Data date. time to set the calendar for those automatic downloads.

After Thursday night’s network meltdown, Telstra today announced another free Sunday where all data downloaded on Telstra mobiles will be free.

The first thing to know, the free day of data is not this Sunday. Spend the day downloading everything you can this weekend and you’ll pay for it — on your mobile bill.

The next free day of data is Sunday April 3 — assuming the Telstra network doesn’t crash again, and forces an extra day of free data in-between.

Why that weekend? Telstra isn’t saying but it is good news for those who don’t live in Queensland.

If you live in states with daylight savings, that’s the day you wind your clocks an hour — so you’ll get 25 hours of free data in your bonus data day.

In February, when Telstra offered a day of free data in appeasement for a network failure, many people took to social media to boast of a day spend pirating software and music, including a Sydney-based IT work who claimed a record for download TV shows and computer games including 25 seasons of a Discovery Channel series.

Many people announced they set their alarms for midnight and started with gusto.

Telstra group managing director Mike Wright posted a report after the February frenzy that showed the downloads built from the midnight start so that by 8am traffic had reached peak weekday level.

In 24 hours, Telstra customers downloaded 1841 terabytes of data, which is equivalent to 5.1 million episodes of Game of Thrones.

If you want to do your bit in beating that record download day for Telstra, here are five tips to make the most of your free bandwidth:

• Wireless hotspot: the free data is just on the mobile network so make sure you set up your phone as your personal hotspot before you begin loading up your computer with whatever takes your fancy.

• Start early: You’ll get better download speeds when fewer people are joining in, so if you are up after midnight or like the idea of setting the alarm for the middle of the night, you’re likely to be rewarded with plenty of speed.

• Make a list: Start with the obvious ones of doing all those updates you’ve been meaning to do, both on your phone and on your computer.

• Get mobile: A day of free data does not mean you have to lock yourself inside staring at download speeds. Do your Netflix and chill al fresco by packing a picnic and binge watch Daredevil season two by the beach.

• Beat the stream: Save yourself some download costs for the rest of the month by planning all the music you want to listen to on Apple Music for the next few weeks and hit on the download button to the right of the song.

EMAIL:rod.chester@news.com.au

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