# How Much Data?



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

What's a typical amount of monthly data usage if one tethers a smart phone to a PC to access the internet through the phone? 

I'm on the outer fringes of the 4G coverage so the signal isn't strong enough to support the fastest WiFi communications with the tower, but if I need to do large downloads I can save them for a later time when the phone is closer to a WiFi system it can connect to.

I don't plan on downloading movies or TV shows, or lots of music, but I'd like to be able to watch some videos on Youtube along with my normal internet surfing, reading forums and webpages.

There's no WiFi involved so far and only one computer on the "network" with the 4G phone.

I realize there are a lot of variables.
I've never had anything other than AOL dial up so I have no idea what to expect.

Later on I may want to try to connect the TV to use as a display, or a PS4 for updates and such if that's not too complicated. 

Right now I'm just trying to figure out what I can expect.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Really going to depend on what your doing. I average about a TB month of data across my broadband. I have had months with 8TB and some with 1/2 TB.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Gary in ohio said:


> I average about a TB month of data across my broadband.


I don't anticipate I will come anywhere near that much.
Maybe if I had cable and 100 MBS speeds maybe I would.

I'm getting about 3 MB downloads and 12-15 MB uploads.

For comparison, the dial up on the same test got 0.3 MB down and failed the upload 3 times in a row because it was so slow.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Are you trying to size a plan?

Does your carrier offer unlimited data? It is real easy to go over a 10 or 20 GB plan.


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

If all you are going to be doing is maybe reading some emails and surfing the net occasionally, then you won't need much. Hubby and I share a 10 GB plan. Like you, we never watch videos or movies or junk like that.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

If its your only internet with no video and you use all the ad and script killers and shut down the data wasting continual updates, figure 4GB to 5GB. Video is extremely data hungry and you will just need to keep real close eye on data level if you insist on using cell for video. If you use a reseller that cuts you off cold when data gone, then you will know in a hurry. In other words, unless you can get a true unlimited plan, video is a bad idea on cell. Wait until you get access to unmetered data elsewhere for video. Oh and make sure your provider allows tethering, some do, some dont, some have extra fees. 

The whole idea of cell data buisiness model was that most people wouldnt use all they paid for. After all who wants to continually stare at tiny screen. When people started tethering, they tended to use ALL their paid for data and more throttled data to boot. And silly people actually thought UNLIMITED meant UNLIMITED, meaning some were almost constantly connected. 

This no tethering is slowly changing as more and more people do all their internet on their phone and phablet so using lot data on phone. STill hard to believe anybody wants to stream a movie on a cell phone but guess they do. So difference in data use is shrinking. Cell is my only serious internet option and I just switched back to tethering a phone from using a dedicated cell hotspot. Data less than half as expensive. I just bought a 360 day Red Pocket Mobile plan with 10GB data a month for $279 on ATT network (Thanksgiving week special in their ebay store). Comes with unlimited voice and text. Less than $25 a month compared to the $60 I was paying for voice only plan plus 5GB a month on dedicated cell hotspot. Oh and Red Pocket says tethering fine, right in their FAQ. Their customer support wont help you tether, they dont encourage it, but its ok with them if you can figure it out. I tried it out with a one month $30 plan with 5GB (which I am still using) before buying 360day plan. Oh and you dont need a smart phone if your dumb 3G or 4G phone can tether. Some can, some cant.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Oh 4G lot better for video. But 3G fine for regular internet stuff and youtube usually works ok. Now I remember Nextel 2G (long gone). Slower than dialup (SERIOUSLY SLOW!!!!!) and they didnt meter it, nor even charge extra for it, since nobody crazy enough to use it except emergency. But it was great for emergency connection and to check email with pop3 email client.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

HDRider said:


> Does your carrier offer unlimited data?


The plan is supposed to be "unlimited" but I was just wondering what's "normal" if there is such a thing anymore.

I hadn't really given it a lot of thought until my wife wanted a new phone and I got her old one. 

That's when I found out I could easily route my computer through the phone and not be stuck with dial up.

Until a couple of days ago I have never used a "smart phone" at all.
I still had a flip phone, and it's only been recently we could get a decent cell signal here.

One of my neighbors used to park in a certain spot on one of the farm paths because he couldn't get a signal at all at his house.

When my wife is at work she can use the hospital's WiFi if I need to download something large to the phone, but it's main use will be here where the signal isn't all that good, although it's a monumental improvement over what AOL has become.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

HermitJohn said:


> Oh and make sure your provider allows tethering, some do, some dont, some have extra fees.


Yeah, we made sure it was included after I explained to them I didn't really need a separate "hot spot" with it's own plan. 

Even then they had something wrong on their end and it was a day or two before it would connect to the internet at all. 

The holiday must have had them overwhelmed or something, but it's working ok now, and I'm learning some ways to cut back on the data used.

I just need to keep playing with it. Until a few days ago I didn't even know how to answer a phone call on it.


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

If you watch a lot of youtube videos (some people live on youtube) be sure to set your preferred quality to 720 or 480. Also remember you can set alerts on your phone for data usage and a cap so you won't go over.


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## crehberg (Mar 16, 2008)

I used to average between 12-15 GB/month when I was in school and used my tethering/hotspot. Plans sure have come down in price since then!


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Unlimited is a quantity not a speed of service. SO 3g,4g,5g unlimited data says nothing about how fast your data will be, just how much you can use and and most "unlmited" plans have a * someplace that actually limits unlimited.


