Phone how much data do i need

Online since Secure site. Categories Reviews News Guides. Network Coverage Checker Improve Signal. Home Guides How much data do I need? How much data do I need? Data Calculator Web Browsing. Tweet Share. You should also read. Best phones for Snapchatters. Most Popular. Featured Mobile Deal. View all latest deals. Latest Phones. No need to top up. Top Deals View All Deals. Do you have any questions about mobile data allowance or consumption?

Feel free to get in touch with us. Broadband How much mobile phone data do I need? Available languages. Mark Whelan. With an increasing number of people relying on mobile phones for everything from directions to photography to entertainment, it's important to know how much data to purchase with a mobile phone plan.

What is mobile data? Then simply navigate to the section of the app that covers your data allowance. However, using an app to check your data usage isn't quite so simple.

That's because networks don't usually pre-install their customer account apps on phones at the point of purchase, so you may need to download the app first. A less precise but quicker way to get an idea of what sort of data allowance you need is to check which of these user profiles you match. Sound like you? You download email daily to your phone, via an on-board or downloadable email client such as Gmail.

You spend quite a bit of time browsing the internet, and download a few games or applications a month. You like to watch video on online streaming sites such as YouTube every so often and perhaps download a few songs now and then too. Sound familiar? That means you're classified as a medium data user. You'll require a data allowance of 10GB per month at least. You watch videos online several times a week and are likely to download a lot of applications and games as well as music for your phone.

You rely on your mobile internet for work as well as communication with friends and family and need to use your phone for internet access several hours daily. Does that match your usage habits? That means you're classified as a heavy user. With more and more apps requiring access to data services, it can be hard to work out what apps use how much data.

You can check exact usage on your phone. If you have an iPhone, fire up Settings, tap Mobile Data and scroll down to see which apps are using the most data.

Android users simply need to tap into the Data Usage menu in Settings to see a detailed graph of how their data usage has changed over the previous months, as well as a list of apps that are hoovering up the most data. The following is a good guide:. With this information and an honest assessment of how you use your phone for instance, how often do you stream music? If you only access the web or open email on your phone, then a smaller allowance should suit your needs.

Running low on data is a familiar problem for many of us. Wi—Fi is your friend when it comes to saving data. Regular home broadband or public Wi—Fi hotspots mean you can download whatever you need before you head out and shift to 3G or 4G networks. Netflix, Amazon Prime and BBC iPlayer all allow you to download programmes over Wi—Fi, meaning that as long as you have enough storage space on your smartphone, you can stash whatever shows you want to watch without having to use data.

This is particularly handy for train journeys, where 4G network access can patchy. Likewise, Spotify and Apple Music allow you to download offline music, so you can listen to playlists, albums and podcasts without having to stream them.

Remember, too, that Google Maps allows you to download entire towns, cities and regions, meaning you can use your phone in Airplane mode and still get from A to B.

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Sam Baran. Updated Apr 23, What changed? Learn more about how we fact check. Navigate Mobile Phone Plans In this guide. Mobile data usage calculator What does mobile data usage mean? Why is my phone using so much data?

What uses the most mobile data? Need more data? Compare big data mobile plans below How do I stop my phone from using so much data? Checking your mobile data usage with your provider What if your mobile data usage isn't accurate? Frequently asked questions Start comparing.