Data usage question...

[quickdodge®]

Just picked up a smart phone and was curious as to what constitutes using data. Mainly during texting. I have a cap on data usage and I don't intentionally use data (as in I don't use the internet or anything like that). My question is when sending/receiving picture texts, is data being used?

[RandomGuy]

Yeah,
A cameraphone picture message will probably use ~500kb or half a megabyte of bandwidth. Same goes with a 500kb picture message you receive.

This all depends on the phone and settings, but it's a good guestimate.

[ISAtlanta300]

Yes, unless you're on wifi. Unless you really text pics or videos back and forth, regular text messages won't amount to much.

[civicturbo10]

link - Messaging Unlimited phone service from AT&T (http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/services/messagingunlimited-sku1160055.html#fbid=Jm0L6_4lygB)

Well, typically texting, sending pictures, texts, videos messaging over SMS is part of the texting package. This should be the same for the big post pay players. Pre-pay and second tier providers may be different.

AT&T use to have a $5 and $20 unlimited texting plan. For family plans it makes sense to get the unlimited. Currently it just seems the $20 plan is available. But with technology changing so fast aka Whatsapp, google voice etc, you can get away with only having the $5 text plan or no text plan at all. Whatsapp is prob minimal data used, same with google voice i would imagine. You can test it real easy and use the newer technology exclusively and change month to month having texting turned on\ off . Trust me i hated texting for longest time. But the new technology out there it's much easier. Aka, on my pc texting at work, voice to text.... and so on. I"m all about speed hence why i hate traffic and got me a peach pass b/c i value my time. And i I hate texting in general when i can talk way faster than typing but i see why kids like to text...stealth, private, and a whold plethora or reasons.

[Julio]

Qdizze, not sure why get a smartphone and watching data..smartphones are data hogs.

[civicturbo10]

^ this is true. Watching netflix over the air consumes consumes 400mb min of my 2 gig allocation per month, thats only 30 mins. Wifi is your friend here. But i mostly use tiny apps like paypal, banking, ebay, craigs to keep up on the fly and answer questions. And can't forget email alert from all over the forums, job etc. On the fly, def helps to keep up to date and micro manage your time efficiently. When your standing in line soaking in information and reacting that is invaluable....

[Bacon]

I use 10gb of data a month but I use my phone all the time. If you don't plan to use it that much then you should be fine.

[Vteckidd]

10 GB of data? HOLY SHIT.

I have a 2 GB cap, i come near it monthly but never go over it. use WIFI as much as possible, and stay off facebook, pandora, etc

[l Gizzy l]

10 GB of data? HOLY SHIT.

I have a 2 GB cap, i come near it monthly but never go over it. use WIFI as much as possible, and stay off facebook, pandora, etc

exact same here, normally go near my cap about 2 weeks in, and have to turn off my data so I dont go over :( xD

[quickdodge®]

Qdizze, not sure why get a smartphone and watching data..smartphones are data hogs.

Because Verizon's basic phones are crap and I got this Samsung Galaxy for free and decided to go with it. I did find, though, that I can turn data use off. I have a button I press and it restricts the use of data. I haven't used any in the last 2 days now.

[Bacon]

That 10GB of data is shared between three smart phones though. My phone might use 5 of that at most.

[BanginJimmy]

I use about 7GB a month, but I stream Pandora at work nearly every day. It works out to about 250MB a day, closer to 300 if I work OT. The downside is that I have to pay full retail for my phone to keep my unlimited, unmetered data plan.

[nelson9995]

Because Verizon's basic phones are crap and I got this Samsung Galaxy for free and decided to go with it. I did find, though, that I can turn data use off. I have a button I press and it restricts the use of data. I haven't used any in the last 2 days now.

That's a good idea, but if someone sends you a pic message, the pic won't download and vice versa.


I use about 7GB a month, but I stream Pandora at work nearly every day. It works out to about 250MB a day, closer to 300 if I work OT. The downside is that I have to pay full retail for my phone to keep my unlimited, unmetered data plan.

Verizon sucks for that reason lol.
ATT as long as you have it you are grandfathered in.

I also have unlimited but I never even come close to 1gb. I STAY on my phone (trust me, at work I am busy 1.5/8 hours). But, I also stay on wifi at work and wifi at home.

[quickdodge®]

That's a good idea, but if someone sends you a pic message, the pic won't download and vice versa.

I know about the pic messaging thing. I receive/send maybe 2 or 3 pictures a month. Most of the time less than that. And usually a get a text telling me I will be receiving one so I will turn on MOBILE DATA so I can get it. Same with sending. I just turn it on and send.

[Julio]

10 gigs a month ? Wow.. I don't use pandora anymore, actually, I dont stream on my phone anymore.. But shoot, I barely use 4 on the phone or the 3 on the Ipad.. Bandwith hogs ! Lol

[quickdodge®]

Well after 3 weeks of having this phone, I do really like it. I did turn the data on and watched two two minute movie trailers on IMDB and used up 170mb of data just off that, lolol. But other than that, I'm liking the phone and some of the features that I do use.

[Elbow]

I don't have a smart phone but have a good browser and smart phone type stuff on my phone, so added a 300mb monthly limit and only once reached half the limit. It has WiFi so when possible I'm using that instead.

All I do is browse the internet sometimes, check e-mail, and sometimes post on forums and what not.

I think YouTube and streaming things is what racks up the data.

[green91]

Generally text are sent as SMS and pictures/videos are sent as MMS, don't use data plan. There are obviously exceptions but normally they don't.

I'm a VERY heavy data user and i've only hit 5gb one month, im usually ~2gb.

[quickdodge®]

Not too bad this month. My billing cycle ends tonight and I've used 196mb of data. But that includes watching those two two minute videos that used up 170 of that. So really I just used about 26mb. I can deal with that.

[Echonova]

I have a dumb phone and love it... Except for texting. As much as I despise texting, it would be easier with a Qwerty keyboard or something.

[SPOOLIN]

i still have an unlimited plan with ATT. They meter it at 3GB on 3g, or they slow it down at 5GB if using 4gLTE. I never come close to either of those though and im a FB, txt, email, google whore on my iphone.

considering my job is of the information tech field, i dont know how i keep it under lol

[oreign]

damn data caps. used around 12-15 gigs a month when i had my old phone. doesn't compare to my 300ish gigs i use on my desktop, though.

[green91]

I think I'm gonna monitor data consumption on my main PC at work. Should be entertaining.

[ezone]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/11/u8e7ubyj.jpg
There is something wrong with my data it hasn't been half a month and I've already reached my limit
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Bacon]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/11/u8e7ubyj.jpg
There is something wrong with my data it hasn't been half a month and I've already reached my limit
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Holy shit. I feel great about my data consumption now.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk.

[BanginJimmy]

I thought my 7 was insane. I steam Pandora for 8+ hours a day and dont get anywhere close to 10gigs a month. What are you doing to use that much, DLing prons?

[ezone]

I do nothing but pandora, mild Facebook and Tapatalk use, a couple of texts, one or two YouTube videos and that's about it. I hardly play games on my phone. Im going to have to talk with verizon about this issue cause it's crazy.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[cmercer89]

I have the same phone.. and it used 5 gigs in less than 2 hours one night. And I didn't touch it

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[ezone]

I have the same phone.. and it used 5 gigs in less than 2 hours one night. And I didn't touch it

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Could it be a faulty phone? This is my second galaxy and i never had this issue with my previous one.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2