One of the most interesting features of Windows Phone 8 is Data Sense, which tracks how much of your 3G/4G data has been used up. At the Australian Windows Phone 8 launch, Microsoft confirmed that it is talking to local carriers to see the feature introduced in Australia, but didn’t give any detailed time frames.
To work its magic — which includes compressing web pages so they need less data and giving you a live summary of how much data you’ve used from your allocation — Data Sense needs to be implemented at carrier level. Windows Phone 8 devices are being sold through Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, but none will have the feature at launch.
“We are talking to carriers and we’ll have more news to announce in the coming weeks on Data Sense,” Microsoft Australia’s Ben Miller told Lifehacker. “It is a feature that ultimately we’re looking to bring to market.”
Under the recently-introduced Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code, by September next year, will carriers have to provide basic text message notifications to customers within 48 hours of them reaching 50 per cent, 85 per cent and 100 per cent of their allocation. The risk for Microsoft is that companies making that change won’t want the more complex Data Sense technology introduced in the same period. Time will tell.
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