Data Plans - How Much Do You Use?

[ultimakillz]

(i searched for a similar thread and couldnt find one, so if there is already one just let me know, and if i posted in the wrong location feel free to move it)

my wife and i are considering upgrading our cell phone plan to add a data plan so we can get android phones. we have t-mobile, which only has two data plans: 200 mb and unlimited. the base difference between the two is $40 usd per month, so i was wondering if we could get away with the 200 mb per month plan and save the $40 per month (which will surely be eaten away be fees :argh

to add into the mix, we have both have wifi where we work and at our home, so the only time we would need to use our data coverage is when we were traveling (which we do maybe once a month on a weekend). other than that the only times we would need to use our data coverage is when we are not at work or at home (which for married adults working full-time is not much :bored.

the main things we would be using our phones for is checking emails, surfing the web (checking forums, facebook, etc.), checking movies times and sports scores, download apps and stuff like that. we wouldnt be streaming movies or anything like that.

what data plans do you guys have, and how much do you actually use? do you think we would be able to make it by on a 200 mb plan? thanks in advance for your answers

 

[Robby]

I use my phone to check up on facebook, twitter, google maps like once a week, a youtube video here and there, and email and I use around 700mb a month.

 

[FrozenIpaq]

Around 700mb a month is also about the amount of usage I get. My usage details are actually close to Robby's. E-mail, twitter, facebook, google maps, youtube once and a while. By no means am I a "heavy" user like when I first got the phone but I would consider my usage patterns as average for anyone with a smartphone.

 

[ultimakillz]

yea, 600-700 mb seems to be the general amount im getting from you guys and a few friends and co-workers. looks like we probably wouldnt be able to swing 200 mb between the two of us :argh:

 

[FrozenIpaq]

yea, 600-700 mb seems to be the general amount im getting from you guys and a few friends and co-workers. looks like we probably wouldnt be able to swing 200 mb between the two of us :argh:

Granted my usage is all 3G and no Wifi so I'm not sure how it would look if your home or work environment has WiFi

 

[slicer4ever]

200 is just too low for a monthly data rate imo.

when we were getting an broadband device from at&t, it was 50mb, or unlimited, with 10cents every meg over, it's stupidly low, and they know that.

 

[ultimakillz]

Granted my usage is all 3G and no Wifi so I'm not sure how it would look if your home or work environment has WiFi

yea, we both have wifi at work and at home, so we would only need the 3g service when not at work or at home, which for married adults working full-time isnt that much xD

200 is just too low for a monthly data rate imo.

when we were getting an broadband device from at&t, it was 50mb, or unlimited, with 10cents every meg over, it's stupidly low, and they know that.

i think t-mobile's overage charge is also 10 center per mb over. i guess i could take a trial month and see how much we used in overage and see if it would still be cheaper than the unlimited plan. doing some math it looks like we would have to do about 400 mb over (so 600 mb total) to make up the difference. in that case it might be worth it as long as there arent any additional fees for going over xD

 

[Craig Fairfax]

100mb average. The max I ever used was 500mb.

Everywhere I go there is wifi. If I could I wouldn't have a data plan at all.

 

[TeamOverload]

Back when I rarely was able to use wi-fi on the phone with medium to heavy usage, I was averaging 1-1.5gb, now, I'm probably around 300-600mb per month, depending on how much I'm out and about. 200mb might still be cutting it close if that's shared between 2 phones however.

 

[Sousanator]

What are the overage fees?
You should do the math to see how much megabytes over the starting 200 it takes to reach $40.
200mbs is definitely going to be pushing it, but having wifi at work and home should help make it liveable, and you would be saving a ton of dough by just paying $5-10 in overage fees.

I have a 6gb plan with my iPhone, and I usually use about 2-3gb a month. I consider myself a heavy user (video streaming, VNCing, lots of web browsing, downloading/uploading high quality pictures, tethering, and lots of documents/attachments), plus my work is all over the place so 3G is my best friend.

 

[Zero]

200MB is my usage cap.

Data is expensive, that 200MB is $10 atop my current plan.

It does well for train rides, but I have to monitor it carefully, it's $1 surcharge for every megabyte over the cap.

 

[ultimakillz]

What are the overage fees?
You should do the math to see how much megabytes over the starting 200 it takes to reach $40.
200mbs is definitely going to be pushing it, but having wifi at work and home should help make it liveable, and you would be saving a ton of dough by just paying $5-10 in overage fees.

the website says its 10 cents per mb over, so we would have to use our limit twice over to make up the difference ($0.10 * 400 mb = $40), if that is the only fee they apply. seems to me they would add some sort of fee just for going over to keep smart people from just buying the 200 mb plan and then paying $10 in overages per month. if not that would definitely be the way to go. i guess ill just have to have a chat with the t-mobile people :argh:

 

[Davee]

i have a 500 MB limit, and i barely use 100MB. Difference is though, I do not have my internet connected all the time. I do frequently use it for twitter, web, facebook, etc but all mostly text based. Few graphics.

 

[Bizarre]

I have 500mb and I have never gone close or over that, I am constantly using data.

 

[x3sphere]

On a usual month, 200-300MB. I've used around 3-4GB when I was out of town, though.

I'm on Verizon's 'unlimited' plan, which has a cap of 5GB I believe.

 

[MenaceInc]

I have 'unlimited' as well, I think it slows down after 1GB of usage in a month. Apparently I've used 6.2GB in the 7 months or so that I've had my phone. I do use it to stream radio when I'm in college and also get emails and general browsing.

 

[FrozenIpaq]

I have 'unlimited' as well, I think it slows down after 1GB of usage in a month. Apparently I've used 6.2GB in the 7 months or so that I've had my phone. I do use it to stream radio when I'm in college and also get emails and general browsing.

It should only slow down after you go over the 5gb "limit". I used close to 2gb while at E3 uploading video and my speed was never restricted / slowed

 

[MenaceInc]

It should only slow down after you go over the 5gb "limit". I used close to 2gb while at E3 uploading video and my speed was never restricted / slowed

I'm in the UK on the Three network.... :\

 

[Seth]

I see to use a good 3gb of data in the month. This is with useing wifi at school and home and work,I don't upload video or stream youtube just email web facebook twitter. Most of it comes from pandroa streaming and from time to time streaming some g4 and ign podcast. My advice is try it out for a month with unlimted and see where you rank. Also keep in mind that your frist month your going to be a litle web happy trying out evertyhing


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