How long would it take you to use up 1GB of mobile internet data?

[Remobz]

Hey all,

I am thinking about getting a mobile (dongle) internet wifi modem. It is small and easy to fit inside my pocket which is good. I need to purchase a prepaid bundle. Problem is that I never done anything like this before and have no clue how fast these prepaid bundles can be used up.

The bundle options are.....

Price Bundle
$15 1GB
$25 2 GB
$35 5 GB
$45 10 GB
$55 15 GB
$65 20 GB
$75 25 GB


Obviously, I would have to limit myself from online streaming of movies, webcams or downloading large movies for example to stretch whatever bundle I get.

How much data do you guys use per month and what activities on the internet?

 

[AntonioHG]

Depends on my location and needs.

I just need to do some light browsing for news, some emails, a few tweets, FB posts, 1GB could last a month for me. Especially in NYC with WiFi hotspots all over.

Back in the USVI, 1GB would disappear so fast because I had no access to open WiFi hotspots and had no decent internet access at all at home, so if I wanted to download some software and updates for some programs and the OS it was pretty much multiple gigabytes per month on AT&T.

 

[holden j caufield]

Hey all,

I am thinking about getting a mobile (dongle) internet wifi modem. It is small and easy to fit inside my pocket which is good. I need to purchase a prepaid bundle. Problem is that I never done anything like this before and have no clue how fast these prepaid bundles can be used up.

The bundle options are.....

Price Bundle
$15 1GB
$25 2 GB
$35 5 GB
$45 10 GB
$55 15 GB
$65 20 GB
$75 25 GB


Obviously, I would have to limit myself from online streaming of movies, webcams or downloading large movies for example to stretch whatever bundle I get.

How much data do you guys use per month and what activities on the internet?

do you watch video's online without wifi? If yes you go through it fast. If you only read webpages then 1gb will last you an entire month+

 

[Zodiark1593]

2 hours with me.

 

[ImDonly1]

Not sure where you live, but why not get one of freedompop's free 1GB/month plans?
They use sprint wimax or LTE.

If you are using a laptop, I would say maybe 1-2 weeks depending what sites you use. If only some web browsing (text only) and skype then probably the whole month. If you are using youtube, then maybe a few days.

 

[Bateluer]

With typical use . . . about a week. If I was on vacation, traveling, or something, a few short hours at most.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I use however much I have. When I was in the States with T-Mobile's unlimited plan, even with their fucked up network I still managed to use around 20GB in my 6 weeks there (around 2 weeks I spent in Utah basically out of coverage 95-99% of the time). I still had unlimited free WiFi where I was staying and I never really relied on it for streaming because it would cut out so much.

In New Zealand, I use less than 1GB a month.

 

[v-600]

I buy a bundle for my phone (occasional tethering included) where 1GB lasts about a month.

I also have a dongle and found that when it was my only access to the internet I tended to use approx 5GB every 2-3 weeks.

 

[poofyhairguy]

About two weeks.

Edit: I thought we were talking mobile usage. On my main pipe I use an average of 300GB a month.

 

[Anubis]

like a week I think

 

[oobydoobydoo]

What the heck are you guys doing to use 1GB a week? When I streamed everything to my HTC One last year for a month just to see what would happen I ended up using like 4.4GB... this is with 4 hours a day minimum streaming spotify to and from work plus everywhere else. The only time my mobile data has every gone higher is when I streamed my cable TV accidentally through my LTE iPad and even then it only went to 5.5GB!!

 

[Anubis]

streaming music 6+ hours a day coupled with all other things that use date will do that (web browsing, social media, data use from apps/updates and such)

heck ive only been at work for 3 hours and gmusic has already used .35 GB of data

between moble and wifi I use close to 20 gigs a month. like 70/30 split between Wifi and Mobile data

 

[Insomniator]

What the heck are you guys doing to use 1GB a week? When I streamed everything to my HTC One last year for a month just to see what would happen I ended up using like 4.4GB... this is with 4 hours a day minimum streaming spotify to and from work plus everywhere else. The only time my mobile data has every gone higher is when I streamed my cable TV accidentally through my LTE iPad and even then it only went to 5.5GB!!

4.4/4 is 1.1 GB a week, so yeah pretty much what you just said. I stream twitch.tv and netflix at work, pandora at the gym, usual browsing -- about 5GB a month.

 

[Ketchup]

Speaking for myself, I only use mobile when I am not at home, or the wifi avaiable is on the slow side. Having said that, my wife and I got away for a weekend, so my data for the weekend was fairly high for me, about 172 MB for my phone for the month of January. Most of my months are 10 to 30 MB.

Remobz, It isn't clear in you post if you are needing to use your data everywhere, or if you will have a wifi option at times.

 

[magomago]

Just FYI --> as a dongle I'm assuming you'll connect your laptop to it.

Our PC and laptop behaviors are very different - I've found that PC versions of websites are more data intensive than their smartphone counterparts (lot of less flash-style animations, etc).

On a PC a few gigabytes wouldn't last very long.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Used a gig this morning watching youtube.

 

[Remobz]

Just FYI --> as a dongle I'm assuming you'll connect your laptop to it.

Our PC and laptop behaviors are very different - I've found that PC versions of websites are more data intensive than their smartphone counterparts (lot of less flash-style animations, etc).

On a PC a few gigabytes wouldn't last very long.

What about a Samsung Tab 4 android tablet?

I have unlimited DSL internet at my home. This dongle will be used for traveling and areas with no free internet available. I will be using a tablet and cell phone.

 

[Ketchup]

In that case, you should be fine with 2 GB IMO. Just don't be doing crazy things on cell networks (watching movies, etc).

To me this is one of those things that, if you don't know what your usage would be like, guess. Nobody else can really tell you what your using is going to be, since we all use our computers/tablets/phones for different things. So anyone else's usage isn't going to give you any idea what yours will be.

 

[lxskllr]

On my phone I use 400-600MB per month. I don't watch video or stream media, and I only use desktop sites. I do most program updates over wifi. IOW, I'm conscious of data use, and try to limit it, but am free with text, and minor image loading.

 

[Remobz]

In that case, you should be fine with 2 GB IMO. Just don't be doing crazy things on cell networks (watching movies, etc).

To me this is one of those things that, if you don't know what your usage would be like, guess. Nobody else can really tell you what your using is going to be, since we all use our computers/tablets/phones for different things. So anyone else's usage isn't going to give you any idea what yours will be.

Now I have an idea of do's and don'ts and looks like 2GB might be the sweet spot. I will start off with that and see how long it will last me.

 

[lxskllr]

For data friendly reading material, use a RSS reader, load it up with sites, then update over wifi only.

 

[McWatt]

Just about 6 minutes when I use my phone as an ISP-replacement.