Complete Noob Question on Wifi/mobile data

[oftenfacetious]

Hello,
I recently (5days ago) updated my droid to the razr m. We had an unlimited data plan w/ limited minutes and texts. In order to upgrade our phones they made us change
our plan (buying a block of data). I have 2 gigs shared and use my home wifi when I am there. i have a few questions that phone tech support didnt have the patience for so I would like to ask them here.
1) When I turn wifi on (while at home) am I supposed to leave mobile data on as well?
2) I can not send picture texts w/ wifi on but data off. I get confused b/c the mobile data usage shows text messaging as data. Are they really showing me data usage when i am on my own wifi? My "usage details" on verizonwireless has not updated in 2 days so I cannot figure it out that way.
3) is picture/video text using my limited data if I am not at home wifi? The way it was explained to me is turn wifi on at home but leave data on. texts dont use data but data must be on to send pictures. That confuses me. On the "shared data" for my verizon it has updated usage and it is now saying we used 10 more mb yesterday. That was the pictures i was sending as a test to see if it costs us data and it seems to have... I am really confused.

Could someone please tell me the best way to use my home wifi as the sole data usage when I am home. Thanks!!!

 

[Mr.Craig]

Moving from the Droid 2 this took some getting used to for me. At home on wifi I would turn data off. Data would only come on when I was receiving a pic from a text. On the Razr M (and possibly all ICS devices?) the 3G/4G icon stays on when wifi is active but is not connected. You can actually check this in settings. It will say something like "Data on but not in use".

EDIT: It has always been my understanding that pics via text will always come via Verizon's data network.

 

[cubsfan2113]

Set up a "smart action" to automatically turn wifi on when you get home. It uses GPS to tell your phone when it is home and leave data on.

Texts, either pic or words, are most likely unlimited on your share everything plan and do not use data.

I have my M set up this way and I'm using about 1/3 the data I used to with my old Droid X just by the smart action auto wifi.

 

[Mr.Craig]

Set up a "smart action" to automatically turn wifi on when you get home. It uses GPS to tell your phone when it is home and leave data on.

Texts, either pic or words, are most likely unlimited on your share everything plan and do not use data.

I have my M set up this way and I'm using about 1/3 the data I used to with my old Droid X just by the smart action auto wifi.

Smart Actions seems like it has wifi use a lot more battery than it should. Based on this thread: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...-disabled-yet-shows-active-battery-meter.html it seems I wasn't the only one who noticed this issue.

I use Llama to trigger my wifi on when at home.

Also I'm not 100% on pics not eating 3G/4G data. I don't think that you can recieve a pic in a text without data being active.

 

[cubsfan2113]

Smart Actions seems like it has wifi use a lot more battery than it should. Based on this thread: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-razr-m/225768-wi-fi-disabled-yet-shows-active-battery-meter.html it seems I wasn't the only one who noticed this issue.

I use Llama to trigger my wifi on when at home.

Also I'm not 100% on pics not eating 3G/4G data. I don't think that you can recieve a pic in a text without data being active.

I've tried it both ways by turning wifi off and just letting SA do it. At the end of the day I only found about a 5% difference in battery use. I'm a fairly light user at about two hours/day of screen on use, but even with SA controlling wifi I'm still at 77% batt right now. It has been 14hrs since charge.

Messages are listed separate in plan details as unlimited, do I'm assuming they don't use data. Email do.

 

[oftenfacetious]

Ok, Thanks guys for all your responses. I do have smart actions set up to shut down data and turn on wifi when I'm home, but will now leave data on and check usage regularly. I do have unlimited texting. When data is off I can not send picture texts and if someone sends me one I get an option to download it and prompted to turn data back on.
I found an option on my phone to display wireless usage too. There arent any text messages listed there,those are under data usage. So, I'm going to leave wifi on and turn data to on as well. Is there a way to (in real time) make sure that my phone is pulling off of my wifi and not paid for data usage? Thanks!!!

 

[AmishButcher]

I installed Tasker and it was greek to me...so I found this vid on YouTube and he goes over how to use it for WiFi. Ultimately, you have your phone recognize towers that are around your home and work (for me) and when it finds them, it automatically turns on WiFi. Can't speak to how efficient it is with the battery, but it makes sense to me how it would help. Your phone is always searching for towers.

[video=youtube;BEhnOJl5mTo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhnOJl5mTo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhnOJl5mTo[/video]