How Long Does It Take To Use 2gb Of Data

Our love affair with information is strong. So stiff, in fact, that wireless carriers are doubling down on unlimited data.

Rather than bumping upwards to unlimited, dig into your habits and learn more about your favorite apps. You lot can probable cut downwardly your data usage with a few simple tweaks. And y'all may find you can reduce your data program — and your monthly neb — in the process.

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To figure out how much data y'all really need, take these three steps:

Know how much data you use. Don't worry, you don't need to continue a log. Your phone already tracks this for you.
Sympathise how much data your apps use. Exercise y'all know how much data Netflix uses or how many streaming settings Spotify offers? Read on and you will.
Larn how to adapt your usage. Pocket-size tweaks to your apps' beliefs, and your own, tin cut the corporeality of data yous use each calendar month.

In one case y'all've adapted and tracked your data for calendar month or two, you'll know how much data y'all really need. So you lot can notice the plan that best fits your usage.

How much data y'all use

The average smartphone owner uses 2GB to 5GB of data each month. To know whether your usage falls above or below that threshold, look no further than your own telephone.

Android data usage — Android information usage

Most phones track overall information usage. They likewise suspension down information usage past app, and so you can meet how many of your precious gigabytes are existence drained by Spotify or Instagram.

To find your data usage on an Android device, go to "Settings," then "Data usage." You lot'll see your total usage for a given date range, which yous can modify to align with your billing bike, plus a breakdown past awarding. On an iPhone, the same information is in "Settings" under "Cellular." If you've never set a engagement range, information technology will bear witness your cumulative usage from the time you activated the phone. You can click "Reset Statistics" to start tracking your usage from a specific date. More on that below.

Most carriers as well accept a mobile app that will runway your data usage. The My Verizon Mobile app, for case, calculates data usage for each line on your account.

How much data your apps use

As you lot were checking your stats, you probably noticed that some apps are more greedy than others. It's common cognition that streaming video or music uses heaps of data.

Streaming 30 minutes of video per day via apps such as Facebook, YouTube or Netflix uses more than 5GB of data in a month, for instance. And streaming an hour of music per twenty-four hours adds up to almost 2GB over 30 days, according to Verizon Wireless's Data Computer .

What's not mutual knowledge is how much information usage varies by app and streaming quality. Those can be big variables, so understanding the divergence is of import. Spotify has iv streaming settings. Google Play has three. YouTube has 7 and volition adjust yours based on your connexion, unless you select a streaming quality.

Sound confusing? That's because it is. Nosotros broke downward the data burned by some of your favorite apps and so y'all can analyze your own usage.

App	Data usage by streaming quality
Spotify	Data quality tiers: Depression: Listen to roughly 95 hours of music for 1GB of information. Normal: Listen to roughly 24 hours of music for 1GB of information. Loftier: Mind to roughly xiv hours of music for 1GB of data. Very high: Listen to roughly 7 hours of music for 1GB of data.
YouTube	Estimates for common YouTube resolutions viewed on mobile:* SD (480p): Watch about 2 hours of video for 1GB. HD (720p): Sentinel about fifty minutes of video for 1GB. Full Hard disk drive (1080p): Watch about thirty minutes of video for 1GB. 4K (2160p): Picket about 6 minutes of video for 1GB. *Based on calculations conducted past tech website Makeuseof.com.
Netflix	Settings that balance data usage: Automated: Lookout man about four hours of video for 1GB of data. Save information: Watch virtually 6 hours of video for 1GB of data. Maximum data: Lookout man about 20 minutes of video for 1GB of data.

How to accommodate your usage

Once you know how much data your apps utilize, you can take steps to subtract your usage — and that doesn't necessarily mean watching fewer videos. From your settings carte, you lot tin turn off certain apps then they don't use data at all, or y'all can adapt the settings in your favorite apps to reduce your data usage without really changing how you use your telephone. You lot'll need to do this in each app, though you tin focus on the ones that accept up the most data.

Switch to a lower streaming quality on music and video apps. You can commonly observe this option in each app's Settings menu.

Y'all should also check the settings on your social media apps, many of which also play videos. Facebook, for example, automatically plays videos in your feed every bit you roll. This can eat up a lot of information. Manage this feature past going to "App Settings" while in your Facebook app and clicking on "Autoplay." Then select either "Never Autoplay Videos" or choose to play them just when continued to Wi-Fi.

That brings the states to the next great mode to minimize your data usage: Wi-Fi.

When you connect to Wi-Fi, you cease using cellular data. That ways y'all can stream, download and upload to your eye's content without cutting into your data allocation.

If you lot always listen to Spotify on your commute, download your playlist while you're home and connected to Wi-Fi, then heed in offline mode and relieve your data for something else, suggests Phil Burrows, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless.

Educating yourself on data should go a long fashion toward managing your usage. Merely if you're all the same running upwards high data numbers and can't figure out why, Burrows suggests talking to your carrier.

"Don't exist afraid to swing by," Burrows says. "Whether it's via Web chat or with someone at the store, these guys live, eat and breathe this stuff and they tin walk you through how you're using your phone."

Revisiting your plan

After you've made adjustments — to your apps' beliefs and your ain — you can decide how many gigabytes you actually need. A good dominion of thumb is to wait a calendar month or two for your usage to reverberate your new habits. So bank check your bill, your carrier's app or your phone's data usage meter. If your usage is well under your current program'southward limits, information technology might be fourth dimension to switch plans — or even providers.

Each wireless company structures its plans differently. The tabular array below will help you lot compare pricing amongst the four main carriers. Continue in mind features, like unlimited video or music streaming, when choosing a plan. And don't forget to consider coverage. Saving $10 per month on a information parcel — prepaid or traditional — won't mean much if y'all can't utilize your phone where y'all want.