How much data do you use?

I'm on the $40 a month t mobile plan with 500mb of data I never come close to using it. I text and play games more then anything
 
After 8 months with Verizon, I had a scare when I ended up with 1.997GB used of 2GB. I upped it immediately to 4GB a month and I haven't gone over 2GB since.

This is why i hate tiered data plans. Why should the consumer have to stress about having to pay overage fees for data?? The overage fees are completly unreasonable, its $10/gig i believe? All carriers should follow Tmobiles plan of throttling after you hit a certain cap.
 
This is why i hate tiered data plans. Why should the consumer have to stress about having to pay overage fees for data?? The overage fees are completly unreasonable, its $10/gig i believe? All carriers should follow Tmobiles plan of throttling after you hit a certain cap.

That's exactly my belief too. When I was trying to upgrade my wife's phone last year and keep unlimited data (which I did without the help of any in-store reps), I was in a Verizon store showing my wife all the phones available at that time to see which she liked. Of course a Verizon rep had to come by to help us out (which is fine, it's their job) and try to move us to a shared data plan. When I explain that I'm not interested in constantly checking our data usage every month and that I hate Verizon's new plans, they always give the sob story about how people were abusing their network on unlimited data plan and they were forced to implement these plans. To which I counter with "well there's this thing called QoS and throttling.. that would have been much more logical to use in that situation, but instead Verizon chose the money grab route and would much rather charge us $10/GB over our caps." Usually they'll admit it was somewhat of a money grab, but then they argue that throttling is misleading and frustrating for users.. but I would think letting them go over their cap and charging them more for it would be even more misleading and frustrating. :rolleyes:
 
Usually they'll admit it was somewhat of a money grab, but then they argue that throttling is misleading and frustrating for users.. but I would think letting them go over their cap and charging them more for it would be even more misleading and frustrating. :rolleyes:

I dont see how its misleading unless this customer has no defintion of what a "cap" is in thier vocabulary. Though working in IT, ive learned to assume that the user doesnt know
 
I dont see how its misleading unless this customer has no defintion of what a "cap" is in thier vocabulary. Though working in IT, ive learned to assume that the user doesnt know

Hah, indeed. I know the reps have to defend their employer and are just doing what they get paid for, but I'm going to call BS where I see it, even when it's totally outside the power of the rep to do anything about it. I have met a couple good reps though that can relate to and understand my argument though, it's just too bad they can't do anything to help me (or at least from what they've told me). I just find it odd that I can transfer my upgrade to another line myself (on their site) and get a phone on-contract while keeping unlimited data, but reps in stores (that I've talked to recently) insist that it's not possible for them to upgrade me with the same process and have me keep unlimited data.
 
This is why i hate tiered data plans. Why should the consumer have to stress about having to pay overage fees for data?? The overage fees are completly unreasonable, its $10/gig i believe? All carriers should follow Tmobiles plan of throttling after you hit a certain cap.

verizon (and at&t) = you rather pay more for better coverage/service

therefore, verizon sees you as willing to pay more (when you go over), instead of being throttled (because you demand the high speed data when you need it)

don't like it? move to tmobile (or verizon MNVOs)
 
I have a tmobile plan with unlimited data. It throttles when you hit 22GB during the billing cycle. I use about 20GB of month on my data plan. My 4G LTE is a lot faster than my uverse at home at the moment so I tend to not use my wifi.
 
Just moved to T-Mobile in mid-February from Verizon. We had unlimited data with Verizon but, we were sick of playing games to retain that and they kept wanting to mess around when we would consider adding texting back on our plans. In the half month I started with T-Mobile I racked up about 5GB by downloading some of my apps and music onto the new phone. I also tethered a bit for that as well, to see what that was like. I just wish I could have unlimited tethering as the LTE signal I get is more reliable, faster, and lower latency than the wired I have. I'd seriously drop it in a heartbeat even if it meant paying more on the wireless bill each month.
 
