We all mostly switch off our mobile data as soon as we enter our houses and switch to a Wi-Fi connection for all our online activities. This practice might be more convenient for some people but for the ones that have limited data or internet plans with data caps, this can be a little worrisome.
Considering how much data your family requires and if you always run out of the data your current internet plan is offering you must think of switching to an ISP that offers unlimited data allowance. For that, you can check out Suddenlink internet plans that offer the fastest internet for your home without imposing any data caps.
This will make your life a hundred times easier as you do not have to constantly worry about running out of data. But since you’re stuck with a limited data plan for now let us give you some helpful tips on how you can minimize your data usage at home.
Turn your streaming sticks off
Turning off just the TV is not enough. Whenever you turn off your TV, always turn off the streaming sticks like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast along with it. As these streaming sticks are connected directly to your Wi-Fi connection so they keep using the data and hog with bandwidth.
So make it a habit to turn it off all at once if you want to take care of your limited data plan and use it carefully.
Lower the picture quality while streaming
We all love watching YouTube videos on 1080 HD but if you spend too much time on YouTube and stream every video in that quality then you’ll surely run out of your data before month-end. Watching videos of lower quality uses lesser data. So whenever you’re watching YouTube videos frequently change the quality of the video.
The same goes for Netflix, lower the streaming quality to an average from ultra 4K quality if you’re running low on data. Go to the setting and change the Playback setting to medium or low from auto or high when you’re about to exceed your data limit for the month.
Download music instead of streaming
Streaming music over Spotify, YouTube, or SoundCloud can take over a lot of data in no time. To minimize your data usage you can download the music on these streaming apps for offline mode or play music from your iTunes library. It might put up a limit on your music selection but you can surely save up on your data this way.
Keep a check on your router data
The updated and new versions of routers include app management that provides you with different tools to see which devices are using data around the house. Once you know what unnecessary devices are taking up most data you can narrow down the usage.
This works best in houses with families and kids where kids are streaming a lot of TikTok videos or toddlers who have poems and cartoons playing in the background while they are busy playing with their toys.
Browse over laptop or PC
Browsers like Google Chrome use lesser data on computers and laptops as compared to smartphones. And in case you have to use the browser on your smartphone download their extensions. They are designed to automatically save data while you are browsing online. If not, you always have the option to manually go to the setting and switch to data-saving modes.
Close background applications on your phone
Many of us have the habit of leaving apps open while we switch to another one. For instance, you’re playing a game on your phone and you receive a Snapchat notification, you open it up leaving your game right there and then switch to WhatsApp for taking a video call. Leaving all those applications running in the background will only drain your data.
Monitor your app usage. Always close the apps running in the background as those are the ones that are constantly using a lot of data leaving you nothing to survive on in the last days of your month.
Turn off auto-play
If you have the habit of falling asleep while watching TV then you might want to check the auto-play feature on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and even YouTube. So that it stops playing automatically as a video or episode ends and won’t suck up all your data.
Secure your Wi-Fi with a password
When you have a limited internet plan for a month you can’t afford to be generous enough to keep open Wi-Fi for your neighbors and random people. Secure your WIFI with a strong password. This will not only limit your data usage but also protect your network from cybersecurity threats.
Make sure you change the default name of your Wi-Fi and secure it with an alphanumeric password. It will help you manage your data usage and keep unwanted people from accessing it easily.
Wrapping it up
We hope these tips help you minimize your data usage at home and if nothing works you can always get a bigger package. With the invasion of the smart home and a lot of devices connected to the internet, it’s almost impossible to manage with an internet plan that imposes data caps.
