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500mb how far does it get you?

esadb

esadb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 29, 2008
1,184
0
Just recently i added 500mb to my account currently waiting to get my hands on a iphone 4, i had a 3g perviously but never had true data i just got by using wifi and it was enough for me.

Im just wondering is 500mb of data a lot on the iphone? I usually have my phone set to 15min fetch interval of just 1 gmail account. Also hop on facebook frequently and would use push notifications to get notices...

Just now that i sold my 3G, im currently using a BB curve in the meantime i just downloaded a few things, theme, gmail app, facebook app. I noticed i used 4megs already.. Now that was pretty intensive usage as i wanted to set it up the first time..

Just wondering if the 500mb data is a good enough? I dont know how "often" the iphone does things on its own not including the fetch and other stuff i have it set to.

Thanks for the help in advance
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Depends on the user and what you use your phone for. If you're around wifi mostly or depend on 3G.
Within the first 2-3 months you should be able to tell how much typical carrier data you consume.
 
eastercat

eastercat

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,323
7
PDX
Make sure you stay away from streaming applications like Pandora or Sling Box. Those will eat through your 500 MB in a few hours.
How many hours will you be surfing a day? If it's your only source of internet, you're likely to go through the data quickly. If your iphone is supplemental internet, you might be okay. If you have the ability to check your data usage, get OC about it and check it every day at the very minimum. The problem is that it takes a while to update. Your best time to check is after you wake up.
 
0098386

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
500mb would be around an hour on iPlayer. So if you use iPlayer when travelling - don't.
 
mkrishnan

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
eastercat said:
Make sure you stay away from streaming applications like Pandora or Sling Box. Those will eat through your 500 MB in a few hours.
Click to expand...

Dagless said:
500mb would be around an hour on iPlayer. So if you use iPlayer when travelling - don't.
Click to expand...

I'm kind of surprised by how much of a bitrate difference there is between some of these apps. I use NPR News for streaming radio for, probably on average, about 2-2.5 hours per week / 9-12 hours per month, and it doesn't actually use that much data. I can understand SlingPlayer, but I'm a little surprised that iPlayer or Pandora audio are vastly more. I've had an AT&T account for my 3GS since December, and my data usage, per month, has been:

541 MB
371
249
360
295
294
406
224.

Right now, I have AT&T's unlimited plan still. I obviously can't go for 200MB/mo, but I'm thinking about the 2GB plan, and if AT&T offered a 500MB plan for less, I would almost certainly come out ahead with it.

Anyways, it's just interesting... judging from my data figures, NPR News must stream at a vastly lower bitrate than iPlayer audio or Pandora....
 
esadb

esadb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 29, 2008
1,184
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jonjames said:
you will soon incur high data overage fees
Click to expand...

What a useful response. Jeez thanks a bunch man!

Well at home there is wifi. I dont use the phone during commutes as the traveling is minor.

It would be mainly hop on facebook. Load up the video on youtube here and there. And the Maps application every now and then when in a pickle.
 
S

Steveo47

macrumors regular
Jul 18, 2010
214
0
esadb said:
What a useful response. Jeez thanks a bunch man!

Well at home there is wifi. I dont use the phone during commutes as the traveling is minor.

It would be mainly hop on facebook. Load up the video on youtube here and there. And the Maps application every now and then when in a pickle.
Click to expand...

id say 500 would be good enough for your needs. Like veryone said as long as your not using pandora ect, youll be fine. And using wifi at home will help you conserve that 500.
 
esadb

esadb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 29, 2008
1,184
0
Steveo47 said:
id say 500 would be good enough for your needs. Like veryone said as long as your not using pandora ect, youll be fine. And using wifi at home will help you conserve that 500.
Click to expand...

Well to begin with im in Canada so Pandora i cant really use unless i use a VPN which is way too much effot. As that hotspot shield doesnt work half the time.

Now how bad does a radio app consume? Like if i decided to listen to it Im guessing i couldnt do it every day for like 1hour. But how much would I be able to do?
 
triptyx

triptyx

macrumors member
Jul 15, 2010
60
0
mkrishnan said:
...
Anyways, it's just interesting... judging from my data figures, NPR News must stream at a vastly lower bitrate than iPlayer audio or Pandora....
Click to expand...

Streaming voice only (or mostly voice - e.g. not a music station) can be done at far lower bitrates than music - you can compress voice a lot more, even drop to a mono-channel and it's still perfectly fine to listen to. There is a ton more data needed to music to sound good, hence a higher data transfer rate to stream music than a dedicated voice channel.
 
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