Data Sense Limitation and solution

rhapdog

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Aug 26, 2014
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Many people use Data Sense, myself included. It lets me know how much of my monthly allotment I've used so far... at least from my phone. It's not really as helpful when you have multiple phones on a family share plan, as you've got to add it up from all the devices, or check online with the phone company to get an accurate usage of the entire account.

No one in my family uses data overnight. First thing each morning, I dial that number that makes the carrier send me a text of group usage of data for the current billing cycle.

Just like when using Data Sense, I still have to take that figure and divide it by the number of days left in the month to see what my daily average should be for the rest of the month so that I can properly budget my data, and I have to do this every day. I know other people that do the same exact thing.

Also, each month, my average daily target usage changes because of several things: 1) different number of days in the month, 2) different amount of rollover or no rollover if all data was used.

I also don't want to just divide the amount of data I have left for the month by the number of days left in the month, because I'd like to find out "how much do I use TODAY to get back to where I need to be for my 'daily average' that was calculated at the beginning of the month?" I need the help getting back on track to get me where I should be.

An app would seem ideal if this were on an individual plan, where the app would read the numbers from Data Sense and give you the projections, but an app would be useless on a family plan when you have to get the numbers each day from the carrier anyway. Most people I know are on a shared plan. In fact, I don't know anyone on an individual plan. I know they are out there, but married people with children usually hang out with married people with children. Single people with an individual plan probably hang out with other single people with individual plans. But that's a story for another day.

Since an app probably would be unable to suit my needs, unless it was provided by my carrier and accessed the appropriate information directly, then a spreadsheet was the solution I came up with. Besides, what are the chances I could talk the carrier into making such an app for Windows Phone anyway?

I have a spreadsheet where you enter the day of the month your billing cycle starts on, how many days in the current month, how much rollover data you have if any, and for each day of the month enter the used data so far.

You're welcome to check it out and see if it is helpful.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=b32383e2cfe58a60!88180&authkey=!AN-ZdzXc3W0GwLg&ithint=file%2cxlsx

If you find it helpful, let me know. If you think some changes need to be made, let me know what they are. I'm not promising that I'll try to make this everything for everyone, but I do find it useful for myself, and thought I'd share with the community.

I personally find it handy because I can edit it directly on my phone or my laptop with it saved to OneDrive. Keeps me up to date on what I can use for the current day.
 

AndyCalling

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Apr 15, 2013
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I see your problem. I use the app from my service provider on my 930 because, in the UK, they generally provide one. There are 3rd party apps, however, that get the info from your provider. One such is the generic 'Call Credit' app. On my old 820 I've moved it to the PAYG Giff Gaff service which doesn't yet have an app (v. small provider) but 3rd party have produced an excellent substitute designed specifically for Giff Gaff.

Even if there's no app at all (seems uncommon) your provider likely has a simple web page you could pin.

Take a look around. I expect there will be a less complicated option out there for you somewhere.
 

rhapdog

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Aug 26, 2014
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The carrier has an app and a mobile web site. However, it doesn't do what the spreadsheet does, which is to give me a way to find how much I should budget of my data for THIS DAY.

The carriers only tell you how much you have used of your data allotment for the month so far. They don't help you calculate how much you should be using each day. That's what the spreadsheet is all about.
 

tgp

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Good work rhapdog! I like making spreadsheets like this too.

Awhile ago I would have been all over something like this. But now I have Verizon with unlimited data. It's hard to divide by unlimited! And if I don't use all of my unlimited data one month, the remainder rolls over to the next month. :winktongue:
 

rhapdog

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Awhile ago I would have been all over something like this. But now I have Verizon with unlimited data.

I don't see where Verizon offers unlimited data to anyone unless it is an older, grandfathered plan. You almost sound like you got this recently.

Their 100GB plan is like $750/month. $100/month for 6GB, which is what I'm paying for 15GB at AT&T. Does Verizon have a plan I'm not aware of? Or are you on a grandfathered plan?
 

tgp

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I don't see where Verizon offers unlimited data to anyone unless it is an older, grandfathered plan. You almost sound like you got this recently.

Their 100GB plan is like $750/month. $100/month for 6GB, which is what I'm paying for 15GB at AT&T. Does Verizon have a plan I'm not aware of? Or are you on a grandfathered plan?

In November 2014 I got an unlimited data plan via AoL. It's not cheap, but I don't intend to give it up until they pry it from my cold, dead hands! It's kinda funny when I look at my options to "upgrade" my plan; the first option in Data is what I have, Unlimited for $29.99. The next option is 2GB for $30.00. Yeah, how can I resist?

Capture.JPG
 

group045

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Apr 18, 2015
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The carrier has an app and a mobile web site. However, it doesn't do what the spreadsheet does, which is to give me a way to find how much I should budget of my data for THIS DAY. /???
 

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