How to prevent movistar from charging you for excess data

Movistar will charge you up to 15 euros extra for the extra data that you consume with your mobile: as of next May 18, the new conditions of the rates for Movistar customers come into force, and the maximum cost that users can pay will be 15 euros per month for up to 1 GB of additional data to the contracted plan. That is to say: once the megabytes available for that month are exceeded, Movistar will charge the additional data at a rate of 1.5 cents per mega, up to a maximum of 1 GB, which would mean up to 15 euros a month extra, apart from the price of your rate.

This new measure modifies the existing conditions so far, which provided for a maximum of 7.5 euros extra per month (that is, an additional 500 MB at maximum speed).

The new conditions will automatically apply to all Movistar customers from May 18, but you can do two things to avoid being affected: reduce your data consumption on your smartphone and ask Movistar to keep the current conditions of your contract.

How to limit data consumption from your mobile

The first measure you can apply is to only use WiFi networks to download content (for example, applications and their updates and other large files, such as videos).

If you use streaming music services, the ideal is to hire a high data rate to avoid surprises at the end of the month. Or you can opt for the premium plans of the music services, which allow you to download music with a WiFi connection and listen to it later in offline mode, without spending more data.

You should also be careful with data-intensive apps like Facebook or YouTube. If you use Android, you can download Facebook Lite, a simpler version that will allow you to spend less and, incidentally, also save battery.

In Android it is also useful to restrict connections in the background, to prevent applications from spending data without you knowing about it, or to install an application that monitors and manages connections so that you do not get scared on your bill.

If you use iOS, you can also limit the connections of the applications in the background, configuring the option from the Settings.

How to prevent Movistar from charging you more from May 18

If you are a customer of contract plans Vive or fusion of Movistar, you can ask the company not to implement the change announced for May 18. If you do not notify the company, the changes will be applied automatically and you could pay up to 15 euros extra every month if you do not monitor your Internet consumption.

To refuse this change, call 223528 from your Movistar number and ask the operator to set the additional monthly amount at 0 euros. By doing this, you will get navigation at reduced speed and without additional cost once you have reached your maximum contracted each month.

If you are interested, you can also set that limit at any figure between 0 and 15 additional euros: for example, if you set it at 7.5 euros, Movistar will be able to offer you up to an extra 500 MB at maximum speed when you exceed your plan.

In any case, in the event that you do not call and decide to accept the new conditions as of May 18, you will receive notifications from Movistar each time you arrive at 4, 7 and 11 euros additional to the price contracted in your rate.