Consultation Results: Experience with data usage alert apps One of our members asked us to tap into the experiences of their BELTUG peers regarding usage alert apps for smartphones and tablets. The member has been facing some cases of excessive bills. An awareness campaign among mobile data users is being organised, but the company plans to go further. Our member wants to install an app on employees /users smartphones and tablets that monitors usage. Ideally, this would be an app that sends a message or alarm, allowing the user to react pro-actively before harm is done. We asked you if you could recommend any such data volume alert apps, and let us know how they have worked for you. Many members responded that they, too, would like this information: obviously excessive bills are a continuing problem that has not yet been adequately addressed for many organisations. The responses we received have been summarised, anonymously, below. We also heard from suppliers, and have summarised their responses, as well. 1 THE REACTIONS USER SIDE 1.1 An example of how to sensitise users (in Dutch) Hou je dataverbruik op het mobiele netwerk in de gaten Je hebt recht op een gemiddeld mobiel nationaal dataverbruik van 200MB per maand. Elke maand spreken we gebruikers die de limiet overschrijden daarop aan. Opgelet, bij herhaling kun je niet langer gebruik maken van deze regeling. Denk er ook aan dat het mobiele internationale dataverbruik voor jouw eigen rekening is. Let op, de kost kan vlug oplopen. Hoe beperk je je mobiele dataverbruik? Om de ipad met het internet te verbinden moet je in eerste instantie gebruik maken van beschikbare WiFi-netwerken (thuis, vergaderzalen, vrienden, hotel ). Zo loopt je mobiele dataverbruik niet op. Pas als er geen WiFi voorhanden is, kun je het mobiele datanetwerk (3G) gebruiken. BELTUG July 2012 1
Standaard staat dit mobiele dataverbruik (3G) op alle ipads uitgeschakeld. Als je de instellingen aangepast hebt, controleer je beter of ze effectief uitgeschakeld staan voor je naar het buitenland vertrekt. Zo vermijd je achteraf onaangename verrassingen. (from a BELTUG member) 1.2 Specific apps Below are some apps for controlling data usage on the iphone/ipad. The data usage is split between WiFi and 3G: Data Usage ( 0.79) Data Usage Monitor. This free app was built for iphone, but can be used on the ipad as well. The 60 SMS (the roaming cap implemented by the European Commission) is too basic but is the only thing that works well across all platforms. Other apps I ve seen can t really handle the constant tariff changes, roaming / no roaming etc. I am certainly interested to see the results as we are potentially searching for a similar feature -Food/beverage industry We have been looking at Mobile Data Alerter from E-Office but we did not continue with it. -Chemicals group I use a HTC / Android: 2.3.3. I have installed a free app: Traffic Monitor. It works fine: it indicates data traffic over both Wi-Fi and Mobile (send & receive). It indicates traffic consumption indicated per app. However, there is no indication for voice traffic in the freeware version. As far as I know it is precise, and I have had no problems using it. BELTUG July 2012 2
-Consultant We are just using the standard functionality of our provider, Proximus. A first alert appears on the tablet when 50% of the allowed volume is reached; a second message at 100% of allowed volume. Although I have never personally reached this point, a third message is supposed to appear at 200% of the allowed volume. Until now, this has been sufficient to encourage users to limit usage. However, the system does not actually stop usage, and it still depends on the user's own compliance. -Public service We have also seen some excessive bills on mobile data usage. To address this, we: have created awareness; are reporting to management on the monthly costs, ranked by the top user downwards; have reviewed our subscriptions with Proximus to lower costs; have shared some best practices; have installed the Proximus volume app. It lets you track your own volume, but does not provide warning messages. -Manufacturing We had a trial with Vodafone of the MaaS360. It includes mobile device management, but also expense management, with good alerts and even stops. Worth a look! -Public service On Android you can use the RadioOpt Traffic Monitor tool. This is free and has an alarm function. For Proximus users, there is the Hello Proximus app, I use it on Android, but it is probably also available on ios. -Not-for-profit internet organisation Android is our standard. We use RadioOpt Traffic Monitor (as well as Hello Proximus). We also have limits with our provider. -Social Secretariat Dataman Pro on ios is easy to use and you can configure alerts on the device. Onavo on ios allows specific monitoring per app and compresses BELTUG July 2012 3
data, but poses a security risk since all data goes via the Onavo servers for the compression. There are no apps for ios that I know of that provide centralised monitoring - most users here use Hello Proximus to check on their data usage. It's ok for national usage, but there is too long a delay for updated roaming figures. Our Mobile Device Management solution enables us to disable data roaming for repeat offenders. In both cases, users get SMS alerts from the operator if they use more than their data bundle. However, bill shocks are a lot less frequent since the bill cap in the EU, and will be even less frequent in our case since Proximus expanded the bill cap to all countries, unless otherwise requested. And in the past, when we had bill shocks, we almost always managed to get the amount credited. -FMCG We don't use an app on the mobile device but the mobile fleet manager receives a daily e-mail from the mobile operator including a list of all users having reached some pre-defined threshold (in for voice calls and in MB for data). Based on that, the fleet manager can contact the user to raise awareness. -Public institution 2 THE REACTIONS FROM ICT SUPPLIES 2.1 BT Benelux There are multiple ways to inform end-users about their consumption. There are several providers, methods of notification, levels of control and sources of information. But before thinking of the hows, there are questions to ask yourself: 1. -Why do I need this? Even if it seems obvious at first glance (cost control), there are many other reasons to implement this type of service. For example, to analyse the cost of a new way of working, or control the correct usage of the different communications tools fixed mobile convergence or VoIP, etc. BELTUG July 2012 4
2. Who needs to be informed? Which user populations? Managers, finance departments, cost controllers, etc? 3. What information do you need -voice, data, SMS, etc - and against what baseline? 4. How will the person(s) be enrolled and informed, and when do they need to be informed? 5. Is there a need for enforcement and counter measures? BT is currently working on a data volume alert app together with partner VeliQ/MobiDM. 2.2 Belgacom Download and use the Hello! Application, available for different platforms. 2.3 CimPro We have a centralised solution. This means that if we can read in real-time the data usage from a portal somewhere (SNMP, XML, etc.), we can send alarms to all smart devices using an APP which we provide. Links http://www.cimpro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=69 http://www.cimpro.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=213 &Itemid=99999999 BELTUG July 2012 5