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How much data would be used?

D

daooof

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 24, 2010
103
1
Hey guys I'm just about to receive my 4S and this is the first smart phone I've used, so naturally I have a few questions.

I'm on the 200mb plan for now (if I can justify spending $10 more for 2gb I might, but for now this is what I'll use). What can I expect to use throughout the month on a casual basis?

Obviously streaming movies and music is a no-no on 3g, so I won't do that. But what about certain apps and browsing? Say:

1) Safari
2) Words with friends
3) Skype (both chat and video calling)
4) Facetime
5) Facebook

If you can think of any other common apps/webpages that I could find useful, feel free to include them.

Thanks in advance,
Daniel
 
daooof said:
Hey guys I'm just about to receive my 4S and this is the first smart phone I've used, so naturally I have a few questions.

I'm on the 200mb plan for now (if I can justify spending $10 more for 2gb I might, but for now this is what I'll use). What can I expect to use throughout the month on a casual basis?

Obviously streaming movies and music is a no-no on 3g, so I won't do that. But what about certain apps and browsing? Say:

1) Safari
2) Words with friends
3) Skype (both chat and video calling)
4) Facetime
5) Facebook

If you can think of any other common apps/webpages that I could find useful, feel free to include them.

Thanks in advance,
Daniel
Click to expand...

You can use this data usage from AT&T to calculate what you intend to use;

http://www.att.com/standalone/data-calculator/
 
daooof said:
Hey guys I'm just about to receive my 4S and this is the first smart phone I've used, so naturally I have a few questions.

I'm on the 200mb plan for now (if I can justify spending $10 more for 2gb I might, but for now this is what I'll use). What can I expect to use throughout the month on a casual basis?

Obviously streaming movies and music is a no-no on 3g, so I won't do that. But what about certain apps and browsing? Say:

1) Safari
2) Words with friends
3) Skype (both chat and video calling)
4) Facetime
5) Facebook

If you can think of any other common apps/webpages that I could find useful, feel free to include them.

Thanks in advance,
Daniel
Click to expand...

200MB is not much i use about 500 a month and i never use any video or music streaming, no sykpe, no facetime, pretty much all i do is some safari, twitter, and facebook
 
iisforiphone said:
200MB is not much i use about 500 a month and i never use any video or music streaming, no sykpe, no facetime, pretty much all i do is some safari, twitter, and facebook
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you use Safari, Mail and maps or navigation frequently on 3G, I think 200MB is pretty hard to do. If there were a 500MB plan I could probably cut that, but 200MB would be tough.
 
In addition to the calculator, here are a few suggestions:

Eliminate your cellular data connection whenever in range of WiFi. You'll find this setting in Settings>General>Network. This will restrict all of your data to WiFi. The only drawbacks to this that I've personally found is range, and also the inability to receive non-iMessage MMS(pictures, group essages, etc.).

FaceTime only works of WiFi. However, Skype works over both WiFi and 3G, so be wory of your connection type whenever using Skype, as that will rack up the MBs very quickly.

Facebook and Words With Friends use so little data that you should not have a problem with these.

You might also want to consider using Opera Mini instead of Safari. It compresses the data from the browser by using it's own server, which saves you a lot of data. Take caution though as browsing the web can still take up a lot of data fairly fast.

Following these suggestions can be irksome at times, but if you do, you should not have a problem keeping your usage under 200MB a month.
 
I've had to keep my cell data off except when I need to check something specifically and there is no wifi. Between iCloud and whatever else is running, my data is screaming toward the 200mb limit.

This is with no DLing apps, no uploading anything except on wifi, no streaming, etc. I am using so much data doing nothing.
 
Ok I think I should be fine. I'll be in wifi range MOST of the time, but occasionally I'll be bored. Does anyone know how much skype video chat will take up?
 
daooof said:
Ok I think I should be fine. I'll be in wifi range MOST of the time, but occasionally I'll be bored. Does anyone know how much skype video chat will take up?
Click to expand...

Here is a quote I copy the directly from the article on the link regarding this;

"We decided to try and find out how much data a typical Skype call would use, so we made a five-minute call from Skype on an iPhone over 3G to another Skype user. During that time, we received 1.5MB of data and sent 1.8MB for a total of 3.3MB of data transmitted."

Here is the link for this article for your reference;

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...-saving-minutes-with-skype-think-data-use.ars
 
daooof said:
Ok I think I should be fine. I'll be in wifi range MOST of the time, but occasionally I'll be bored. Does anyone know how much skype video chat will take up?
Click to expand...

Skype video chat over 3G will eat thru your 200MB quick.
I would avoid it unless you feel like paying overages or maybe switch to the 2GB plan.
After a few billing cycles you will know about how much data you average so you can make a more educated choice.
 
I THINK I may have the option to use the unlimited plan since my dad has had it since his iPhone 3G. So I might end up doing that,
 
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