How Many Gb Of Data Do I Need For Wifi Only Tablet

Our love affair with data is stiff. Then strong, in fact, that wireless carriers are doubling downward on unlimited data.

Rather than bumping up to unlimited, dig into your habits and learn more most your favorite apps. You can likely cutting down your information usage with a few elementary tweaks. And yous may notice you tin can reduce your data plan — and your monthly beak — in the procedure.

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To figure out how much information you really demand, accept these three steps:

Know how much data you apply. Don't worry, you don't need to keep a log. Your telephone already tracks this for you.
Understand how much information your apps use. Do you lot know how much data Netflix uses or how many streaming settings Spotify offers? Read on and yous volition.
Learn how to adjust your usage. Small tweaks to your apps' behavior, and your own, can cutting the amount of data y'all utilize each month.

Once you've adjusted and tracked your data for month or two, you lot'll know how much data you really demand. Then you can discover the plan that best fits your usage.

How much data you use

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

Nigh phones track overall data usage. They also suspension down information usage by app, and then yous tin can see how many of your precious gigabytes are being tuckered by Spotify or Instagram.

To notice your data usage on an Android device, go to "Settings," so "Information usage." You'll see your total usage for a given date range, which y'all can change to align with your billing wheel, plus a breakdown past application. On an iPhone, the aforementioned information is in "Settings" under "Cellular." If yous've never set up a date range, it volition show your cumulative usage from the time you activated the phone. You tin click "Reset Statistics" to start tracking your usage from a specific engagement. More than on that below.

About carriers also have a mobile app that will track your data usage. The My Verizon Mobile app, for example, calculates data usage for each line on your account.

How much data your apps use

As yous 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 xxx minutes of video per day via apps such as Facebook, YouTube or Netflix uses more than 5GB of data in a month, for case. And streaming an hr of music per mean solar day adds up to virtually 2GB over 30 days, according to Verizon Wireless'due south Data Calculator .

What'southward not common knowledge is how much information usage varies by app and streaming quality. Those can exist big variables, so understanding the difference is of import. Spotify has iv streaming settings. Google Play has three. YouTube has vii and will adjust yours based on your connection, unless you select a streaming quality.

Sound confusing? That'south because information technology is. We broke down the data burned past some of your favorite apps so you tin can analyze your own usage.

App	Data usage by streaming quality
Spotify	Normal: Mind to roughly 24 hours of music for 1GB of data. High: Heed to roughly xiv hours of music for 1GB of data. Extreme: Listen to roughly 7 hours of music for 1GB of data.
Google Play	Stream about 7 hours of music per gigabyte at the highest quality setting. Normal and depression-quality settings are too available.
Pandora	Listen to almost 35 hours of music for 1GB of data.
YouTube	Varies based on video quality, which ranges from 240p to 1080p and tin can exist adjusted manually. Verizon customers in the greater New York City metro expanse used an average of 24MB per infinitesimal while on YouTube in February 2016, according to network usage statistics from the carrier. At that rate, you'd burn through close to i.5GB in an hour.
Netflix	Stream most ane hour of standard-definition video per gigabyte. The app uses equally much as 3GB per 60 minutes if streaming in HD.
Facebook and Instagram	Use for more viii hours, with autoplay turned off, per gigabyte. Watching videos or uploading photos or videos uses more than data.

How to adjust your usage

In one case y'all know how much data your apps use, you can accept steps to decrease your usage — and that doesn't necessarily mean watching fewer videos. From your settings menu, yous tin plow off certain apps then they don't use data at all, or you tin adjust the settings in your favorite apps to reduce your data usage without really irresolute how y'all utilise your phone. You'll need to do this in each app, though you tin can focus on the ones that take up the nearly information.

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

You should also check the settings on your social media apps, many of which also play videos. Facebook, for case, automatically plays videos in your feed as you lot scroll. This can eat upwardly a lot of data. Manage this feature by going to "App Settings" while in your Facebook app and clicking on "Autoplay." Then select either "Never Autoplay Videos" or choose to play them simply when connected to Wi-Fi.

That brings us to the next great way to minimize your data usage: Wi-Fi.

When you connect to Wi-Fi, you finish using cellular data. That means you can stream, download and upload to your eye'due south content without cutting into your information allotment.

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

Educating yourself on information should go a long style toward managing your usage. Merely if you're withal running up high data numbers and can't figure out why, Burrows suggests talking to your carrier.

"Don't be afraid to swing by," Burrows says. "Whether information technology's via Web chat or with someone at the store, these guys alive, eat and exhale this stuff and they can walk you through how you're using your telephone."

Revisiting your plan

Later you've made adjustments — to your apps' behavior and your own — yous can determine how many gigabytes you lot really demand. A good dominion of pollex is to expect a month or 2 for your usage to reflect your new habits. Then check your bill, your carrier's app or your phone's data usage meter. If your usage is well under your electric current plan's limits, it might be time to switch plans — or even providers.

Each wireless company structures its plans differently. The table below volition aid you compare pricing among the four main carriers. Proceed in mind features, like unlimited video or music streaming, when choosing a plan. And don't forget to consider coverage. Saving $x per calendar month on a data package — prepaid or traditional — won't mean much if you can't use your phone where you want.