If you have a limited data service plan, there are several factors in how much data your node will use:

• Peer settings (this is the most significant factor)
• The number of, and size of the sites you host or follow (acting as a redundant copy)
• Amount of transactions you conduct
• If you have QDN enabled (able to access the websites on the Qortal Data Network)
• If you have relay mode enabled (it is enabled by default)

Please note: any time you make changes to your json settings, you will need to:

1. Stop the core
2. Modify json settings
3. Start the core (for these changes to take effect)

The most significant factor is your peer settings. Please note: this modification should be what most users will need to reduce bandwidth. All other sections that follow are not really necessary, but can be considered. You can reduce peers as follows:

{
“minBlockchainPeers": 5,
"maxPeers": 7
}

Top-only mode allows you to access most of the network features with a much smaller db size (~1GB instead of ~10GB). Enabling this doesn't support the network as much as a full node, so it is best to only enable top-only mode in situations where it's not possible to hold the full 10GB+ db. (This is more of a setting to compensate computers with low storage space.) To enable top-only mode, add this setting:

"topOnly": true

Data can be relayed through our nodes, in order for other nodes to communicate. All of this data is end-to-end encrypted, and is also chunked so the data is not relayed on a single node. The data being relayed is only on your node long enough to conduct the transfer, and is deleted afterwards automatically. Users can choose to opt out of relay mode if their lack of understanding with this matter raises too much concern. Getting data around the network is difficult and requires more fine tuning- even with relay mode enabled (which helps the network). You can read more about this topic on the Qortal Data Network (QDN) page. To disable relay mode, add this setting to your json settings:

"relayModeEnabled": false

You'll need to consider how much data service you have, and what features you want to sacrifice. For example, if you are on 100mb/month, you may want to simply have a dedicated minting machine without access to QDN. If this is the case, then you will also want to disable QDN as shown below:

"qdnEnabled": false

Below is how to add all of the above to your json settings (this would include disabling QDN which is the most extreme setup for users with limited data service):

{
“minBlockchainPeers": 5,
"maxPeers": 7,
"topOnly": true,
“relayModeEnabled": false,
"qdnEnabled": false
}

Please note: 1) bracket placement and 2) the last command does NOT have a comma after it, while all of the others DO have a comma.

Additionally, you can always block users within the UI. If we experience users spamming Q-Chat (meaning they are posting the same message multiple times), you are able to block the account: