Smart phone data speeds

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 Green Porridge 07 Oct 2014
Hi,

So after two recent trips where I've seen the benefits of a smart phone over my old battered on-its-way-out thing, I've decided to get with the century. The problem is, I find it very hard to get a feel for what is fast/slow, good/bad, lots of data/hardly any. I imagine I would be mostly using data for things like looking up weather forecasts, train times, quickly checking something on the internet (restaurant opening times etc.) just quickly whilst on the go. I'm not planning on watching videos on youtube, etc. Maybe I'd download the occasional podcast, but then I doubt more than a 30 minute show per month. Does 300Mb per month at 7.2 MBit/s sound like far too much/far too little or frustratingly slow for that bit of browsing? I'm particularly struggling with how fast that really is.

Any advice would be most welcome - as I said, I'm totally new to smart phones and mobile internet, so any general pointers would be welcome as well! I'm looking currently at a Samsung galaxy s4 mini, if it makes any difference.

Cheers!
 Alan M 07 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:
300mb per month to me sounds like not enough. Remember if you are away from wifi (and depending on your settings) your apps will use data to update, find locations, transmit data etc eating in to the 300mb before you even do any internet searching etc.

Just checked my data use in the last week I have used 156mb on the internet, 86mb on the Facebook, 347mb on Google Play store, 10.37mb on Google maps and 12mb downloading emails.

I have unlimited 4g data and can use up to 10GB a month I stream a lot on Youtube, SkyGO, Iplayer etc. I rarely use wifi as the 4G in my area is super fast. I will also tether laptops and tablets to the mobile due to the speed of the 4G networks obviously this is very data intensive.
Post edited at 22:19
 Gazlynn 07 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:


I've got 500 meg a month on my tariff but don't go anywhere near that. I use it up on the occasional sat navigation trip, normal stuff like you mentioned. If I need to download anything I normally wait till I'm at a wifi spot as it can be painfully slow. 300 meg should be bang on I reckon.

Cheers

Gaz
In reply to Alan M:

Well, I've found a deal where I can change it up or down monthly as I wish for very little cost. Fortunately where I work, and at home I can be on wifi virtually all the time.

Do you have any thoughts about the 7.2 MBit/s speed? A quick google suggests that if that all works correctly, it's about 20 minutes for a gigabite, which seems plenty! Is that realistic?
 Alan M 07 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:
> Well, I've found a deal where I can change it up or down monthly as I wish for very little cost. Fortunately where I work, and at home I can be on wifi virtually all the time.

If you can do the most of your internet stuff on wifi then like the other poster 300mb might be ok. I would recommend start on the slightly higher contract maybe up to 1GB for a month or two see how your use is and then down grade/upgrade the contract as appropriate.

> Do you have any thoughts about the 7.2 MBit/s speed? A quick google suggests that if that all works correctly, it's about 20 minutes for a gigabite, which seems plenty! Is that realistic?

Its hard to say on the face of it 7.2mbps is an ok speed many broadband users will only be getting that in their homes. The problem is the speed of the mobile network is highly variable so saying what speed you will get will depend on many variables etc. I have just ran a speed test on the 4G network on partial signal in this area my phone is clocking speeds of over 20mbps download I have seen it above 40mbps (on partial signal). Outside of the 4g network in 3G areas I have seen speeds drop as low as 2mbps. Its hard to say what speed you will actually get.
Post edited at 22:35
 FreshSlate 08 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:
If the galaxy mini is the size you're after then it's at least a (downgrade of) a flagship model. I prefer the bigger and higher spec originals, but to be fair they are A) bigger B) More expensive.

What would you use it for on the internet? (How many videos/image sites, how much browsing).


300mb is relatively puny. The 7.2mb/s could chew through that in about 5 minutes at max speed. 1gb at least these days, that should be relatively cheap too. 300 mb would get you your emails/weather app updates for a month but not a whole lot more (some very light browsing). I know your browsing is light but A) Overhead is good B) Usage can/will change over 2 years.


I got a s3 on a 1gb tariff once, it's easily doable. But after upgrading to 4g and to a better phone then 2-3 gb became the average for me. However, I did just use around just below 5gb last month (3 days without internet at home).

The better the phone/internet service the more data you will use. The S5 has a download booster (4g + wifi combined for silly speeds) which data provided sees you leaving the 4g on almost permanently for the lulz).
Post edited at 02:36
In reply to FreshSlate:

Thanks all. It sounds like I'm not going to go too far wrong then. The good thing is, the package I'm looking at is one of the few I can find that lets you buy extra chunks of data as and when you need them, which probably makes it the right package for me not knowing how much I'll need! The calculation is made even more difficult because I don't have a smart phone at the moment to see what I do use. I'm sure what I think I'll use, and what I'll actually use when I get it will diverge when I've got the thing in my hand, and just want to check one more thing....

Cheers!
 ByEek 08 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:

I have just started contracting away from home and have 1GB a month. It just about lasts, but it is tight. For me, looking up technical web pages is the bulk of my data allowance followed by Facebook which is alarmingly high. However, just over one week into the month, the OS has used 4MB, Twitter (I don't use Twitter) 4MB and other services / apps I don't use are on about 8MB.

In fact I think I need to do something about all this. That is a lot of data I am seeing nothing from.

Speedwise. I am on Vodafone. Data connections are very good if you get the H+ symbol but forget even bothering in E or G modes which is basically anywhere that isn't the centre of a town.
 steve taylor 08 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:

I have been using the S4 mini for a year now - great phone, no issues whatsoever.
Ferret 08 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:

I went from very old dummy phone (grudgingly) to new tech early this year. Went for Samsung Galaxy S4 mini. Nothing much to compare with (bar Madame Ferrefts 2 years experience of a sony experia thingy) but it seems easy to use and I am somebody with absolutely no interest with fiddling with things/faffing with tech.

I have 250mb per month and rarely use even half of that. Light use plus I'm on wifi while sat in office and at home. Even when travelling I don't seem to consume much data.

I'd say if you see it as a tool to look stuff up on/check things/do a bit of social media you would be fine. If you intend gaming/you tubing/watching films/spending your life glued to flickering screen obviously not. I haven't found myself 'needing' internet access just because I have it at fingertips so suddenly having it hasn't changed my habits that much.

The one thing I can't get used to though (and its probably same on all modern phones) is how poor the battery life is. I have to charge it most days despite never having GPS on and even if I am away for a while and turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as a result it still doesn't last long. To my (grumpy) mind, turning wifi and especially Bluetooth off and on seems counterproductive as they are there to hook up on spec, whenever possible.... my old phone had Bluetooth on all the time and lasted a week or so.

S4 mini isn't a bad size either - larger than I used to have but not so much that it feels unwieldy or doesn't easily fit in pockets etc.
 Womble 08 Oct 2014
In reply to Green Porridge:

I still have 500mb per month and usually stick to it as long as I am using WIFI. it will do web pages/weather/news for a month absolutely fine. Recently I have started downloading 40 min podcasts which are a few (5-8) MB. Do that once a day and it could use a big chunk of data.

Nowadays i would go for min 1GB just to make sure i dont go over. But if i got 4G i would get a huge limit (>5GB) as greater speed means you are more likely to use it.

Pretty much all monthly paying plans allow you to flex up your data allowance (and others)past your contracted ammount for a fee. Then you could remove in due course.

However that can be a faff. I would go for giff gaff sim card or something and choose a package - these are changable monthly so can be useful


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