Review of SPB Wireless Monitor for Windows Phone

One of the very first Windows Mobile applications that SPB Software House developed was GPRS Monitor.  The application, which was introduced in 2002, allows users to keep track of how much of their data plan they are using from their cellular provider.  Back then unlimited data plans hardly existed and if they did, they were unbelievably expensive.  Fast forward 8 years and you have the latest iteration of GPRS Monitor in SPB Wireless Monitor 3.0.  This latest version still has all of the things that made the original GPRS Monitor so great:  Today screen plug-in, real-time monitoring of your data connection and the ability to report on that usage.  With this latest version you can monitor any type data connection, get robust and exportable reports and configure alarms to warn you when you meet user-defined download thresholds.  All of this plus the new SPB finger friendly user interface make this a must-have application for everyone – unlimited data plan or not!

SPB Wireless Monitor is installed on your Windows Standard (non-touchscreen) or Professional (touchscreen) Phone via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center and will require approximately 1.2MB of storage space on your device.  You can installed the application in your phones main memory or onto a storage card with little noticeable difference in performance.  In order to use Wireless Monitor your phone must be running Windows Mobile 5.0 or later.  The last step of the installation process of the application requires a soft reset of the device so it can properly configure itself to monitor your established connections.

After the reset of your phone you will see the Today screen plug-in already enabled.  The plug-in displays all of your connections and gives you real-time usage information.  Note that you have your cellular data connection as well as WiFi and USB.  The ability to monitor all connections is new in this version and can be quite handy, especially for WiFi activity.  The Today screen plug-in is customizable to fit your needs which I will discuss later in the review.

Figure 1: The Today screen plug-in for SPB Wireless Monitor

When you start Wireless Monitor the new and improved SPB interface, which is much more finger friendly is evident.  Now each area of the application can easily be accessed by a touch of a finger and requiring far less time with the stylus in your hand.  The display is divided into 5 main areas:  Reports, Alarms, Connections and Tariffs, Export and Today Settings.

Figure 2: The Main display of SPB Wireless Monitor on a Windows Professional (Touchscreen) Phone

Figure 3: The Main display of SPB Wireless Monitor on a Windows Standard (non-touchscreen) Phone

The first thing you should do is configure your connections by tapping the Connections and Tariffs menu.  You will see all of your connections and will see that each one has no tariff configured.  Highlight your connection – in my case MEdia Net from AT&T – then tap the menu>configure tariff soft key. 

Figure 4: The Connections display of SPB Wireless Monitor

To configure the tariff, select your country then the cellular provider that you are using and tap next.  Next you will need to configure Wireless Monitor for the data plan that you are using.  Initially there will be a few or no choices to select.  Tap the Update tariff database at the bottom of the screen to have Wireless Monitor go out and update the variety of tariffs that are available from the provider you selected.  Once the database is updated, select the proper data plan and tap Next.  Next you will select your payment date.  This is the day that your billing cycle each month begins.  Once you enter the date tap Finish.  You will now see that the tariff next to your connection is configured to the one that you chose.

Figure 5: Setting your country and carrier for tariff configuration in SPB Wireless Monitor

Figure 6: Updating the tariff database in SPB Wireless Monitor

Figure 7: Selecting your data plan in SPB Wireless Monitor

Figure 8: The new tariff in place on the Connections page in SPB Wireless Monitor

The next step for setting up Wireless Monitor is configuring the alarms.  This step is not required and is not nearly as important for those who have unlimited data plans.  However, given that I use nearly 1GB of data per month on my Windows Phone with an unlimited data plan, I still like to know when I hit certain markers.  If you are a user who does not have an unlimited data plan, this step is particularly important so you can know exactly where you are in the month when it comes to your data usage and don’t get a surprise on your bill at the end of the month!

