Getting The Most From An Expensive Data Plan

Not too thrilled about paying $30 a month for a data plan? Probably not.

A recent, unofficial poll at Ars Technica showed that many iPhone users use less than 250 MB of data per month. That’s pretty low usage for that high cost. Consider your internet service in your home- in my apartment, we get six megabits for $24.99. When I see usage patterns that low, I tend to think that this individual isn’t using their phone to the extent they should have. It’s being wasteful!

I personally try to use over 3 GB every month through rigorous, constant use. While that is a bit extreme, there’s no harm in getting your money’s worth (AT&T might say otherwise).

Jailbreak, and Tether:

Advocating jailbreaking is a bit on the sketchy side, but it’s an amicable solution. If this doesn’t scare you, there are a few good tethering apps available: PDAnet and MyWi are both popular. Conversely, if you were lucky enough to get the ill-fated NetShare app, then jailbreaking is unnecessary.

VoIP calls:

All of the blogs are in a tizzy about AT&T finally lifting the ban on 3G based calls. While Skype hasn’t come through yet (they claim an update is in the works), Fring is fully capable of making Skype calls (including video!). If you can’t wait, my aforementioned jailbreak tip can shine here too. Search Cydia for VOIPover3G, which is a software hack for the Skype application (it works great!). You could also stay tuned for OS 4.0 where Skype is also capable of being used in the background.

Stream Everything:

This may be a little obvious at first…, but I think it goes unnoticed.

First is radio streaming, just use one of the many apps available: Last.fm (my choice), Pandora, Slacker, etc. Those are just music. Soma.fm is another great service. It’s radio streamed through Safari, so “multitasking” is possible now. Public radio applications are also a boon too. I used to use the Minnesota Public Radio app all the time, but then switched to the official NPR one, which is capable of streaming the live broadcasts from every state (although I only do Minnesota). This American Life has, I believe seventeen weeks worth of streaming content available…, doesn’t that make your mouth water?

Next is podcasts. You can use the iTunes Store application to stream any podcast in the background. If the podcast is under 20 MB, it can be downloaded directly. Otherwise, all podcasts can be streamed. Simply tap on the title of show instead of the download button. Presto! Alternatively, you could go to the podcast website and stream them from Safari. Your iPhone won’t be hindered as you’ll be able to use everything else the phone offers. Just don’t click on a web app you saved to the springboard! That will interrupt streaming. I legitimately never use my computer (the iPhone does everything I need), so this is how I get my podcast fix without waiting to sync.

Next is the much heavier television/video streaming.

Elgato, makers of the fantastic EyeTV product have an iPhone application to watch your television on. Why bother with this at all though? Elgato also has HTTP streaming available as well. Simply point Safari to your computer from anywhere and stream. This was originally a workaround as AT&T had blocked 3G streaming of television. More info here. Slingbox, or the Mobile MLB application are more examples of TV streaming over 3G.

Speaking of HTTP streaming, Leo Laporte of TWiT fame recently flipped the switch on his new HTTP streaming TWiT Live. There were previously several apps that would stream the audio from the TWiT cottage. Now apps are unnecessary as the complete, live video feed (and the audio feed as well) is available at http://live.twit.tv — right within Safari. I’m a huge fan of the whole network of shows and this has been a huge bandwidth hog.

Finally, Greenbox. This application captures and organizes Revision3 programs in a very sleek interface. Streaming is built right into the application as well. It even has the added bonus of the “Segments” feature which allows you to jump directly to the part of the show you want to see. For example, I loathe movies, and skip directly to video games when watching The Totally Rad Show.

Don’t use WiFi:

Not the greatest solution, but if you’re desperate to get your money’s worth, just don’t use WiFi… ever! This is a numbers game, after all. Using your phone on WiFi is a bit faster, but you lose the valuable kilobytes you could be sticking to your carrier.

Yes, follow some of these steps and you too can be a bother for AT&T and finally put that expensive data plan to good use!