My wife and I are both 26 and we have never had smartphones before. We are finally making the switch but don’t know how much data to buy for the two of us. Right now the only way we have to tell is how often we are out someplace and need to find something which results in “If only we had a smartphone.” I don’t anticipate streaming TV unless at home on wifi, maybe music in the car and GPS infrequently. Haaalp.
Streaming music can get expensive if you do it frequently. When I stream Sirius/XM, I use about 100 Mb/hour. GPS is negligible. Facebook will use some data if you watch some of the videos that people post. My family of 3 share 10GB monthly, and we never use more than 7. I would think that you should start around 5Gb and see how that works out.
It all depends on the way you use your phone. If you use Facebook, watch videos, do a lot of web browsing, use GPS mapping, it can suck up a lot of data. My wife and I and two teenage children use 8-10GB per month but most of that is my son doing the above activities. I am considering throttling him back so I can go to a 6G plan.
Good info, thanks. I recently lost my work phone and have to buy a smart phone - it’s no longer relevant to my job. Are there other typical large data needs for smart phones? Based on the info here I will likely go with 2 or 3 GB and see how that works out.
I never come close to my 2 Gigs (or even one Gig). But i don’t stream video or audio, and the rare times i do, I make sure I’m on wifi, not the phone company network. \
The latter is important. If you set it up to use your home or work wifi, you can stream as much as you want without it being counted against your quota.
All smart phones have a way to set up wifi and to remember the networks.
I used to have a two gig plan and rarely went over (only when I’ve done a particularly mobile-heavy activity, like going on a road trip and using maps a lot away from a WiFi). I now have a 3 gig plan, which is the second-smallest Verizon offers, and never go over.
For me, 1GB is too little, and I feel like I would have to really budget my mobile time to stay below that. But with WiFi connections at home and work, 3GB is plenty.
I’m around a wi-fi network at both home and work, and I don’t stream video much at all from my phone. I think my highest monthly usage yet was about 700MB.
FWIW, my home monthly usage, which entails much more streaming, is generally between 100 - 200 GB.
My best recommendation would be to go with a carrier that doesn’t charge overages, such as T-Mobile, assuming they have reasonable coverage in your area. If I ran over 1 GB, I would simply be dropped down to 3G, rather than getting an unpleasant surprise at bill time. Start with a 1GB plan, and if you go over it after a week, upgrade to the 5GB plan. If you never run over, keep it. Etc.
A lot of nav systems will use data up because they are unlikely to connect with wifi system while you’re on the road. Google Maps needs a constant connection to use as your navigation program, for example.
Oh, yeah, take WiFi into account. I spend most of my time at locations with wifi so that’s free. You only need GB’s when you depend on the phone network for data, so that may also affect your decision.
There are two separate issues here which are often conflated. The first is the bandwidth - the speed on the connection - and the second is the data cap - the maximum amount of data you can receive or send. Both are important and bear investigating.
Something you need to beware is tethering. Tethering is when you use your mobile as a wifi hotspot for your tablet or laptop. Lots of mobile companies dislike this.
I am with T-Mobile in the UK (now EE and shortly to be BT), and only get 3G speeds (not as fast as 4G) but have unlimited data and tethering is allowed. My niece and nephew love to stream stuff. I use tethering regularly when I am on the road. My bill is ~US$40 a month.