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## Xperthunter (Mar 30, 2015)

So without reading all of the other responses: 

You really have 2 questions "How Much" and "How Fast" 

I am an IT professional: Manager of Global Financial Projects for a fortune 200 company; I work online every day, presenting, joining conferences (webex); email, data pulls, etc; I have a metered connection at 50 Gb, and we rarely go about 35gb used. If i know i need a big file set, i'll batch it while i'm at church or in town where i can pull data both faster, and unmetered on somone elses connection. 

If you want to play games, watch videos, etc, it will take more data. VOIP phone services will use more data as well, standard phone service over a cellular connection do not use data. 

As to speed: I have Dish; it can get 13 Mbps of speed, this is enough to do anything you could want, BUT...theres catches. Satelite has a 1000 ms (1 second) latency minimum, which makes VOIP or gaming nearly impossable, and kills many VPN (Virtual private networks); If your on the fringe of a 4g network (i'm 11.4 miles from the nearest tower), then you will find you have a stronger 3G connection (its longer range, but lower speed); Now when we are talking Cellular, not all 3G is the same... each "G" is a generation of technology operating within a speed band and sharing common characteristics. So which provider you have will determine how fast your 3G, 4G, etc is, and how old the install is on the tower as well. 

TYPICAL 3G connections are 7.2 Mbps; This is for HSPA connections. But 3G encompasses WCDMA and HSPA+, with respective speeds of (384kbpt/s and 21.6 Mbps); Its safe to say 7 Mbps avg on a 3G connection

What you will find in a typical contract from a phone provider, is that you have "Unlimited data" with "xx amount of high speed"; What this is is the 4G (or 5 if your lucky) for the first XX amount of data then throttles you down to 3G at 1/2 speed (about 3Mbps) for the remainder; 

4G is typically 5-12 Mbps average but can peak at 50Mbps 

Note that these are Download speeds (you pulling files down from the internet, updating your email, viewing a video). If your trying to upload (attaching files to emails, uploading to your Youtube channel) you're upload speed will be between 10% and 40% of your download speed.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

dyrne said:


> be sure to set your preferred quality to 720 or 480.


I've done that on the very few I've watched, whenever possible.



dyrne said:


> Also remember you can set alerts on your phone for data usage and a cap so you won't go over.


I've found that feature also. I've been doing a lot of reading on how to minimize as much as I can so I don't have to worry about the things I do want to see.



Gary in ohio said:


> Unlimited is a quantity not a speed of service. SO 3g,4g,5g unlimited data says nothing about how fast your data will be, just how much you can use and and most "unlmited" plans have a * someplace that actually limits unlimited.


Yeah. I mainly mentioned that because I had read that people with the fastest connections tended to use the most data, and since my speeds aren't conducive to downloading movies or playing online games, I'm not likely to need that much data.



Xperthunter said:


> If you want to play games, watch videos, etc, it will take more data. VOIP phone services will use more data as well, standard phone service over a cellular connection do not use data.


I won't be doing either of those aside from the occasional Youtube. What few movies we watch are usually on discs, and I don't want to spend the money for satellite, which is the only other option where I am.

Even that would be problematic when my house is surrounded by 100+ year old trees.
My wife works at a hospital so she can take it to work and tap into their WiFi if I want something large on the phone. 



Xperthunter said:


> If your on the fringe of a 4g network (*i'm 11.4 miles from the nearest tower*), then you will find you have a stronger 3G connection (its longer range, but lower speed); Now when we are talking Cellular, not all 3G is the same... each "G" is a generation of technology operating within a speed band and sharing common characteristics. So which provider you have will determine how fast your 3G, 4G, etc is, and how old the install is on the tower as well.


That's helpful.
Since my dial up was never fast enough to load the US Cellular coverage maps, I hadn't thought to check and see how far it is to the closest tower. Maybe now I can actually see that information.

I also haven't seen the actual plan. My wife did it all and they didn't give her a written copy, so I still don't know for sure the exact caps, which is why I want to keep it as low as possible for now. 

She said she thought they said the "throttle point" was around 22 Gigs, but I want to see it before I start watching a lot of Youtubes. 

Even if the cut me back to 3G speeds, it's light years ahead of the dial up that doesn't work at all for so many sites now.

It's been fun playing with it the past few days, and I think I've already done some thing that have helped do away with wasted data.

The data resets to zero on the 1st, so December will be my first full month using it myself. I've been very happy with it so far.

I appreciate all the replies.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Its useful info to many I think. Rural can mean you have choice of dialup, cellular, or satellite. Dialup is pretty useless if its less than 56k and most never got better than 24k thanks to way phone companies tried to get most voice traffic on their lines. Meaning the old connections that got close to 56k were split. Satellite tends to require purchase or rental of lot equipment and professional installation.... Cell if you have convenient cell tower makes most sense. Its a shame this is pretty much only option to rural without DSL available. Oh and lot times rural customers get screwed over on DSL, since their phone company has a monopoly and only sells it bundled with other services. In cities where there is competition, its lot cheaper. If you look at cell internet as a fast version of dialup rather than as a way to consume video, then its ok. If you want video, you either pony up or move to the city. Though DSL and cable in cities now ration and throttle sometimes, so good luck. Our govt is broken so isnt going to have a new REA for internet service.


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