INTRODUCTION
How much do you pay for your data? Spb
Wireless Monitor helps those who don’t have an unlimited data
plan keep track of their wireless data usage. We’ll take a
look at it and help you determine if it’s right for you. Read on for the review!
Here are the key features of Wireless Monitor:
WHAT’S HOT
- Monitor GPRS/CDMA/3G, WiFi, and USB connection usage
- Per-application traffic reporting
- Custom tariff support
Spb Wireless Monitor can be set up on your desktop computer and
Spb Wireless Monitor provides a simple way for
SETUP
installed on your mobile device using Active Sync, or a stand-alone CAB file can be installed
directly on your mobile device. After performing a soft reset, Spb Wireless Monitor is
ready to watch your data connections.
PRODUCT FEATURES
Windows Mobile users to keep track of their wireless data usage and
any associated costs.
A Today screen plug-in gives a summary of the usage on each
type of data connection.
Tapping the plug-in takes you to the reporting and configuration
options.
To track data costs, you can select your cellular provider’s data
plan or set up custom billing information.
A variety of reports lets you see usage costs and traffic for
each application on your device. Data can be grouped by
application or time period.
Reports can give either cost or traffic totals.
Are you a heavy weekend user? Cost and traffic information can be grouped for each day of the month.
If you’re worried about unexpected billing surprises, you can set alarms to notify you when cost or
traffic thresholds are exceeded. You can configure as many alarms as you need.
When you exceed your usage limit, Spb Wireless Monitor will notify you.
Need more reporting options? Export your data in a CSV file and import it into Excel.
Spb Wireless Monitor makes it easy to keep
an eye on your wireless data usage. Setting up alarms and custom
tariffs is very straight forward. I was up and running in just
a matter of minutes without digging through any manuals.
HELP SUPPORT
Spb Software House provides a number of support options
on their website, including community forums, FAQs, and e-mail.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Spb Wireless Monitor runs on all versions of Windows Mobile 5, 6, and 6.1.
Windows Mobile reports less than 0.1 MB of program memory usage and just over 0.8 MB of storage memory.
BUGS AND WISHES
Alarms that notify you when you exceed certain
cost or traffic limits are very helpful if you’re trying to stay within
a budget. However, Spb Wireless Monitor will not prevent data transfer
once your limits have been exceeded. It would be nice to have the ability
to automatically turn off data transfers on a connection type once the
cost or traffic limits have been exceeded. I think the alarms would be
even more useful if they could shut down data transfers until the user
authorized additional traffic.
Since Spb Wireless Monitor is able to track per-application
data usage, it might be helpful to prevent certain applications from using
a particular connection type. For example, I might not mind watching TV with
Sling Player Mobile when I’m using a free WiFi connection, but I might want to
prevent the application from using my cellular data connection.
The Today screen plug-in provides a helpful summary
of data costs and traffic. You have the ability to designate which
connections are listed on the Today screen; however, I would like the
ability to combine the cost and traffic information for all the
connections into a single line on the Today screen.
Monitoring wireless data usage is very helpful for those
without unlimited data plans. It would also be great to track voice usage
along with data usage. Spb Wireless Monitor could then warn me when I’m about
to exceed my free minutes each month.
PURCHASING
on the Spb Software House website for $19.95. Licensed users
of Spb Wireless Monitor 2.x are eligible to receive a 50% discount. A
trial download is also available before committing to a purchase.
