Even if you have an "unlimited" phone data plan, there may be a clause in the contract that allows your carrier to slow your phone when you reach a "limit". To avoid this annoying breach you can take a couple of step to avoid hitting that barrier.
Most plans will probably have at least 1 or 2 gigabytes of data before you hit the speed reducing barrier. For most that should be plenty. For power users of anyone under special circumstances this limit can come too quick.
The number one thing that can eat up your data is streaming video. Phone screens have reached amazing resolutions. Before streaming a movie or other video source ask yourself if you need to see it at the highest resolution.
The best solution is always to get on a trusted wifi source. Then you won't be using any data from your plan.
The next data gobbler is sending video and still pictures to friends and websites. Here is an important fact: You can't see 16 megapixel resolution on a phone or computer screen. So most of the time you don't need to shoot at that high of pixel count. Go into settings and set the pixel count to something that make more sense. If your going to print the picture above a 4x6 go ahead and use the highest resolution you can. For screen viewing something around 1200 horizontal pixel count should be fine.
I use a separate camera app preset for lower resolutions for most snapshots. See the settings screens below. Suit your own taste, but if you want to reduce your data use this is a good place to start.
I hope this helps someone with hitting your data caps.
