Data, data, data!!!

[alisonb]

Have just worked out that I feed my cell phone more than I feed myself . Someone is getting fat and it's not me...

Was due for a cell phone upgrade in March but have delayed it as I'm unsure whether to continue on 2yr contract basis or not, so am looking at other options. The provider/carrier is still billing me for a handset that was paid off in March together with another little fee that was never requested(partly my fault as I never queried it).

A quick check of my monthly data usage was quite startling :shock: . We are using more and more data as technology progresses, we are also becoming more reliant on our phones.

We need data to access the internet, run/download apps, social media, messaging, emails, games, videos and audios etc but what control do we actually have over data usage.

Does anyone ever keep track of their data usage, do we even have time to check or do we just accept that the cell phone carrier is correct?

 

[haase]

Your plan should have unlimited calls and data usage, that shouldn't effect your bill, as far as your carrier is still billing you for something that's been paid for 6 months, I'd shop around.

 

[1982vett]

Data on our cell service is unlimited as is our internet. Cell does tell us how much data we use and ISP does know how much we use but the link for me to check has never worked.

 

[Nesikep]

South africa will probably have very different rates and options available

I don't know about Iphones, but on android phones you can easily see how much usage each app has as well as totals for the month.. It's not going to be an exact number, there's a certain amount of 'overhead',... data that is used to get your data to you, (Something like 10%)

I can't remember now if the data counter only counts when you're using your mobile data or if it's smart enough to ignore when you're on wifi

 

[JParrott]

Have just worked out that I feed my cell phone more than I feed myself . Someone is getting fat and it's not me...

Was due for a cell phone upgrade in March but have delayed it as I'm unsure whether to continue on 2yr contract basis or not, so am looking at other options. The provider/carrier is still billing me for a handset that was paid off in March together with another little fee that was never requested(partly my fault as I never queried it).

A quick check of my monthly data usage was quite startling :shock: . We are using more and more data as technology progresses, we are also becoming more reliant on our phones.

We need data to access the internet, run/download apps, social media, messaging, emails, games, videos and audios etc but what control do we actually have over data usage.

Does anyone ever keep track of their data usage, do we even have time to check or do we just accept that the cell phone carrier is correct?

We pull about 2 terabytes a month between the house and cell phones with about a 75% / 25% split, meaning the cell phones use about 500GB. There are five phones in use and we shell out ~$450 a month for all of them. Now - we have extended family included on our plan that pay their share (but are not included in the above data usage) so for our five household cells and internet (which is 4G LTE) -it's about $280 a month. We have unlimited everything - although the carrier (AT&T) has the option to throttle speeds after 22GB a month, they never have as the area we live in doesn't have the peak demand usually seen in an urban area.

 

[1982vett]

Speaking of data....

The best a 25 mbps service can do this evening...

 

[ccr]

wow that's a big spread. from 13.2 @ 7:00 pm to 0.54 @ 7:23 pm. what makes the speed vary so much. what kind of service is this - satellite?

does 1982vette mean you drive a 1982 vette?

 

[1982vett]

The service provider is overselling bandwidth. 7am it will be running @ 26 mbps. It will drop off as the day goes on. A small possibility it's actually a "tower issue they are working on" but the service guys that come out have essentially told me that isn't the case. It is fiber optic to a tower then radio to a receiver on my tower. Definitely not satellite. Trashed that 10 years ago.

1982vett was derived from an 82 Corovette I drove for about 12 years.