How much Data Plan is good enough?

[holyindian]

Hi all,

I know its a very ambigous question, and depends on person to person on their daily usage.

Well, for me.. I will be mostly using the iphone on 4g network on the weekdays while commuting back and forth work and home. The trip is a total of two hrs. That makes it 10 hrs commuting a week.. 40 hrs a month.
In this trip, normally i'd be facebooking, while on pandora.. etc.
No netflix for me on the phone... except at home through appletv.

Plus the regular emails on weekdays.. weekend if out with family, casual facebook. I have a 50mbps comcast business line which is virtually unlimited.. over wifi.. so i wont be using 4g at home.
I might slightly share the dataplan on my ipad via tethering. But nothing more.

I have pre-ordered with verizon, i still have to decide on a data plan.
Is 8gb a month more than enough? Was planning to square in 100 dollars max incl taxes for the phone connection. 8gb with unlimited talk and msg is 90 bucks on verizon.

 

[leenak]

8GB will probably be overkill but you can monitor the usage and see where you fit.

 

[iBookG4user]

Try this out.

 

[greytmom]

That might actually be overkill, but it's hard/impossible to say. Just go with a plan for the first month or two, and then change it based on your real-world experience.

 

[holyindian]

Try this out.

Thanks for the link..
Tried couple of combinations, they all show above 15gb.
I guess they are far from real world calculations.
With the Verizon dataplan, every single kb/mb is value.. they weigh the data usage like carats on the diamond. Hence an estimate as above, varies the cost on the plans in two to three figures.

 

[nostresshere]

Track your REAL usage. It is on your bill each month.

All other information is vague and of marginal value.

Sort of like asking a bunch of people in a room how far from city a to city b. You will get estimates that vary by many many hours.

maps.google.com is way more accurate.

 

[Leonard1818]

I'd start small and move up in data packages as needed. the rep I spoke to said that they would txt you when you're 1/2 way thru your data plan, when you're 75%, 90% and maybe 95% or something.

Point is, they'll tell you and give you time to bump your data plan as needed.

 

[darngooddesign]

It's really quite simple.

1. Start with a small amount.
2. If you hit your limit increase to the next level up.
3. Repeat step 2 until step 2 no longer happens.

 

[cyks]

I'd start small and move up in data packages as needed. the rep I spoke to said that they would txt you when you're 1/2 way thru your data plan, when you're 75%, 90% and maybe 95% or something.

Point is, they'll tell you and give you time to bump your data plan as needed.

I second the above.

Start with a (relatively) small package, monitor your usage after a few days and go from there.

If you find you're running out and need more, give them a call and change your plan to the next level.

 

[holyindian]

Track your REAL usage. It is on your bill each month.

All other information is vague and of marginal value.

Sort of like asking a bunch of people in a room how far from city a to city b. You will get estimates that vary by many many hours.

maps.google.com is way more accurate.

Thats a good suggestion, problem is.. i was on Sprint with Samsung Epic SII 4g, and that sucker never worked right. By the time i search something on the phone.. either the phone died due to the battery bleed issues on android, or the 4g/3g never worked or picked up any signal. I was barely connected to the internet most of the time on Sprint. Will never go back to them even if its an armageddon of the telephone companies and sprint survives.

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I'd start small and move up in data packages as needed. the rep I spoke to said that they would txt you when you're 1/2 way thru your data plan, when you're 75%, 90% and maybe 95% or something.

Point is, they'll tell you and give you time to bump your data plan as needed.

It's really quite simple.

1. Start with a small amount.
2. If you hit your limit increase to the next level up.
3. Repeat step 2 until step 2 no longer happens.

I second the above.

Start with a (relatively) small package, monitor your usage after a few days and go from there.

If you find you're running out and need more, give them a call and change your plan to the next level.

Thanks for the suggestion guys, this resolves my dilemma. Good suggestions.