Just moved to T-Mobile in mid-February from Verizon. We had unlimited data with Verizon but, we were sick of playing games to retain that and they kept wanting to mess around when we would consider adding texting back on our plans. In the half month I started with T-Mobile I racked up about 5GB by downloading some of my apps and music onto the new phone. I also tethered a bit for that as well, to see what that was like. I just wish I could have unlimited tethering as the LTE signal I get is more reliable, faster, and lower latency than the wired I have. I'd seriously drop it in a heartbeat even if it meant paying more on the wireless bill each month.

it's not that hard to hide tethering from t-mobile (your ROM might report tethering usage, but mainly they detect via browser useragent)

that saying, don't abuse it :D
 
About 7GB per month but that's going to go up as I plan on starting to use Amazon Prime video by tethering an iPad Mini.
 
verizon (and at&t) = you rather pay more for better coverage/service

therefore, verizon sees you as willing to pay more (when you go over), instead of being throttled (because you demand the high speed data when you need it)

don't like it? move to tmobile (or verizon MNVOs)

Its only better if you are in rural areas, other than that its the same coverage and i get much better LTE speed with Tmobile now(33Mbps) than i did with Verizon(15Mbps).

I have a tmobile plan with unlimited data. It throttles when you hit 22GB during the billing cycle. I use about 20GB of month on my data plan. My 4G LTE is a lot faster than my uverse at home at the moment so I tend to not use my wifi.

You sure? Ive seen many people use around 40GB and its still at 4G speed. Its possible you were on an overloaded tower?
 
I have an "unlimited" data plan from when I got my first iphone 3G. rabble rabble rabble about changing the terms of my unlimited contract... :mad:

ANYWAY - I just got a notification from AT&T that I've approached 5GB of data for last month. If I exceed 5GB - I will be throttled. My first response "F U" After that, I looked at my history - and I use a solid 3.5 to 4.5 GB of data a month. Now this strikes me as odd since I pretty much only websurf, and watch the occasional funny video sent to me by buddies. I wouldn't have guessed I used that much data since I don't tether, I don't stream pandora, etc. So my question is how much do you all use, and what for?

2GB of data seems woefully small if I can double that from websurfing and a few you tube videos a week... :rolleyes:

Wow, that seems excessive for what you do.

Are you ever connected to Wifi?

I have two devices on my Verizon plan (one phone and one tablet, usually not using them at the same time) and I don't think I've ever gone above 1.5GB, and this is with heavier use than yours.

I do my browsing, email and occasional video just like you, but I also stream Spotify while driving stream radio stations I like when I am out of range of FM, use Waze (which pulls map data over mobile data) as my primary navigation tool and occasionally set up a mobile hotspot on a roadtrip, so my girlfriends 6 year old can enjoy Netflix in the back seat. (it makes road trips much nicer!)

That being said, when I am at work, I'm connected to WIFI. When I am home, I am connected to WIFI, at my girlfriends house I am connected to WIFI, and when I visit friends I am usually connected to WIFI, so it's really only when I am out and about I use the mobile data.
 
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Its only better if you are in rural areas, other than that its the same coverage and i get much better LTE speed with Tmobile now(33Mbps) than i did with Verizon(15Mbps).

It's very market and location dependent.

IMHO benchmark speeds are relatively useless on mobile devices once they get over a couple of megabits. At those speeds you can do all your browsing and streaming anyway. The 15Mbps vs 33Mbps comparison is completely meaningless in real world use on a phone IMHO. It's not like its a desktop and you are torrenting, gaming etc. etc. etc.

What IS more important IMHO, is never hitting a dead zone. I've never had Tmobile, but a friend of mine hits dead zones all the time on his. Back when I had AT&T it was very frustrating, as I would be driving along streaming my music, and it would often stop playing as it had no coverage. Over the last two years since I switched to Verizon, this hasn't even happened once. I have had signal (even if only a couple of bars, which is enough to stream music) EVERYWHERE, except for some notoriously bad shielded buildings.