To configure an alarm, tap the Alarm area of the Wireless Monitor display.  Since you have no previous alarms set you will need to tap the Menu soft key and select new.  Now you can configure the alarm to exactly fit your needs.  You can have it set up to warn you daily, weekly or monthly when your traffic or cost (this is where having your tariff configured properly above is very important) on any of your connections when your usage exceeds a set amount of kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes or a percentage of your included traffic each month.  Remember that you can have multiple alarms so don’t try to force everything into one rule.  Just create more!  In my case, I have alarms set to notify me when I exceed 500MB in a month and 1GB in a month.  When you are done tap Finish and you will see your new alarms set up.

Figure 9: Configuration of an Alarm in SPB Wireless Monitor on a Windows Professional Phone

Figure 10: Configuration of an Alarm in SPB Wireless Monitor on a Windows Standard Phone

Figure 11: The list of Alarms I use in SPB Wireless Monitor

The third step in Wireless Monitor I would recommend is configuring the Today Settings by tapping the Today Settings area of the main display of the application.  This allows you to select exactly how and what you will see on your Today screen plug-in.  You can select which connections you want to see by checking the boxes next to them.  If you highlight the connection and tap the menu key, you can choose to view traffic for your current connection, today or the entire month.  Since I am most concerned with my MEdia Net and WiFi connections, I only have those two displayed and I have it configured to show me my monthly total.

Figure 12: Configuring the Today screen plug-in in SPB Wireless Monitor

Figure 13: My customized Today screen plug-in in SPB Wireless Monitor

In previous versions of Wireless Monitor you were able to run reports on your usage in reasonable detail.  With this new version, reports have been significantly improved and provide a high level of detail and customization that should allow you to view your data usage from a variety of different perspectives.  All told, there are a shocking 298 different ways you can do reports!  While that number is huge, the configuration of those reports are amazingly simple.  To start, tap the Reports area of the main display of Wireless Monitor.  Once there you will see already have some raw data from your usage.  Next, go to the Menu and choose your options.  You can choose the time period you want to view, the report type (Per-application cost, Per-application traffic, Total Cost, Total Traffic), which connection you want to view (all or specific ones) and if you want a table or chart of the report.  This feature of Wireless Controller is nothing short of impressive.

Figure 14: Table of this months traffic from Reports in SPB Wireless Monitor

Figure 15: Chart of this months traffic from Reports in SPB Wireless Monitor

Figure 16: Chart of this months traffic from Reports in SPB Wireless Monitor on a Windows Standard Phone

The last feature of Wireless Monitor is new which is the ability to export your data to a HTML or Excel spreadsheet.  This feature is handy if you have to report on your traffic usage for work or are looking for trends in your usage to potentially justify a change in your data plan.  To start, tap the Export area of the main display of Wireless Monitor.  Next, select the connection and period of time you want to export as well as the format you want to export the data into.  Next you will be asked where to save the data and to name the file.  Once the file is save you will get confirmation and then can use your browser to view the HTML file or Excel Mobile to view the spreadsheet version.  It would be nice if you could export the charts that are generated in Wireless Monitor as well as the data but such charts can be created in Excel yourself.

Figure 17: Configuring the Export feature of SPB Wireless Monitor

As you can see, Wireless Monitor is extremely powerful in monitoring and reporting your usage of your data connections on your Windows Phone.  The improvements in this version are substantial and the robust reporting and alarm configuration settings should prevent excessive overages for users if they are configured properly.  If you are one who needs to make sure you don’t go over on your data plan each month, Wireless Monitor is really a no-brainer.  If you are an unlimited data plan subscriber, this application can help you see trends in your usage so you can adjust as necessary.  Either way, Wireless Monitor should be on the short list of every Windows Phone owner’s must have list. 

What I Like:
* Ability to monitor WiFi connections
* Rich and robust reporting feature
* Ability to export usage data
* Configurable Today screen plug-in 

What I Don’t Like:
* Would like to see the ability to export Charts in future versions

Price:  $19.95 for Windows Professional (Touchscreen) Phones  or  $19.95 for Windows Standard (non-touchscreen) Phones