How long does 10mb of data last on your mobile?
|Sometimes people try and get the lowest price for an item wherever they can to save money – and their mobile data plans aren’t an exception.
But in the case of data plans, this may end up backfiring on them. This is because there is so much data used on a regular basis for a typical modern phone user – checking emails, getting picture messages, or surfing the internet are incredibly common and would rapidly eat through the 10 MB allotted in the plan chosen.
Some people, if they are conscious enough of their data usage, may be able to only expend this much data over the course of a few days or a week, depending on their mobile usage and their job types. There are things you could do and not exceed this data limit – although it may be harder on many modern mobile phone users to do.
There are many people online asking for tips and advice about this type of data package – so here’s a consolidated list of some of the questions asked and some important information to keep in mind if you are thinking about switching to a plan that allows you 10 MB.
Let’s Talk About Data
Many people likely know what data is, but here’s a quick rundown for those who aren’t quite sure what it is.
Mobile data is when you use the Internet on your devices –your smartphone, tablet, etc. You could be playing online games, using social networking apps, uploading or downloading pictures or music when you are using data.
Here’s something important to note: if you have any apps with an automatic update function and you are trying to limit your data consumption, you will want to turn this off. It will only eat through more data that way.
So How Much Data Do I Use On a Regular Basis?
I’m going to include some rough estimates on how much data a smartphone will use for common activities like sending an email, so let me state how much each unit data is measured in compares to one another.
- 1 kB (kilobyte) is the smallest commonly used unit for data
- 1 MB (megabyte) is 1000 kB
- 1 GB (gigabyte) is 1000 MB
Hopefully this will help demonstrate how much data is estimated to be consumed by each activity! Here is the list below:
- Sending an email with no attachments – 15 kB
- Uploading a photo and post onto social media – 500 kB
- Browsing one website – 1 MB
- Downloading a minute worth of a streaming low definition video – 3 MB
- Downloading a single game or song – 4 MB
- Downloading a minute worth of a streaming high definition video – 10 MB
If you were trying to stick to a 10 MB data plan and you like streaming videos on a regular basis, you will have to stop that activity or else you could use up all your data in a single minute!
You are likely beginning to see how difficult it would be for the typical modern user to only use 10 MB of data a month.
The best way to keep track of your data is locating and checking your data counter on your mobile device – many have one these days exactly for this reason. It tells you exactly how much data you are using and how much you use on a regular basis. This is a good thing to look at before you try to switch to or buy a 10 MB plan.
Data Usage Calculators
So if you would like a quick estimate of how much data is used with common internet applications, these are a good place to check! Keep in mind that these are only rough estimates and that it may vary depending on the type of content you are consuming.
There are various calculators you can use, which I will also provide links to, no worries!
The first one I’m going to mention is on the website of the Office of the Communications Authority. It can be accessed through this link here. It allows you to input values through the use of sliders of how often you use a data consuming application and on what device you use it on. It then gives you an estimate on how much data you would need per month so you can buy a data plan accordingly.
The next two data calculators work in the same manner as the one offered by the Office of Communications Authority, although they are meant to help you pick out a plan based on how much you tend to use.
Verizon has a data calculator available through this link here while Sprint has a data calculator available through the link here.
Why The 10 MB Plan?
The way I see it, the main factors that someone would change to this type of plan would be because they use very little mobile data on a day-to-day or even month-to-month basis that this would actually be a better plan or the cost of other plans are too high for them to maintain.
Sometimes this doesn’t even workout well because of how much data an average user can consume within just a matter of minutes. This small package ends up becoming more expensive than other plans if you have to repeatedly pay for the plan or if you go over 10 MB.
These Are All Good Points, But Where Did This Question Come from?
Good question! Olayinka Oladele, or Olaryeankarh, was an article writer on mobiliityarena who questioned the same thing. They wrote on their experience using the 10 MB data plan offered by their mobile service provider. It provided a starting point for this article and provides a solid example about how it is incredibly difficult to make it last in the modern world – and the article is nearly 4 years old now!
Before I go into what they wrote: This writer is from Nigeria and used the Nigerian Naira to explain how much their data plan costs.
They begin by saying that they have often used the 10 MB data plan, but very quickly goes through it. At the time the article was written, it would cost N100 to use 10 MB on their network, where the 10 MB was expected to last the user a full 24 hours.
As a user who actively blogged, tweeted, chatted, and downloaded items such as games or themes among other things, it wasn’t nearly enough data. They would get to the limit in about 4 hours, if that, because of how active they are. They also noted that they could stretch the data to 10 hours if they only read and replied to emails and chatted with others.
Because of how frequently Oladele would need to buy 10 MB of data in a single week, it really quickly ran through the money they had.
The BlackBerry Internet Service, or BIS, Oladele noted, used a compression service so that there wouldn’t be as much of a burden placed upon the network and more low rates would be offered. They were using a Symbian device at the time, so it wasn’t available for their type of device.
If you want to read the article for yourself, check it out here.
Not Sure How That Article Was Related to This One…
The article I summarized above was essentially just an example I could easily give to prove how ineffective having this plan would be for many who are incredibly active on their mobile devices.
You would likely go over your limit, have to continuously buy the plan like Oladele, or you would have to be incredibly aware of what you are clicking on and how often you are doing something on your phone in order to stretch it out.
It’s much easier at the very moment you are buying it probably, but you would be better off buying a plan that offers more mobile data if you aren’t capable of moderating your data severely.
Quick Summary and Final Thoughts
So I gave a lot of specifics on data and how much data is used per web page and things like that. So let me shorten it a little bit:
- Do you like surfing the internet, just clicking on random links as you go? If you do, don’t get a small 10 MB plan.
- Do you constantly post on social media, especially videos and pictures? If you answered with a “yes,” don’t get the tiny 10 MB plan.
- Do you constantly watch videos or movies on your mobile device? If this sounds like you, do not get the 10 MB plan.
And last, and possibly most importantly:
- Do you watch your data usage? If not, then really, seriously do not get the 10 MB plan.
Technically, these are all just mere suggestions. But I wouldn’t recommend such a small plan. Based on how often I play games, watch YouTube, and surf the Internet on my mobile device, I definitely wouldn’t be able to get such a small plan. I’ll stick to my 2 GB one, thanks. I’m not even active on social media like Instagram or anything!
But this is all a matter of taste I suppose. If you would like to limit your mobile activities each day, this may be a good way to go about it.
In any case, I hope there was some good information in this article about data and data usage. Remember to keep track of your data and you may still be able to adjust your plan to how much you use in order to save money still. Good luck!
Hi
Great article, i feel so helpful from my trouble in this. It’s nice to know that the effort involved in writing a post isn’t totally just throwing a dart in the dark. I think its quite helpful.
So once again thank you to post this.
Some of Your calculations concerning data arw wrong one low definition video could be up to 10 mb while a normal video could be up to 40-50 mb and then 1 GB is 1024