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These days, the most important factor to look at when you’re shopping for a pay-as-you-go or contract phone plan, is the amount of data it comes with. After all, most phone plans now include basic features like unlimited calls and texts as standard. Your data usage is what determines whether your bill will go up or down in price.
The more data you can access per month, the more scope you’ll have to download movies, listen to music, and even enjoy video conferences with friends. But how much data is enough? At a glance, 100GB of data seems like a huge amount, but what does it actually equate to when you’re using your phone? Let’s find out.
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Normal Internet Browsing |
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100GB of Data |
Around 1,200 hours (60,000 web pages) |
100GB of data is the same as 1 terabyte, or 100,000 megabytes of data. If you use your phone mostly to browse through web pages and conduct Google searches, 100GB of data could be enough to allow you to browse 24 hours a day, all month, without an issue. A single web page only consumes about 3GB of data, so 100GB will give you access to around 60,000 pages, or 1,200 hours of browsing.
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Songs streamed on Spotify |
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|---|---|
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100GB of data |
Around 13,800+ songs |
Browsing the web doesn’t consume a lot of data, but downloading and accessing audio content is a different story. The amount of data you use when you’re listening to songs on Spotify, YouTube, or another internet-connected app will depend on a number of things, including the size of the file, the audio quality you choose, and your platform.
As an example, Spotify consumes around 2.4MB of data every minute to stream a song at the highest quality (320kbps). A single 3-minute song adds up to around 7.2MB of data. That means if you’re listening to your music in the highest quality, you can stream around 13,800 tracks with 100MB.
Reducing the quality of your audio also reduces its data consumption. For instance, a 3 minute track streamed at 96kbps will only use around 2.16MB in total. This means you could listen to around 103,500 songs at a lower quality with 100MB of data.
If you’re accessing audio straight from the radio, you can usually expect 100MB to last around 1600 hours, depending on the amount of data your radio app consumes.
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Netflix Video Streaming (On Phone) |
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100GB of data |
200+ Netflix films |
Steaming video is a little more data-intensive than listening to music alone. You need to be able to load both images and audio at the same time. However, the amount of data used for each video will still depend on the size of the file, the streaming service, and your choice of quality.
Netflix suggests the average person can watch 4 hours of content for every 1GB of data when they choose the “Automatic” quality setting. This would suggest 100GB of data can give you up to 400 hours of content, or allow you to watch 200 2-hour films. If you switch to data-saver mode on Netflix, you can increase your streaming to 6 hours for every 1GB. This equates toa round 600 hours of video, or 300 2-hour movies.
YouTube videos are a little different. You can usually get around 64 hours of content from YouTube with 100GB of data, streaming at 1080p, or 37 hours if you’re streaming in 4K.
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Social Media Use Examples for 30GB of Data |
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|---|---|
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Social media browsing |
Around 1100 hours |
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WhatsApp video calls |
300 hours of chat time |
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Skype Video calls |
400 hours of chat time |
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Apple FaceTime video calls |
400 hours of chat time |
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Photos on WhatsApp |
Approximately 100,000 photos |
Many of us use our smartphones to interact with others and view content on social media. The amount of data you use when accessing a social media app will vary depending on which platforms you use, and how you use them. With 100MB of data, you can browse a social platform like Facebook for around 1100 hours, or spend 641 hours commenting on and liking posts.
If you’re using social apps for video calls, then you’ll be consuming a little more data. On WhatsApp, video calls will use around 300MB of data per hour, so you can chat for around 300 hours with 100MB. Alternatively, Skype and Apple FaceTime are more efficient, so you can chat via video for around 400 hours with these tools.
If you’re sending photos through social media, the number of images you can send will depend on how the platform compresses the image. Most tools like Google Docs and WhatsApp compress images to no more than 1MB, so you can potentially send up to 100,000 photos.
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How many hours will 30GB last? |
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|---|---|
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Internet browsing |
1000 hours+ |
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Music Listening |
673 – 9,526 + hours depending on quality |
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Watching video |
200 hours to 6000 hours, depending on quality |
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Browsing social media |
1100 hours scrolling |
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Using Facetime, Skype, or WhatsApp |
300-600 hours |
100MB or 1TB of data gives you a lot of freedom when it comes to using your phone for internet connected activities. You should be able to spend as many hours as you like browsing social media and the web with this much data. Plus, you shouldn’t have any trouble listening to music and watching videos using their highest quality settings.
On average, reports from Ericsson show most people use around 10GB of data a month. However, data consumption does vary from one vendor to the next. For instance, Three suggests their users access around 19GB of data each month. Even if you’re relying on your phone for many data-intensive activities, you should be fine with 100GB of data.
If you’re concerned that 100GB of data may be too much or too little for your needs, it’s worth taking a look at your current data usage. You can do this by checking the “Settings” section on your iOS or Android device. On an Android device, you’ll need to click into the “More Network Settings” page, while on an iPhone, you can use the “Cellular” or “Mobile Data” sections.
Checking your data usage should tell you whether you can reduce the cost of your monthly plan by opting for less data. You can also sometimes use these tools to control your data usage. For instance, some phones allow you to set limits on your data, and get alerts when you’re approaching your maximum. You can also find more details about your data usage by checking out your bills, or visiting the account you have with your mobile vendor.
If you have 100GB of data, you shouldn’t have to be too frugal with how you use it. Even if you’re viewing videos in 4K, you’ll have several hours before you run out. However, reducing your data use can be a good way to save money, as it could allow you to switch to a cheaper plan.
There are a few ways to cut your data usage. For instance, you could use Wi-Fi connections whenever possible, so you’re not reliant on your mobile network connection. It’s also worth looking for “Data Saver” options on the apps you regularly use.
Some apps will even allow you to automatically switch the quality of your content when you’re on a mobile connection to a lower level, then turn it back up to full when you’re connected to Wi-Fi. You can also consider downloading content you want to view while you’re on Wi-Fi, so you can access it in “offline” mode later.
The reality is most people won’t need more than 100GB of data. 1TB of data can go a long way if you’re using your smartphone for basic activities like checking social media or browsing the internet. It’s also plenty of data for making video calls, watching content, or listening to music.
However, if you use particularly data-intensive apps, you may find that 100GB is still not enough. In this case, you may consider upgrading to an unlimited plan, so you don’t have to worry about data consumption at all. If you’re using less than 100GB of data regularly, you could also downgrade to a cheaper plan to save some extra cash.
If you think 100GB of data is the perfect option for you, finding the right plan is a must. 5G.co.uk has a host of great packages to choose from, including exclusive deals for SIM-only users. You can even use the comparison matrix to ensure you’re getting the right price.
The data packages offered on 5G.co.uk range all the way from 1GB of data per month, to unlimited plans, so you’re sure to find something that suits your needs.
Experienced copywriter and content producer with years of background in the Technology, Social Media and Business Development fields.
Responsible for researching, writing, editing and posting a variety of content relating to various different niches. My career has taken me into a host of different industries, ranging all the way from Telecommunications and Artificial Intelligence, to Instagram marketing.
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