Switch on Data Saver mode on Chrome

Browsing internet on a slow connection is really frustrating. Luckily, Chrome has a built-in Data Saver mode that helps you load heavy websites faster. Doing this not only helps you get faster speeds, but also saves a lot of your data, essential for those of us using limited data plans.

You can switch on Data saver mode by tapping on the right-top icon in Chrome and choosing ‘Settings’. Here you’ll find the ‘Data Saver’ option mentioned under ‘Advanced’. Once you’re in the Data Saver setting, you can turn it on. You’ll find browsing to be a lot faster hereon

Restrict background data usage for apps 

If you have a lot of web-dependent apps, then chances are that many of them are using up the connection in the background. There is a way to choose specific apps that you don’t want to use data in the background.

 

You can do this by going into ‘Data usage’ icon found in your smartphone’s ‘Settings’. Here you can choose the apps consuming more data and then tap on ‘Restrict Background Data’. These apps will now only access the internet when they are being used.

Disable media download for Whatsapp on 2G/3G

We use WhatsApp a lot these days, and we receive a lot of photos and videos. Downloading all of this, especially videos on a 2G connection means you can’t do anything else. It can also amount to a major chunk of your data plan. It’s a good idea to disable Auto-download of these media files.

 

To do this, in WhatsApp, go to ‘Settings’, select ‘Chats and calls’ and tap on ‘Media auto-download’. You can select the type of media you want to download automatically using cellular data.

Use YouTube Offline 

Watching YouTube videos on a slow internet connection is a dreadful task, because of all the buffering, stuttering and waiting. That’s exactly why Google introduced the YouTube Offline feature. You can use this feature to download YouTube videos when you are connected to Wi-Fi, and watch them later when you’re travelling.

 

To do this, start the YouTube app and choose the video you want to watch. Right under the video, there is a small download button. Once you click on the button, you can select the resolution you want to download the video in. Hit ‘Ok’ to start the download.

Update apps on Wi-Fi only 

Gone are the days when app updates used to be just a megabyte or two. App updates are getting larger each day and downloading them has become a time consuming affair. Of course updating apps together will also hog all your bandwidth, keeping you from working on other apps seamlessly. It’s a good idea to just update apps when you are connected to stable Wi-Fi connection.

 

In the Play Store, go to Settings > General > Auto-update apps. Here, simply select ‘Auto-update apps on Wi-Fi only’.

Download internet boosting apps 

 

Yes, there are some maintenance apps that can help get that extra bit out of your phone and internet connection. It’s important to note that these apps will not help deliver faster speeds than your plan, instead they will help you optimize it. They do this by cutting down on background usage of apps, cleaning the RAM, wiping the browser cache and other apps. Some improve your signal strength reception in order to give you better speeds. Some of the popular ones are Internet Booster & optimizer, Internet Speed Meter Lite, Internet Speed master.

Choose the right browser

 

If you’re someone who spends a lot of time browsing internet on your smartphone, then it’s time to choose your web browser carefully. There are many options, such as Chrome, Opera Mini, Dolphin, Mozilla Firefox etc. Some are setup to be faster than the rest, while some will help you save data along the way. There are also browsers such as Opera Mini that come with a built-in download managers that let you resume downloads. This is useful if you have to download files from the web, to your smartphone.   It should be mentioned that following these simple steps will not make your 2G speed any faster than the service provider claims it to be. However, you can expect to get at least the seamless web-surfing experience you would always want. The best part is, it only takes 2 minutes to set up.