How Much Data Do You Use for Internet?

[TejasThreads]

I currently have a 10 gig data plan with Verizon for my iPhone. The data is shared with the 2 other family members on my plan, and up until now, that has been more than enough.

But I just recently gave up my internet service at home because I don't plan to be living in a house for that much longer, at least not long enough to commit to an affordable internet plan for a year. (Month to month is just way too expensive.)

When I can't get to a location that has free wi-fi service, I've been getting on-line using my phone's hot-spot feature. This works when I need to just get on-line and check something quickly, but I can't watch movies on Netflix or videos on You Tube without it eating up my 10 gigs of data fast.

So my questions is. . . for those of you living without a house, how many gigs of internet data do you use each month? Is that through a cell phone plan or is there some other service you can use? Are you able to use services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go without having home internet?

Please enlighten me!

 

[Kimbopolo]

I had the 20GB Millenicom plan and that was just right for me for a month. BUT ... I blog and so upload a lot of photos. I also work online so use a lot of data that way. At the end of the month, I would have enough left to stream a couple of movies. It goes fast as you know.

With the demise of Millenicom, I have to find a new plan and will attempt to get by with just 10GB. Might be a push to do so but I'll try. Will probably have to avail myself of free internet when possible for the non-secure type of usage. Streaming will be out of the question for sure with 10GB.

 

[rvwandering]

We have 5 G a month with AT&T. About half of the time we go over by 1G. It's enough for cruising around the web just for fun, reading blogs and forums, trip planning and posting on my blog. Watching videos or updating programs is done at a free WiFi spot, usually Home Depot or Lowes. An hour long TV show uses about .75G.

Turn off all automatic updates and install Adblock.

 

[Oberneldon]

Have 10 gigs on AT&T only for my phone and have to be careful not to go over as I have limited work & manage a blog with daily posts. I listen to podcasts and download them from free WIFI. The problem is that not all free WIFI is the same so I search out the faster sites and use them. I update my apps that way too or wait to visit people I know with houses that share their WIFI. The 10 gigs does not afford me the opportunity to watch one or two movies a month again if I am careful.

 

[Seraphim]

We had a 5gb plan on our mobile device and never went over, except when our son came for a weeklong visit and did a lot of streaming. We didn't stream video. Mostly news, social media and photography uploading.

 

[SternWake]

My carrier is Ting.com. They use Sprint towers. I got a galaxy s4 mini

They have tiered pricing and only charge for what one uses.

https://ting.com/rates

Mostly my bills have been 24$ or less, but last month I was mostly on the road and downloading google earth maps and browsing and used a bit over 2 gigs, and my bill was under 51$.

I hear bad things about sprint's coverage, but it was not an issue for me on my latest sojourn, and I did have 3g coverage and voice where somebody with a verizon flip phone, did not.

It is probably not a good carrier for high data needs, but my bills are a fraction of what they were with ATT and a dumbphone, so I'm happy enough.

 

[TejasThreads]

Wow! I knew I was going to have to change some habits, but I didn't realize it would be this drastic. I'm used to watching at least 3 or 4 movies a week on Netflix, and that's obviously not going to work with only 10 gigs of data. Guess that's another service I can cancel and not feel guilty about.

But the good thing about this is that I'm getting a lot more done because I can't surf the 'net any time I'm bored. I just didn't realize how often I fell into the internet and got lost!

Thank you all for your input!

 

[minimotos95]

The most I've used in a month was 17gb(12 data + 5 wifi) most months I'm around 5-7gb mostly web browsing but a good amount of netflix, youtube and slacker radio. on some apps they use more data the faster your connection is, I want to say Netflix is one of those. Anyways with apps that do that you can force your phone into 3g, 2g or 1x to save data.

 

[Ken in Anaheim]

I'm not familiar with these folks at all but ya might want to check this page :http://www.hughesnet.com/index.cfm?page=Plans-Options#options
Found this kind interesting :" I typically watch more than 30 hours of TV shows and movies in a month. What if I need to use more?
There are a couple of things you can do if you’d like to watch more shows. First, the popular video services like Netflix and Hulu allow you to manage the amount of data you use by adjusting your video quality setting. You can go to your account settings online for these services and select different player setting options to manage the amount of data you use when playing movies and TV shows on Netflix. This change alone can double your viewing hours from 23 hours of standard-definition viewing to 46 hours with our mid-tier plan. Or you can purchase additional bandwidth on an as-needed basis with HughesNet Tokens. An extra gigabyte of usage can be purchased for only $9."
Anyone here use Hughesnet ??
Thanks
KinA

 

[highdesertranger]

well I have looked into hughesnet. you must have a sticks and bricks to use them, using them mobile is illegal. some do it and seem to get away with it. hughesnet will not have anything to do with it. highdesertranger

 

[LeeRevell]

I am testing variations of my data useage now, though I am in a fixed home situation. I want to see what works and what options are available before actually going 'on the road' for any lengthy time.
My PC has been giving me problems, so I finally got the laptop. Then the PC went down hard - thought the DSL modem crapped out and got a new one, but the PC's Ethernet board inside is apparently missing it's magic smoke.
So, for several days I used my laptop by using the Galaxy SIII as a Wifi hotspot. Whoowee! My data usage really climbed fast! And I did not do any video streaming or Netflix. My home phone system (CenturyLink) is unlimited on data, so I have been spoiled rotten. My cell service is regular Verizon with 3Gig limit. For the holiday periods of basically November and December they offered me free an additional Gig each period - that helps. But I found myself using 1.6Gig in just a few days! But the new DSL modem has me back on my home system again, via the laptop.
Using this Win8.1 laptop is sheer misery, and highly anti-productive compared to the old Win7 PC, so since the PC is older and needs upgrading anyways, I found an inexpensive new PC with m y beloved Win7 and twice the memory and HD space for what the repair/upgrade would have cost.
Still, when I go on the road, I will need something more robust than this paltry three Gigs, but at a lower cost. Verizon basically wants ten bucks for each additional Gig on this plan -- that is of course unworkable. I was all jazzed about Millenicom, til they got gutted and filleted by the Big V. So I am still looking at alternatives.

 

[kranky]

I used HughesNet for 3 years in my S&B. I wouldn't wouldn't wish their service on my worst enemy.
When you are using Netflix or Hulu or even youtube, make sure you are not viewing in HD. Changing the resolution (or quality) to 480p or even 360p will cut your data usage in half or more.

To the OP: I watch a couple movies a month, a few tv shows online, FB, games, forums, etc, etc. and I have never used more than 20gig and most months I only use 10gig.

 

[gojo]

We get 5 gigs for $61.00 plus $15.00 for each gig there after with At&t....

Last month my laptop was eating up our gigs fast. I found out I must of click some where to upgrade windows 8 to windows 8.1. We call At&t and told them our computer was eating up gigs. They help solve the problem and told us to go where there is free wifi and credit us for 21 gigs. that was nice of em.

 

[mockturtle]

I don't stream movies or videos and get by just fine with 4GB/month. I do subscribe to audio streaming of NFL games [and, during baseball season, MLB games] but that doesn't use much data.

 

[gojo]

Correction from my last post. We get 6 gigs for $61.00 and $15.00 per gig there after.
And that's with AT&T....This in in south Texas. I don't know if that makes any difference....