Data Confusion

[nanogirl21]

Right now I am on Sprints network with an iPhone 4S. In 2 days I am switching from Sprint to Verizon for an iPhone 5S. I am trying to figure out my plan, but I am really confused on how much data I use. If I look on my iPhone 4S under cellular it says my data usage for this month is 5.5 GB. However, after monitoring it for a few months, at the end of the month my data is ALWAYS over 6 GB. Again, this is according to my phone, but whenever my bill comes my data usage is ALWAYS 2 GB or below. Because of these extreme differences, I am not sure how many GB I would need on a Verizon plan. Especially since I am going from the extreme deathly slow speeds of Sprint to a pretty decent 4G LTE speed of Verizon. Any advice?

 

[C DM]

Get the same amount of data that you have on Sprint, or I guess start out with 2 GB, which is the average and what Sprint seems to have been reporting for you, if you have unlimited on Sprint. Keep an eye during the first month on your usage--you can do it with Verizon online or through Verizon's app on your phone--and see what it's like for you. If you are close to going over before the month is up, change the data portion of your plan to go higher--you can do that at any time without affecting anything. If you are not going over, then stay at that, or perhaps even lower your plan if you really end up using less regularly.

 

[rockitdog]

Difference companies calculate data differently. I was a long time AT&T customer who always had a 2or3 GB plan and never had an issue. Switched to T-Mobile and was suddenly using 10-12 GB/ month. Always thought it was odd but since I had unlimited data, I didn't care. Now I have Verizon and with 12 days to go in my cycle have used only about 1.27 GB of data on my 3GB plan. I don't know how my usage can fluctuate so much.

 

[Curun]

Difference companies calculate data differently. I was a long time AT&T customer who always had a 2or3 GB plan and never had an issue. Switched to T-Mobile and was suddenly using 10-12 GB/ month. Always thought it was odd but since I had unlimited data, I didn't care. Now I have Verizon and with 12 days to go in my cycle have used only about 1.27 GB of data on my 3GB plan. I don't know how my usage can fluctuate so much.

You seriously don't know how you are using THAT much data? It should be very obvious. Excessive music or video stream/downloads.

 

[CEmajr]

I would probably start off the first month with 6GB just to be safe and then adjust it from there after the first month accordingly. You have to keep in mind that you're going from a slow 3G phone in Sprint to a fast LTE iPhone 5S on Verizon so you will probably be using a lot more data.

 

[rockitdog]

You seriously don't know how you are using THAT much data? It should be very obvious. Excessive music or video stream/downloads.

My habits didn't change much from carrier to carrier. I brought it up on here or another forum once before and there were other people who noticed their data usage went up with T-Mobile vs other carriers. Carriers can calculate data however they want, there is no standard when it comes to how to calculate usage. I've heard people say that Verizon tends to use less data for some reason than other carriers.

 

[TJ61]

Right now I am on Sprints network with an iPhone 4S. In 2 days I am switching from Sprint to Verizon for an iPhone 5S. I am trying to figure out my plan, but I am really confused on how much data I use. If I look on my iPhone 4S under cellular it says my data usage for this month is 5.5 GB. However, after monitoring it for a few months, at the end of the month my data is ALWAYS over 6 GB. Again, this is according to my phone, but whenever my bill comes my data usage is ALWAYS 2 GB or below. Because of these extreme differences, I am not sure how many GB I would need on a Verizon plan. Especially since I am going from the extreme deathly slow speeds of Sprint to a pretty decent 4G LTE speed of Verizon. Any advice?

I looked into switching from Sprint to Verizon a few months back. My impression was that Verizon does not overcharge you terribly if you go over on your data, so I would suggest starting out low (2 GB), and bumping up after a few months if necessary. I think you can do that without penalty, but check to be sure.

Also, I would be inclined to think Verizon would clock data usage the same as Sprint, and not like your phone is reporting.