How do people use 5GB of data a month on such a slow connection??

[Kendo]

I go to the gym 6 days a week and have Pandora streaming for an hour each day and I still only cap out at 1GB per month for my data usage. I am grandfathered into the unlimited plan though.

I'm just wondering how people use 5 to 10GB per month? I could understand if 3G was as fast as broadband. But it is so slow that I prefer to watch YouTube or check emails over Wi-Fi whenever I get the chance.

Am I not utilizing my data plan enough? How can people use 5GB worth over slow 3G?

 

[Applejuiced]

Maybe not everyone has slow 3G?
My AT&T 3G here is about 5 down and 1-2 upload.
That's plenty fast IMO.

 

[Intell]

Slow? Mine's fairly decent. I average 10Gb per cycle. Most of its streaming media and downloading big files.

 

[ZBoater]

Some folks work, and connections to corporate email systems 10-12 hours a day eats up a LOT of bandwidth....

 

[steve dave]

I go to the gym 6 days a week and have Pandora streaming for an hour each day and I still only cap out at 1GB per month for my data usage. I am grandfathered into the unlimited plan though.

I'm just wondering how people use 5 to 10GB per month? I could understand if 3G was as fast as broadband. But it is so slow that I prefer to watch YouTube or check emails over Wi-Fi whenever I get the chance.

Am I not utilizing my data plan enough? How can people use 5GB worth over slow 3G?

If 3G isn't fast enough in your area for you to check your email, then I would probably switch carriers.

 

[vanfanel1]

I go to the gym 6 days a week and have Pandora streaming for an hour each day and I still only cap out at 1GB per month for my data usage. I am grandfathered into the unlimited plan though.

I'm just wondering how people use 5 to 10GB per month? I could understand if 3G was as fast as broadband. But it is so slow that I prefer to watch YouTube or check emails over Wi-Fi whenever I get the chance.

Am I not utilizing my data plan enough? How can people use 5GB worth over slow 3G?

I used to watch tv shows/movies during my lunch break daily to hit those limits. It wasn't "too slow" for me. Usually streamed without hiccups. I usually get about 2.2Mbps down and about 1Mbps up.

 

[Kendo]

I used to watch tv shows/movies during my lunch break daily to hit those limits. It wasn't "too slow" for me. Usually streamed without hiccups. I usually get about 2.2Mbps down and about 1Mbps up.

But aren't YouTube videos pixelated by default due to the 3G service? Whenever I connect to Wi-Fi, it is HD quality.

I live in NYC so my 3G speeds are up to par with the rest of the country. It is still a ton slower than Wi-Fi though.

 

[Intell]

But aren't YouTube videos pixelated by default due to the 3G service? Whenever I connect to Wi-Fi, it is HD quality.

The mobile YouTube site ones aren't. Nor are the built-in app ones when a proper jailbreak modification is installed.

 

[barkomatic]

I hit it one month when I traveled a lot. I was watching full length movies on netflix on my iPhone. No internet at Mama's house.

 

[vanfanel1]

But aren't YouTube videos pixelated by default due to the 3G service? Whenever I connect to Wi-Fi, it is HD quality.

I live in NYC so my 3G speeds are up to par with the rest of the country. It is still a ton slower than Wi-Fi though.

When I say I watch tv shows and movies I used apps like "air video" for my collection of movies/shows and also "dish network" (for live streaming)

 

[NoHo]

My 3G isn't slow at all. But I'm not in a big city like San Francisco or New York City. I watch YouTube, Netflix and Hulu on it. During the NBA season, I will watch NBA League Pass. A lot of other stuff to. Lots of radio apps. Spotify, Pandora, Shoutcast, A Online Radio, .Podcast, NPR's native app, FaceTime over 3G, etc.

I use anywhere from 2-10gb a month. And that's just from doing normal stuff with my iPhone.

I'll stay on my unlimited data plan for as long as I can and if AT&T takes it away, I'll go to whichever carrier offers an unlimited data plan, and if none of them do, I'll go to whoever offers the cheapest plan, and that won't be AT&T.

