Here are six handy tips to make the most out of data while travelling overseas:
Use free Wi-Fi wherever possible- Why spend the money at all if you are near a Wi-Fi hotspot? The beauty of the smartphone is its ability to connect to a wireless access point. In some countries, they are hard to find, and that’s where TravelSIM data comes into play. Plenty of hotels these days have free Wi-Fi available to their guests, as well as some major fast food outlets & coffee chains. So if you can find a free Wi-Fi hotspot, connect and enjoy cost-free email & internet browsing!
Avoid image-heavy websites- Images use a lot of data: the larger the image, the more data used to download & display it. Avoid image-heavy websites such as some news sites, video streaming sites and so forth.
Be careful of navigation apps/sites- Google Maps and other similar mapping services require a lot of data, with more data being used the more you are zoomed in. As data is constantly being streamed on these services, it is always recommended to use free Wi-Fi when streaming Google Maps or similar services while overseas.
Change your emails from "Push" to "Fetch" – If your emails are set to “push”, then this means they will be downloaded & sent to your phone automatically. If set to manually “fetch”, you will then only download emails as you choose.
Download certified data compressor apps - Data compressing applications may be available for purchase or free download from the Apple App Store. These apps work in the background, and intercept incoming data before sending it to the device. Settings can be adjusted in the apps to compress the data, greatly reducing download sizes and the bill as a result. The best apps of these kinds also have a data monitoring system, allowing you to measure data usage in real time.
Change the settings on Android devices- Android lovers need not fear; you have complete control of the way that apps sync to the internet. You can manually turn on or off automatic synching for all applications, and we recommend turning them all off until you need them. Android users may also be able to download free data monitoring apps from the Android Market.