Ten ways to save money on mobile data costs

It's no secret your mobile phone has evolved into a device capable of a lot more than just making calls.

In fact, talking on the phone seems to be one of the less popular activities these days — compared to email, instant messaging and texting, web surfing, playing games, listening to music, watching video, taking pictures, accessing social media or getting directions.

Much of the fun things you can do on a smartphone today require "data," therefore requiring a monthly data plan with your carrier that gives you a certain number of megabytes or gigabytes to use up by the end of the month.

If you find yourself going over your limit -- and thus incurring overage charges -- take heed to these following 10 ways to better manage your data usage.

1. Try to save the activities that eat up a lot of data — like streaming video — for when you're in a wireless network at home, a café, airport lounge or hotel lobby. To make sure you're using Wi-Fi, you might consider temporarily turning off cellular data (in Options or Settings).

2. Be sure to properly close apps when you're not using it as they still might be running in the background and thus, possibly using up data. Doing this will also extend your battery life. On the iPhone, for example, double tap the Home button and close the apps open at the bottom of the screen.

3. Try to limit apps that have regularly pushed content — such as stock quotes, weather updates or any such thing -- as your smartphone will use up data on an ongoing basis. You can go into your device's Settings and turn off the pushed alerts for various apps, if you like.

4. While tempting, try not to tether your smartphone to your computer to use as a wireless modem. Similarly, refrain from creating a personal hotspot with your smartphone as you can have multiple devices eat up your data wirelessly.

5. If you need to do any major email correspondence or extensive web surfing, ask yourself if it can wait until you get to a computer. Just because you can do it on a smartphone doesn't mean you should — especially over cellular connectivity.

6. Try to find apps that use less data by doing your research prior to download and use. For example, Blackberry Maps use 5 to 10 times less data than Google Maps. This information is readily available online.

7. In your email settings, turn off "push" mail if you really don't need to know whenever an email comes in right away. Then, when in a Wi-Fi hotspot, pull it all down. On a related note, enter your email settings to choose "View only," rather than downloading a full attachment.

8. When traveling to another country, be sure you're well aware of their roaming rates as it'll be significantly higher (and on top of) your existing data plan. Many of Canada's top carriers offer various travel plans to suit your needs and budget, so be sure to consider one to avoid a nasty surprise on your bill. When in doubt, disable data roaming in the Options/Settings section of your smartphone.

9. Instant Messaging programs like BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), iMessage and WhatsApp Messenger are affordable solutions for friends who want to keep in touch. They use little data, they're fast and reliable, and they offer advantages over texting (such as getting a confirmation when a message has been delivered and read).

10. Don't update apps over the air if you can do it on your computer -- and then synchronize the updates to your smartphone via a USB cable. Cloud services might automatically pull down new apps and updates to your device, but you should be able to turn this off in the Settings area.