Threadstarter, you may only use 1gb a month now, but there are apps and features that we haven't even imagined yet, and in the very near future, a 2gb tiered plan isn't going to last people very long and they're going to have to either pay more to bump their monthly data allotment up, or not use their phone for the last bit of their billing cycle. Imagine if in the dial-up days, internet companies offered a 25gb tiered plan for cheaper and people jumped on it because they didn't think they would ever use 25gb a month anyways. Well, now it's 2011 and 25gb doesn't get you very far on the internet, and since unlimited wouldn't be available anymore, everyone would have to be watching what they do on the internet instead of paying it no mind. The mobile broadband companies don't want to make the same mistakes. They want to get us on tiered data plans right off the bat when the technology is in it's infancy so down the line when it becomes more advanced, we're used to tiered data instead of unlimited. This means the wireless companies can charge us a lot by offering us very little. They were smart.

It's interesting to me that people so willingly give up their unlimited data plans just to save 5gb a month. 2gb may last you now, but in the future when things get more advanced, 2gb a month isn't going to last very long. You're going to end up paying more for a tiered data plan that you would have if you just stayed on unlimited data.

 

[tbayrgs]

I don't hit 5 GB very often but regularly use 2+ GB on a monthly basis, predominantly done via streaming music and sports talk radio to my car via bluetooth. I used Netflix to stream kids shows for about an hour a day while on vacation and hit about 6 GB that month.

 

[SAIRUS]

I have an iPhone dock next to my TV, and it also goes with me when I travel.

Keep in mind I'm not jailbroken!
Netflix & Pandora are my biggest uses.
On occasion I do stream my satellite TV (saves on my buying multiple receivers).

3-4 gigs.

Thing is, while I do have 4G in my home area, probably going to see this usage sky rocket if my 3G connection is faster than my home connection!

I've also started using Google Docs more, and maybe iCloud might be a welcome fit. Just saying, keeping my unlimited plan!

 

[nepalisherpa]

I go to the gym 6 days a week and have Pandora streaming for an hour each day and I still only cap out at 1GB per month for my data usage. I am grandfathered into the unlimited plan though.

I'm just wondering how people use 5 to 10GB per month? I could understand if 3G was as fast as broadband. But it is so slow that I prefer to watch YouTube or check emails over Wi-Fi whenever I get the chance.

Am I not utilizing my data plan enough? How can people use 5GB worth over slow 3G?

I've never had any issue with my 3G speed. I stream Netflix and Youtube all the time and I've never had to wait for it to buffer.

 

[megapopular]

I go to the gym 6 days a week and have Pandora streaming for an hour each day and I still only cap out at 1GB per month for my data usage. I am grandfathered into the unlimited plan though.

I'm just wondering how people use 5 to 10GB per month? I could understand if 3G was as fast as broadband. But it is so slow that I prefer to watch YouTube or check emails over Wi-Fi whenever I get the chance.

Am I not utilizing my data plan enough? How can people use 5GB worth over slow 3G?

Well, using your logic, well some of it, let's say that somone working 9-5 at a desk job streams music for let's say 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. They'd be using about 5 times as much data as you, right? That puts them up in the stratosphere over the course of a month, right? Simple math!

 

[DiamondMac]

I go to the gym 6 days a week and have Pandora streaming for an hour each day and I still only cap out at 1GB per month for my data usage. I am grandfathered into the unlimited plan though.

I'm just wondering how people use 5 to 10GB per month? I could understand if 3G was as fast as broadband. But it is so slow that I prefer to watch YouTube or check emails over Wi-Fi whenever I get the chance.

Am I not utilizing my data plan enough? How can people use 5GB worth over slow 3G?

I stream my music 2-3 days a week. I also use YouTube for clips. I sometimes have watched ESPN games on the phone at work over 3G. I also check lots of news and email often.

I use about 8gb to 11gb per month

It may sound like a lot (it is, I admit) but I swear I dont feel like a "heavy user"....I frankly have no idea what I would do if I had to pay for a 2gb plan with overages (I know, AT&T restarts the plan)