What's the fastest you've blown through data?

[Mystery]

If you don't already have My Data Manager on your phone, get it....keeps tracks of your data pretty accurately.

That said, I needed to refresh the plan on the app on my son's phone, and when I checked his data usage in Self Serve, he blew through 11.8 GB of data between Feb 4 and Feb 18 (today).

I didn't know it was possible to eat through 12GB that fast!

Counting my blessings we're on pay-as-you-go!

How fast have you blown through your data allowance?

[torontokris]

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@torontokriswrote:

@Mystery also go into WiFi and advanced settings and turn off "about bad WiFi connections" that turns off WiFi and uses Mobile network. So your son could be at home thinking he's on WiFi but it's actually on mobile network

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True but that's 100mb one time. YouTube depending on the video quality is like 50-100mb per video. 

[MoreYummy]

Fastest way to use the data is to use speedtest on LTE.

[torontokris]

@Mystery also go into WiFi and advanced settings and turn off "about bad WiFi connections" that turns off WiFi and uses Mobile network. So your son could be at home thinking he's on WiFi but it's actually on mobile network

[torontokris]

@Mystery @YouTube is a data killer. Have him watch in lower quality or on WiFi only. I believe one of the screen shots says the next worst usage was 3mb.

There is also data saver options and you can restrict certain apps. You can also set a general data warning and limits. So you could put a warning at 1gb and cut it off at 2gb... It could be turned off but least it will give a warning like hey your using lots of data... 

[Anonymous]

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@Mysterywrote:

Seems pretty conclusive that he ran YouTube way too long this weekend! He'll learn his lesson!

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@Mystery, It's good that he learn the lesson now when there are no overage charges!  Hopefully he'll remember it down the road.

[Mystery]

His wifi must have dropped. I don't stream as much but I would be turning off my data and have the wifi cut out on me while I stream than to waste it so early.

Serves him right. 🙂 

[Mystery]

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@Anonymouswrote:

@Mystery, What has your son been doing on the phone?  Is he constantly watching videos?  Thats a lot of data for just 4 days.  If he has an android phone, there should be a built in data tracker.  Might not be perfectly accurate, but would give you an idea.

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Thanks, I forgot about that. I checked it, and it does seem that it racked up lot of mileage in the last day or two! 

His YouTube app used 10gb data since mid January, with a spike this weekend (Screenshot 1). Today was 3gb! (Screenshot 2).

Seems pretty conclusive that he ran YouTube way too long this weekend! He'll learn his lesson!

[Luddite]

Hopefully the moderators will shead some light tomorrow.

[Mystery]

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@kav2001cwrote:

I actually saw one of my kids blow the 12GB in about 5 weeks

All YouTube really, just a few hundred MB elsewhere

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But this is only 2 weeks, and he's at school all day, plays rep hockey and baseball tryouts. He's been playing a lot of PS4 lately, so I find it difficult to see him giving more time to his phone. LOL!

[Luddite]

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@Korthwrote:

There is a cheap and dirty but easy fix for limited data consumption on heavy Youtube/Netflix viewing ... buy a mobile device with lesser screen resolution, the online streaming services normally autodetect the "best" quality the receiving device can display, they like saving data bandwidth on their end too.

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Yes, I noticed that when testing a 3G plan vs LTE. 

[Mystery]

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@Ludditewrote:

@Mystery If he has an iPhone be sure WiFi assist is OFF. That can use cellular data even when he is connected to wifi.

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Thanks for the tip. He doesn't though...he has a Sony Xperia C4. 

[Korth]

There is a cheap and dirty but easy fix for limited data consumption on heavy Youtube/Netflix viewing ... buy a mobile device with lesser screen resolution, the online streaming services normally autodetect the "best" quality the receiving device can display, they like saving data bandwidth on their end too.

[kav2001c]

I actually saw one of my kids blow the 12GB in about 5 weeks

All YouTube really, just a few hundred MB elsewhere

[Luddite]

@Mystery If he has an iPhone be sure WiFi assist is OFF. That can use cellular data even when he is connected to wifi.

[Korth]

I offer this rough perspective ...

One email, no attachments = <0.001GB

Webpage, typical = <0.001GB

Webpage, morbidly obese = <0.006GB

Photo, 16MP 3840x2160, compressed = 0.003GB

Photo, 16MP 3840x2160, uncompressed = 0.008GB

Audio/music, CD quality, streaming = ~0.001GB/min, ~0.065GB/hr

Audio/music, HD quality, streaming = ~0.002GB/min, ~0.125GB/hr

Video, SD/480p, streaming = ~0.3GB/hr (30fps), ~0.6GB/hr (60fps)

Video, HD/720p, streaming = ~0.75GB/hr (30fps), ~1.5GB/hr (60fps)

Video, HD/1080p, streaming = ~1.5GB/hr (30fps), ~3.0GB/hr (60fps)

Video, 4K/2160p, streaming = ~7.0GB/hr (30fps)

FaceTime (iOS) = 0.003GB/min, 0.18GB/hr

Skype video call = 0.024GB/min and 1.44GB/hr (Normal), 0.072GB/min and 4.32GB/hr (HD)

Online gaming = <0.002GB/hr to 0.100GB+/hr (varies)

Download mobile software/app/game, average = <0.060GB (Android), <0.090GB (iOS)

Download mobile firmware or game, large = 0.1GB to 0.5GB+ (varies)

Background data = <0.001GB/min (constant trickle)

P2P filesharing (uncapped by network) = <0.15GB/min and <9.0GB/hr (3G/HSPA+ 2.5Mbps), <6.6GB/min and <396.0GB/hr (LTE 110Mbps)

[Mystery]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I feel like there must be a glitch. I've just private msg'ed the @CS_Agent to look into the possibility of the data not resetting on Feb 4th.  Usually he's anywhere between 6-8 GB in 90 days, and his data tracker said he used up about 5-6 GB since Feb 4. Lo and behold, it's like this cycle got added to the last cycle and he consumed 11.8GB!

I'm usually more on top of his data monitoring but he was away for a week before the plan renewed and I forgot to check where he was at when he came back into town Feb 4th. (I don't expect it to be higher than 6GB though because he had a no-phones ban while he was away on his one-week school trip).

Hopefully the Mods can help me out and look deeper into this.

[Wolfcore]

Wow, that's extremely quick. I've never actually blown through the whole 12gb yet, the most was 10gb. I really don't understand how someone can do that, especially if they have internet at home. Most places seem to have free wifi these days too.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Mystery, What has your son been doing on the phone?  Is he constantly watching videos?  Thats a lot of data for just 4 days.  If he has an android phone, there should be a built in data tracker.  Might not be perfectly accurate, but would give you an idea.