I have driven up and down the eastern seaboard without having Spotify or my streaming radio stop on me, which I could never have said for AT&T.

IMHO it was worth switching to Verizon and losing my legacy unlimited AT&T data for the much improved service.

The peak data speeds simply don't matter above a certain threshold.

Never hitting a dead zone really is that good.

Can you hear me now? :p

Verizon-guy-320x250.jpg
 
Zarathustra[H];1040689143 said:
It's very market and location dependent.

IMHO benchmark speeds are relatively useless on mobile devices once they get over a couple of megabits.

What IS more important IMHO, is never hitting a dead zone.

i agree with this. past 10mbps, it's hard to tell the difference

t-mobile has dead spots even in my city/suburban areas. tmobile's 1700/1900/2100 spectrum sucks at penetrating buildings too

verizon = coverage AND service. and you pay for this priviledge
 
i agree with this. past 10mbps, it's hard to tell the difference

t-mobile has dead spots even in my city/suburban areas. tmobile's 1700/1900/2100 spectrum sucks at penetrating buildings too

verizon = coverage AND service. and you pay for this priviledge

Agreed. Though to a certain extent it depends on what you mean by service.

Their customer service is pretty notoriously bad (which they can get away with since they are pretty much the only game in town for good, no deadzone coverage). As bad as AT&T customer service was when I had them, they at least listened to reason (once requesting a manager and moved up the chain) Verizon's customer service is very obtuse.
 
Zarathustra[H];1040689143 said:
It's very market and location dependent.

IMHO benchmark speeds are relatively useless on mobile devices once they get over a couple of megabits. At those speeds you can do all your browsing and streaming anyway. The 15Mbps vs 33Mbps comparison is completely meaningless in real world use on a phone IMHO. It's not like its a desktop and you are torrenting, gaming etc. etc. etc.

You are correct but i do tend to torrent and download large apps on my phone frequently. Lots of the time LTE data is faster than most in home internet
 
You are correct but i do tend to torrent and download large apps on my phone frequently. Lots of the time LTE data is faster than most in home internet

Then you sir, are part of the problem and why we no longer are offered unlimited data plans.

Tethering is supposed to be a temporary "while on the road" - type of thing, not a replacement for ground internet.

All major data transfers should go over land based broadband. There simply is not enough spectrum for mobile data to replace land based broadband...


This is why we can't have nice things... :rolleyes:
 
Zarathustra[H];1040692079 said:
Then you sir, are part of the problem and why we no longer are offered unlimited data plans.

Tethering is supposed to be a temporary "while on the road" - type of thing, not a replacement for ground internet.

All major data transfers should go over land based broadband. There simply is not enough spectrum for mobile data to replace land based broadband...


This is why we can't have nice things... :rolleyes:

I wasnt tethering...
 
Zarathustra[H];1040692079 said:
Then you sir, are part of the problem and why we no longer are offered unlimited data plans.

Tethering is supposed to be a temporary "while on the road" - type of thing, not a replacement for ground internet.

All major data transfers should go over land based broadband. There simply is not enough spectrum for mobile data to replace land based broadband...

Also spectrum has nothing to do with how much someone downloads, it has to do with how many users can utlize the spectrum frequency. You actually think thats why companies are changing to tiered plans?? Haha, they are in it for the cash and controlling thier customers.
 
Also spectrum has nothing to do with how much someone downloads, it has to do with how many users can utlize the spectrum frequency. You actually think thats why companies are changing to tiered plans?? Haha, they are in it for the cash and controlling thier customers.

They are charging tiered plans because people abused the unlimited plans.

Don't get me wrong, I think US Cell Carriers are awful compared to the global competition, and I disagree with them on most all fronts, but this one I actually understand where they are going.

As soon as clever kids figured out how to hack their phones and tether them, cutting their land broadband lines and using mobile data for home use, the model quickly became unsustainable.

