Mobile communication devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, wearable devices, etc. are widely used by consumers for many things other than voice communications. Specifically, these devices are designed so that consumers can install various applications, which may perform many different tasks. For example, various applications may be used for things such as shopping lists, text messaging, social network communications and sharing, research, weather reporting, news, and so forth.
Applications such as this often rely on interactions with remote servers or data stores, and may further rely on wireless data connectivity to communicate with such remote servers or data stores. For example, a weather application may communicate with a remote server in order to obtain weather information. Similarly, a list application may store lists on a remote server or database so that the lists can also be accessed on multiple devices.
In many situations, data connectivity is available to mobile devices through cellular communications networks, which are provided by cellular communication providers. Cellular communication providers maintain large infrastructures for providing wireless data communications for mobile devices. A cellular services infrastructure includes geographically distributed base stations as well as centralized communication services. In addition, many cellular communication providers also provide various consumer applications for installation and use on the mobile devices of their customers. For example, a cellular communication provider may provide an application that allows customers to manage their cellular service accounts. Customers may also obtain, install, and use many other applications, many of which may rely on the availability of cellular data communications.