Feb 5 2012

How to Make the Most of your Unlimited Data Plan

Mobile devices are pretty limited without a mobile data connection, relying on pre-saved files and cached information. But, by adding an active data connection you open up a number of possibilities from improved productivity and communication to increased entertainment.

Unfortunately Mobile data plans have become limited in recent years, with fixed data allowances putting a limit on how much data you can download per month before you start to get charged a significant fee for usage.
Fortunately, Three have introduced The One Plan which as part of your contract gives you truly unlimited data usage, so that you don’t have to worry about extra costs.
But what can you do with your unlimited data allowance, here are some suggestions.

1) Share the joy of connectivity with other devices.
The use of The One Plan isn’t limited to just your mobile handset, if your mobile has the ability to become a Mobile Hotspot then your connection can be shared with any wifi enabled device, for example, this might be your laptop, tablet, or portable games device. This means that you are no longer dependant on public wifi availability free or otherwise.
Working mobile becomes a real possibility by using your mobile phone as an access point, you can gain access to your email, files and virtual environments, all through your normal laptop as if you were on your home wifi network.

When you go on holiday or travel, if you have access to unlimited mobile data you no longer have to worry about finding a hotspot or paying for Internet access, you can simply turn on your personal hotspot and enjoy Internet access. Also students no longer need to worry about paying for broadband in their student property, mobile broadband is a good substitute.

All work and no play is dull though, so don’t forget that you can use your wifi hotspot to access entertainment sites like iPlayer, and TV catchup on the larger screen of your laptop.

2) Control your Home PC through your mobile phone.

You can now take your home PC with you – virtually. Using a remote control app, like PocketCloud or Logmein, you can access your home PC as if you were sat in front of it.
An application runs on your computer which forms a secure gateway between your desktop and your mobile device, and your desktop screen is delivered to you, allowing you to remotely control your PC.


This means that you can access all your usual applications as if they were running on your mobile device, the desktop screen is automatically scaled to match the screen size of your mobile device, and the use of pitch and zoom is used to magnify and move around the screen. The size of the screen on your mobile device dictates how similar the experience to that of your normal PC, on an iPad the result is very good, and it’s still usable on an iPhone.

This allows you to access your applications, files and systems, from anywhere.

3) Watch online video.

High quality Video is really starting integrate into our mobile lives but because of the high bandwidth and file size, access can be restricted unless you have unlimited data access.

Without constraint there are exciting ways for you to use Online video on your Mobile.
You can watch Live Freeview TV by using services like TVcatchup.com or watch premium Sky Channels through the Sky Go App.
You can watch the latest news headlines from the Sky News and BBC News Apps, or watch the football action through the Sky Sports TV and ESPN Goals Apps.

If you have missed your favourite shows then you can also access high quality Video on Demand services like BBC iPlayer, 4OD and ITV Player.

You are always connected so you can always stay up to date.

Further reading:

4) Listen to Radio Stations.

As the Internet has matured, more and more radio stations have provided online streams to their broadcasts. It’s possible to listen to thousands of radio stations covering every possible genre and style. The potential of online radio hasn’t been missed by large radio stations and many have released apps which let you listen to their content and interact with them through social media, there are also apps which collate and provide you with access through to a large selection of live Radio stations.

You aren’t limited to live radio either, some stations provide access to catch up radio facilities, where you can listen to previously broadcast shows, allowing you to pick and choose between your favourite shows and listen to them at your leisure.

Listening to Radio shows provides a real alternative to listening to your music collection, and with unlimited data plans you can listen as often and for as long as you like.

5) Share your media.

Modern Mobile devices have evolved to become natural media hubs, with their powerful camera’s capable of capturing high quality images and high def videos, we have the capability to capture every moment as it happens, and sharing media has become very quick and easy.
Traditionally pictures and short video clips could be shared using MMS messages which proved to be expensive, but now you can email, tweet & share pictures over the Internet directly from the handset.

Most mobile devices have YouTube functionality integrated so sharing high quality video is also straight forward, and files can always be shared/stored using cloud storage.

These functions work over your mobile data allowance, and on most data plans there is a risk that you’ll over run your data allocation and get a heavy charge, but on an unlimited data plan you don’t have to worry and you can share your media as often as you want

Mobile Data has matured over the last few years and it has opened up a lot of potential for constantly connected apps, but the majority of data plans are limited which means that you could end up with a heavy and unexpected cost.

To really let your device reach it’s full potential then  make sure you have a mobile contract that comes with unlimited data, for example The One Plan from Three

About the Author

This has been a blog post by Phil Lane, a self confessed Gadget Addict. To read all his Blog Posts Click Here.

You can follow Phil on Twitter at @GadgetPhil

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