I actually think Verizon took the right course here (not sure about other carriers, as I haven't had them recently) where they now offer plans with caps and overage fees, but on the other hand, tethering is free and enabled by default (no hacking or monthly fee required (as long as you don't run into overages)

This way, I'm paying for my 3 gigs of data, and I can use those 3 gigs as I please, and it also serves as a disincentive for those looking to abuse the mobile data plans and cut their land broadband lines.

With a little luck, over time they will cease grandfathering in unlimited data plans, and everyone will be on a capped plan, freeing the mobile data of congestion caused by abuse.
 
Zarathustra[H];1040692232 said:
They are charging tiered plans because people abused the unlimited plans.

Don't get me wrong, I think US Cell Carriers are awful compared to the global competition, and I disagree with them on most all fronts, but this one I actually understand where they are going.

As soon as clever kids figured out how to hack their phones and tether them, cutting their land broadband lines and using mobile data for home use, the model quickly became unsustainable.

I actually think Verizon took the right course here (not sure about other carriers, as I haven't had them recently) where they now offer plans with caps and overage fees, but on the other hand, tethering is free and enabled by default (no hacking or monthly fee required (as long as you don't run into overages)

This way, I'm paying for my 3 gigs of data, and I can use those 3 gigs as I please, and it also serves as a disincentive for those looking to abuse the mobile data plans and cut their land broadband lines.

With a little luck, over time they will cease grandfathering in unlimited data plans, and everyone will be on a capped plan, freeing the mobile data of congestion caused by abuse.

Only a very small percentage abused the system that way, and i believe average for most users was around 1GB. Have you ever noticed any congestion on Verizons network? I certainly never had any at all. I noticed a slow down but that couldve been caused with more and more users connecting to the network which is not the same as downloading many GBs a month.

The network can handle lots of people downloading and still run strong. Verizon is only doing this tiered bullshit because they see it as easy money and it would lower cost on thier own network.

Why bother having a high speed network and then not expect higher downloads than the
3G network?
 
For those who complain that the bandwidth hogs on unlimited data ruined it for the rest of them, don't you think it would have been easier for these carriers to just throttle or terminate the service of these very few rather than make sweeping changes to their billing system and for all of their customers? :rolleyes:

Or, why don't Verizon and ATT for instance at least offer the CHOICE of throttling to 2G levels after you go over your tiered plan, rather than overages?

Its far more greed here at work than bandwidth hogs.
 
For those who complain that the bandwidth hogs on unlimited data ruined it for the rest of them, don't you think it would have been easier for these carriers to just throttle or terminate the service of these very few rather than make sweeping changes to their billing system and for all of their customers? :rolleyes:

Or, why don't Verizon and ATT for instance at least offer the CHOICE of throttling to 2G levels after you go over your tiered plan, rather than overages?

Its far more greed here at work than bandwidth hogs.

EXACTLY!!
 
For those who complain that the bandwidth hogs on unlimited data ruined it for the rest of them, don't you think it would have been easier for these carriers to just throttle or terminate the service of these very few rather than make sweeping changes to their billing system and for all of their customers? :rolleyes:

Or, why don't Verizon and ATT for instance at least offer the CHOICE of throttling to 2G levels after you go over your tiered plan, rather than overages?

Its far more greed here at work than bandwidth hogs.

Pretty much what I said above in post #43.
 
For those who complain that the bandwidth hogs on unlimited data ruined it for the rest of them, don't you think it would have been easier for these carriers to just throttle or terminate the service of these very few rather than make sweeping changes to their billing system and for all of their customers? :rolleyes:

Or, why don't Verizon and ATT for instance at least offer the CHOICE of throttling to 2G levels after you go over your tiered plan, rather than overages?

Its far more greed here at work than bandwidth hogs.
Stupid people always believe the corporations start selling you that other customers are the reason why they charge you more. It's almost akin to the government selling you the idea that there are rampant voting fraud or something. It's called scapegoating a small fraction, sometimes non-existent, groups of people. It's been done throughout history mostly for racial, religious, and economic reasons.
 
