Doing the math... should I or shouldn't I?!

[daredogg]

For the first time since I've been with PM (Aug 2016)... I've used up my data before my renewal date. I am currently on a 90 day 3GB LTE plan for $111. It breaks down to $37 every 30 days, not including any rewards or taxes. The renewal date is October 8th, so I find myself considering changing plans...

T H E   M A T H

Alright, so I get 3072 MB of data every 90 days. I'm going to convert everything to MBs, just for emphasis. For the 4.5 GB plan, that's 4608 MB every 30 days. To compare apples to apples, over 90 days, that's 13824 MB. So, in changing my plan, I end up getting an extra 10752 MB over 90 days... that's a 350% increase in data. To get those extra 10.7 GB it'll cost me an extra $9 over 90 days... that breaks down to $0.837 per GB... or for those of you that like BIG little numbers... $0.000837 per MB!

I know some of you number crunchers out there have figured out the cost per GB for the other PM plans. Please share those in helping me make my decision. If I chose the $45 plan, I know those averages will go down even more. I'm looking for a balance of data and cost. I'm not a heavy data user, but when I need it, it's nice to have.

[Luddite]

@hTideGnow  No. Thread is also 3 years old. 🤔

[hTideGnow]

@CS_Agent @Luddite @ is this a spam?

[daredogg]

I hear what you're saying @RobertQc about buying the 1GB add-on and having it there for the odd time I have an overage. I will consider that option before making my choice. I was really holding out for a plan with a $30 price point before downgrading from my LTE plan.

[daredogg]

@srlawren I've already had a few conversations about 3G vs LTE and I'd be okay with dropping down in speed. I don't use YouTube on my phone, so I don't need the speed. Most of the apps I use don't use much data, so really 3G is sufficient. I was hoping for a $30 plan with maybe 2GB of data, but can always snag that in future if PM offers something.

[daredogg]

Thanks @Anonymous for your breakdown of your usage. I guess it always depends on the individual. I barely use data either, but a went on a few outtings lately where I took a lot of photos. They uploaded to iCloud and I sent a few videos and photos by message. One day I used 179 MB which is a LOT for me. Long and short of it, I found two offending apps that were sucking the data. The photos uploading to the cloud, I shut off cellular data for that. It used 1.3 GB. The other was an app called Whisper that used 536 MB over 3 weeks. It's very heavy with loading photos people post. Unless I decide to upgrade my plan, those apps will be restricted.

[daredogg]

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@will13am wrote: 

In this situation, it is a no brainer, get the $40/4.5GB plan.  BTW, why did you not jump on the 2016 fall promo when it was available?  Same price, 12GB every 90 days. 

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I didn't jump on it because of all the problems surrounding it. It seemed every 3rd person had some sort of glitch and I didn't want to have no service. Looking back on it, yes, wish I would have grabbed it then.

[RobertQc]

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@daredogg wrote:

For the first time since I've been with PM (Aug 2016)... I've used up my data before my renewal date.

To get those extra 10.7 GB it'll cost me an extra $9 over 90 days... 

. I'm not a heavy data user, but when I need it, it's nice to have.

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So if you go over once every 25 months (lets just round to 750 days) paying $9 per 90 days extra that would have cost you $75+tax to have that larger data plan that you would only have used once.

At that price you should use @Anonymous logic and just buy a 1gb add on every 2 years. (Maybe even renew early depending on how close your renewal date is) Even if it was only $1 more for 10,000,000gb if you don't use it 99% of the time why spend $1 more and can deal with your problem when the SHTF

[srlawren]

@daredogg don't forget that your speed will also go down.  If you do find yourself wanting/needing to use more data and don't mind it being slower, then it's a no-brainer to upgrade.  

[Anonymous]

When I first hesitatingly transitioned to pre-paid here from Telus post-paid I went through a whole examination of my use for 2017. I found I was using far less than I imagined for calls, text and REALLY data (on the handset).

So I came here and signed up for a $35 BYO with 500mb. I still don't use very much. So with will13am's consumer tip of pay as little as possible per month and then consume as you go with add-ons...I'm now on $10 with 200 minutes and 200mb. I think I've used about six of the 200 minutes so far in about 2 weeks. I'm at about 22 for the 50 minutes so that's getting there and just a handful of texts and then only about 55mb of data. No really... I hardly use my phone 🙂

I may opt to change to the 1gb as it's cheaper per gig but we'll see. 200mb would have to last me 2 months to be cheaper than in a 500mb plan. 1gb would have to last 6 months. The 200 to 400 minutes is only barely different.

So really examine what you truly use. Not just "well I don't want any caps". That's what I thought at first. Not now.

[will13am]

@daredogg, don't hoard expiring data.  When you buy in bulk, it costs less per unit.  Because the data expires, you need to do the arithmetic a little differently.  Estimate with conservatism the maximum reasonable amount of data you will likely use in a renewal period.  Take that number and divide by cost per renewal.  That is your true data cost.

In this situation, it is a no brainer, get the $40/4.5GB plan.  BTW, why did you not jump on the 2016 fall promo when it was available?  Same price, 12GB every 90 days.