What's Your Personal Data Usage?

[+ Gar1eth]

I have an app that measures the amount of data I use per month on my phone. My account resets on the 15th, so I'm almost at the end right now. I have unlimited data on my native phone connection. But the MetroPCS connection where I live, while it is supposed to be LTE, often only shows that I'm connected on a 4G network. And often when my phone shows 4G, it has no internet connection at all. So I'm usually on wifi.

 

Currently the amount of data I've used with my phone's native internet connection is 8.6 GB. The wifi data I've used on my phone over the last month (which doesn't include the data I occasionally use to watch something on TV since I don't have cable) is 42 GB.

 

Gman

[+ azdr0710]

I have a Verizon plan with 1G of data.....after a disastrous first month on the plan (on my first-ever smartphone), in which I went over within a few days, I now make sure to hold to that 1G limit.....

 

most of my activity is on my home desktop....

[BabyBoomer]

MetroPCS

 

Are you still with that third world cellular carrier?

 

I have a 16GB/month plan.

 

~Boomer ~

[+ honcho]

My plan is on Cricket; 2.5 gig high speed data, (unlimited slow data after that is exhausted), unlimited voice & text - $40/month - a $5/month autopay credit = $35/month.

 

It runs over AT&T's network. I have an iPhone.

 

I don't know how to look up usage for previous billing cycles; Since september 29th, I've used 445

megabytes of data, 425 of which came from listening to the classical radio station from SF (KDFC)

as I drive up to Sacramento and back. The over the air signal craps out on the big hill between Vallejo and Fairfield. (have a nice apartment in the East Bay and am living in a working class boarding house with 4 other guys in Sacramento when I stay over weeknights).

 

I have it set up to use wireless at home and at school (grad program in music performance).

[+ Gar1eth]

I have a Verizon plan with 1G of data.....after a disastrous first month on the plan (on my first-ever smartphone), in which I went over within a few days, I now make sure to hold to that 1G limit.....

 

most of my activity is on my home desktop....

 

My phone internet is so much faster than waiting for my computer to boot up, I almost always use my phone unless I need to print something. Plus I have very few three hole (grounded) sockets in my house. There are none in the room I spend the most time in. So I can't charge my computers easily.

 

Are you still with that third world cellular carrier?

 

I have a 16GB/month plan.

 

~Boomer ~

 

For a long time I didn't have wifi. That 16GB plan wouldn't have been enough for me. I need unlimited data. Unfortunately Metro is the cheapest unlimited 'supposedly' 4G/LTE. And in places that I actually get LTE service, it's usually pretty fast. Cricket now has an unlimited 4G/LTE plan that I think is around the same price. And considering it's the AT&T Network, it's probably better than T-mobile/MetroPCS. But Cricket caps it's speed at 8Mbps.

 

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

My plan is on Cricket; 2.5 gig high speed data, (unlimited slow data after that is exhausted), unlimited voice & text - $40/month - a $5/month autopay credit = $35/month.

 

I initially had unlimited data but restricted high speed data like you. I found that when I went over my high speed limit, the throttling was so slow I basically couldn't access the Internet at all.

 

Gman

[+ honcho]

I found that when I went over my high speed limit, the throttling was so slow I basically couldn't access the Internet at all.

 

Well, I haven't been put in that situation yet, so I don't know for sure, but since before driving,

the major contributor was the gmail app, which I was only using to check subject lines,

and that was relatively tiny. 128kps would be painful for downloading pics (remember 56K baud modems?) and useless for video.

 

I don't make very sophisticated use of my phone, but I do like being able to check what email has arrived from whom, even if I don't read it on the phone itself.

 

I'm not that clever with my thumbs and really prefer to respond to email with a laptop and a full sized keyboard. (That's painful enough for me!)

[LADoug1]

I have an app that measures the amount of data I use per month on my phone. My account resets on the 15th, so I'm almost at the end right now. I have unlimited data on my native phone connection. But the MetroPCS connection where I live, while it is supposed to be LTE, often only shows that I'm connected on a 4G network. And often when my phone shows 4G, it has no internet connection at all. So I'm usually on wifi.

 

Currently the amount of data I've used with my phone's native internet connection is 8.6 GB. The wifi data I've used on my phone over the last month (which doesn't include the data I occasionally use to watch something on TV since I don't have cable) is 42 GB.

 

Gman

What is a "native phone connection "?

[+ not2rowdy]

What is a "native phone connection "?

 

Oh my….

 

The loss of historical progression.

 

But then I suspect there are few here that recall ever buying 2 of the same 45, so you could play both A and B on your “playlist”, without having to stop to turn the stack over.

[+ Gar1eth]

Oh my….

 

The loss of historical progression.

 

?

 

What is a "native phone connection "?

 

So with a smartphone you can get on the internet two ways. One is by the transmitter built into the phone, i.e. its native internet connection. The other way is by connecting up to a wifi connection.

 

Gman

[+ honcho]

I understood perfectly well what Gare1eth meant here, but I can't resist poking a little fun by pointing out that wifi connections also use transmitters built into the phone, and when you get right down to it, data packets from your DSL or cable line share the same long haul optical fibers going cross country that your voice packets do. The protocols by which the information is sent is different, and more importantly how the usage is accounted for and charged is different, but some of the deepest technology is common.

[seaboy4hire]

Last time I checked it was 25 gigs. Im on the phone more than the laptop. Plus with having Drs appts 3 times a week two weeks in a row and then 5 Drs appts in one week I am on the hospitals wifi so I'm not using up as much data as I used to. Now that I am done with chemotherapy my visits will lessen and I imagine I will ne up to 25 gigs and more again. As for my mobile plan I have unlimited.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[+ Gar1eth]

Here's what my monthly data usage came to over the last 30 days

 

http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/jahsig0ef1i22c6/File%20Oct%2017%2C%201%2043%2052%20PM.jpeg?dl=0

 

Most of that wifi is home use.

 

Gman