Its only better if you are in rural areas, other than that its the same coverage and i get much better LTE speed with Tmobile now(33Mbps) than i did with Verizon(15Mbps).



You sure? Ive seen many people use around 40GB and its still at 4G speed. Its possible you were on an overloaded tower?

100% sure. It has happened to me 5-6 times and each time i was slightly above 22GB and it will be that way until my next billing cycle (which is usually 3-5 days before my cycle ends). As soon as my next cycle begins, I get full 4G and LTE speeds.

I don't complain to tmobile since I use more data than most smartphone users and I cannot find a comparable data plan for any provider for $78 a month.
 
Zarathustra[H];1040692232 said:
They are charging tiered plans because people abused the unlimited plans.

With a little luck, over time they will cease grandfathering in unlimited data plans, and everyone will be on a capped plan, freeing the mobile data of congestion caused by abuse.

If I absolutely have to be put on a tiered data plan, why not give me a larger data allotment or even unlimited data during non-peak hours like from 12AM to 8AM, just like how Verizon gives me unlimited minutes on nights and weekends on my 450 minute plan? :confused:
 
If I absolutely have to be put on a tiered data plan, why not give me a larger data allotment or even unlimited data during non-peak hours like from 12AM to 8AM, just like how Verizon gives me unlimited minutes on nights and weekends on my 450 minute plan? :confused:

That would be a fantastic idea, and as competition heats up between the carriers, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the carriers starts doing this, and then the others will be forced to follow suit or lose customers.
 
Zarathustra[H];1040694607 said:
That would be a fantastic idea, and as competition heats up between the carriers, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the carriers starts doing this, and then the others will be forced to follow suit or lose customers.


Unlimited data will always beat a tiered plan even with those conditions. Unlimited nightly data sounds silly
 
I watch anime while at the gym, the motion of reading subtitles can put me on the elliptical for over an hour burning 1k calories EASY. I absolutely love it. I however have moved from watching online and hitting my 3gb mark in 10 days easy to downloading and converting to mp4 myself.
 
I watch anime while at the gym, the motion of reading subtitles can put me on the elliptical for over an hour burning 1k calories EASY. I absolutely love it. I however have moved from watching online and hitting my 3gb mark in 10 days easy to downloading and converting to mp4 myself.
Why your gym have no wifi? LOL
 
I have a 2GB data plan that I always use up but I am on T-Mobile and it only gets throttled instead of charging me for overages. I try to use wifi as much as possible.
 
I am on a 300 MB plan with ATT and most months I use less than 230 MB, I came close in December with 268 MB.

I use a 30" 1440p at work and a 27" 1440p monitor at home in addition to a 52" 1080p TV. You couldn't pay me to watch video or surf the web on a phone screen. All I do with my phone is email and occasionally RDP.
 
I use a 30" 1440p at work and a 27" 1440p monitor at home in addition to a 52" 1080p TV. You couldn't pay me to watch video or surf the web on a phone screen. All I do with my phone is email and occasionally RDP.

Funny, I have all of that as well and probably watch more videos on my phone than anything else. Mostly because the network at work is too slow or restrictive to watch video on and at home, I'm usually on my couch watching stuff on my phone rather than on my desktop (that's in my basement) or TV (that's usually being used by someone else).
 
I document a lot of things with photos and videos on my travels. I have the photos and videos uploaded to 4 different cloud services.

I also do a lot of remote video monitoring, which can eat up tons of data on long sessions.

My average monthly data usage is around 25-30GB.
 
T-Mobile here and I use close 6GB a month. I am on their 4GBb plan so anything after that is throttled pretty badly.
 
Hello, i am writing a dissertation about mobile phone network companies. I am trying to find out if certain customer rewards will attract the customers to the network and would make them want to stay.

It is short and completely anonymous. it will take less than 5 minutes. Every response helps

Thanks in advance

http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/106699WNOVK

UK carriers offer these rewards?? No US carriers do this as far as I know
 
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