Data used up way too fast

This is kind of an oddball situation, I don’t really understand it, so I thought I’d throw it out to y’all to see if anybody has any insights. This has been happening for quite a while, but only recently have I picked up a pattern that would allow me to ask a coherent question.

Here’s my situation: I have an iPad, and I get my mobile data from T-Mobile, $10 a month for 2 GB, so I have to be judicious when I’m using my mobile data. This issue occurs when I am somewhere that has Wi-Fi, but really poor coverage, so that the signal where I am is quite weak and somewhat intermittent. I’ll describe what happens in Safari, but I find similar behavior in non-browser apps, as well.

What happens in that case is that web pages take forever to load. Then, after putting up with the frustration for a while, I’ll discover that I have used up an absurd amount of data in an almost unbelievably short time. I’m talking about half a gigabyte in 15 or 20 minutes; all of a sudden I’ve used up 80% of my available data.

What seems to be happening, best as I can infer, is that my iPad connects with the Wi-Fi, but since it’s so weak, it gives up after a little while and tries to connect to the mobile network. Then, the Wi-Fi single signal reaches some threshold, and my iPad tries to connect to it again. Then the signal goes below that threshold, and my iPad tries to connect to the wireless network; then the Wi-Fi improves, my iPad tries to connect, and so on. I think this back-and-forth happens while I’m sitting there frustrated that my progress bar isn’t moving.

The tentative conclusion I’ve come to is there something about that connect to Wi-Fi, disconnect, try to connect to wireless, then try to go back to Wi-Fi, etc. My hypothesis is that this back-and-forth is, somehow, eating up all my data. 

What I’ve started to do is leave my cellular data off most of the time, turning it on only when I need it. When I find I’m in a area with the kind of weak Wi-Fi I describe, I turn off the Wi-Fi  and turn on cellular data; I turn off the cellular data as soon as whatever page I’m trying to look at loads, otherwise I start to see that back-and-forth again.

Does anyone have any insights, or theories, or anything that might help me get a clearer idea of just what’s going on here? Does anyone have any suggestions about how to deal with it as a user?

TIA,

Jeff