up to 80%! 2. Subscribe to internet bundles. Rather than using airtime to surf on your phone, it is wiser to subscribe and use internet data bundles offered by the various mobile service providers. They are cheaper and more efficient. Also, the more the bundles, the comparatively cheaper they become. If you want to stream, the two shillings per minute offer by Safaricom may also do well. 3. Background tasks Whenever you see that you are about to run out of internet bundles, you can opt to turn background tasks off. Such tasks include the synchronization of emails and updating of certain apps like those of weather and maps. The good thing is that you can still update some of these apps manually. 4. Disable images or put low quality The higher the quality of images, the more the bundles they will consume. Though some websites use images to go hand in hand with the content, some do not necessarily need images for one to understand what is put across. Some browsers offer the ability to turn images off, in low, medium or high quality. Depending on the amount of internet bundles you have, you can choose either of the four. 5. Load mobile version of sites Some websites, by default, redirect one to a mobile site when they access it from a phone. However, others have not optimized their site for mobile phones hence the phone tends to stretch itself in loading the desktop version of the website. Also, some people don't actually notice an option on some browsers to tweak between accessing mobile sites or desktop sites. Look under the settings menu of your browser and set this preference to mobile sites; that is if you want to save on your airtime! 6. Save pages Some pages contain content which may be used as reference from time to time, and Wikipedia is the most known. Instead of reloading the page each time you access the website, you may choose to save it on your browser and access it later without the need for loading the page. Most popular web browsers have the option of saving pages so it is up to you to decide on using it.7. Monitor your data usage Most mobile service providers send notification messages when the data bundles reach a certain limit. However, at times, you may want to change the limit but this is not possible for the service providers to do. Good thing though is that smartphones have apps that can monitor data and give details on the amount of data each app has used. Make full use of these apps as they will assist you in efficient use of your internet bundles. 8. Download large files via WiFi Some files are too large that one feels painful to download them using their network provider data bundles. If the file is not urgent, and that you see the possibility of accessing a WiFi network soon, then wait and download them via WiFi. By the way, some mobile OS like windows phone allows files over 40Mb to be downloaded only via WiFi!
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