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> According to a recent consumer report (pdf) commissioned by networking hardware company Ericsson, the average smartphone owner in the US currently uses around

> According to a recent consumer report (pdf) commissioned by networking hardware company Ericsson, the average smartphone owner in the US currently uses around 8GB of data each month. Whaaaat? I figured that must include Wifi so I looked at the PDF, and no—apparently that's the actual mobile data usage. It's a self-reported survey, but still. Up here in Canada I have a 10GB plan which is more than anyone else I know, and is way, way more than I generally use. The only time I've ever come close is when I've been on vacation and done a bunch of tethering. I'm not surprised that some people use 8GB per month, but I find it very hard to believe that's anywhere close to a national average, unless usage in the US is dramatically different than in Canada. (I know our cell plans are more expensive so it's probably somewhat different, but that much?)

adventured 7y ago
Everybody I know in the US - mostly non tech people - uses a lot of mobile data now, largely consisting of stray video streaming. 8gb of monthly usage seems very low compared to what I'm seeing normal people use now. At a Thanksgiving thing on Sunday a family member was streaming an NFL game on his phone. He has an unlimited data plan with AT&T, but regardless you can imagine the data usage for that HD stream over an hour. That's typical usage now in my observation.
- tempestn 7y ago
  Huh, interesting. I'd never even heard of an "unlimited" mobile data plan. Just did some research and it appears a few of our carriers just released nominally unlimited plans for the first time this year. However, they still have a data cap (10-50GB usually, depending on the plan), after which it's capped at 512kbps. So not really unlimited. These plans also start at $75/month (or like 55 USD). I don't envy your politics, but I envy your mobile data plans.
  - adventured 7y ago
    Yeah naturally it's not unlimited, there's no such thing, it's always a marketing gimmick with fine print when a service provider uses that. You're going to hit a limit one way or another. T-Mobile as an example, has a four line plan at $35 per line avg, with "unlimited" data, with this note: "During congestion, the small fraction of customers using >50GB/mo. may notice reduced speeds." I've never used T-Mobile, so I don't know what kind of wall you realistically hit with them at that point. What I've seen in the US over the last few years is that people seem to have shifted heavily away from the old expensive cable & DirecTV plans and moved some of that expenditure over to streaming services (cheaper) and more expensive higher limit mobile data plans. Which makes sense given what consumers are most often using these days.
    - tempestn 7y ago
      Of course nothing is truly unlimited. Still, I took a look at some of the US plans (AT&T etc.) and they're definitely better than what we get. The lowest ones start to throttle at 50GB, vs 10 for ours, and even the ones that don't throttle until 100 are cheaper than the 10GB ones here. To me it's a lot more reasonable to call something that may be throttled over 50 or 100GB "unlimited" vs something that will always be throttled (and to 512kbps!) at 10GB.
  - urbanjunkie 7y ago
    You've never even heard of an unlimited mobile data plan, yet you're all over this thread with your "opinions". fuck off and stop wasting everyone's time.
deleted 7y ago
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apaprocki 7y ago
At least for me personally, usage varies wildly depending on what’s happening in the real world. On my family plan, my wife and I each use ~8-10 per month, but external factors cause much higher usage. For example, the car is on the account and acts as a WiFi hotspot for all non-cellular devices. We took a 13hr road trip in August and plan usage that month was 42gb.
jsjohnst 7y ago
My data usage is ~30-35gb a month and I don’t stream video or audio usually on my phone.
- tempestn 7y ago
  What do you do that eats up that much data? Tethering?
  - jsjohnst 7y ago
    A large chunk of it is syncing of data. Yes, I could choose to only use wifi for that, but I like having the near instant backup to multiple places, even if it chews up more usage.
davidmurdoch 7y ago
I'm in the US. I usually use 1GB per month, and my wife uses even less. I typically don't consume social media on the go, I don't stream music in my car, and definitely don't watch movies or YouTube while out and about. I pretty much connect to WiFi wherever I go, and my broadband comment had access points all over which my phone automatically connects to. I didn't participate in the survey myself, and there's a good chance the participants aren't the average (the survey asked how much more data they think they'd use over 5g). I pay about $20 per month for my plan.

adventured 7y ago

Everybody I know in the US - mostly non tech people - uses a lot of mobile data now, largely consisting of stray video streaming. 8gb of monthly usage seems very low compared to what I'm seeing normal people use now. At a Thanksgiving thing on Sunday a family member was streaming an NFL game on his phone. He has an unlimited data plan with AT&T, but regardless you can imagine the data usage for that HD stream over an hour. That's typical usage now in my observation.

tempestn 7y ago
Huh, interesting. I'd never even heard of an "unlimited" mobile data plan. Just did some research and it appears a few of our carriers just released nominally unlimited plans for the first time this year. However, they still have a data cap (10-50GB usually, depending on the plan), after which it's capped at 512kbps. So not really unlimited. These plans also start at $75/month (or like 55 USD). I don't envy your politics, but I envy your mobile data plans.
- adventured 7y ago
  Yeah naturally it's not unlimited, there's no such thing, it's always a marketing gimmick with fine print when a service provider uses that. You're going to hit a limit one way or another. T-Mobile as an example, has a four line plan at $35 per line avg, with "unlimited" data, with this note: "During congestion, the small fraction of customers using >50GB/mo. may notice reduced speeds." I've never used T-Mobile, so I don't know what kind of wall you realistically hit with them at that point. What I've seen in the US over the last few years is that people seem to have shifted heavily away from the old expensive cable & DirecTV plans and moved some of that expenditure over to streaming services (cheaper) and more expensive higher limit mobile data plans. Which makes sense given what consumers are most often using these days.
  - tempestn 7y ago
    Of course nothing is truly unlimited. Still, I took a look at some of the US plans (AT&T etc.) and they're definitely better than what we get. The lowest ones start to throttle at 50GB, vs 10 for ours, and even the ones that don't throttle until 100 are cheaper than the 10GB ones here. To me it's a lot more reasonable to call something that may be throttled over 50 or 100GB "unlimited" vs something that will always be throttled (and to 512kbps!) at 10GB.
- urbanjunkie 7y ago
  You've never even heard of an unlimited mobile data plan, yet you're all over this thread with your "opinions". fuck off and stop wasting everyone's time.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

apaprocki 7y ago

At least for me personally, usage varies wildly depending on what’s happening in the real world. On my family plan, my wife and I each use ~8-10 per month, but external factors cause much higher usage. For example, the car is on the account and acts as a WiFi hotspot for all non-cellular devices. We took a 13hr road trip in August and plan usage that month was 42gb.

jsjohnst 7y ago

My data usage is ~30-35gb a month and I don’t stream video or audio usually on my phone.

tempestn 7y ago
What do you do that eats up that much data? Tethering?
- jsjohnst 7y ago
  A large chunk of it is syncing of data. Yes, I could choose to only use wifi for that, but I like having the near instant backup to multiple places, even if it chews up more usage.

davidmurdoch 7y ago

I'm in the US. I usually use 1GB per month, and my wife uses even less. I typically don't consume social media on the go, I don't stream music in my car, and definitely don't watch movies or YouTube while out and about. I pretty much connect to WiFi wherever I go, and my broadband comment had access points all over which my phone automatically connects to. I didn't participate in the survey myself, and there's a good chance the participants aren't the average (the survey asked how much more data they think they'd use over 5g). I pay about $20 per month for my plan.