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The amount you pay for your contract phone or pay-monthly SIM will often depend on several factors, including which provider you choose and how much data you use. We use data for everything from sending messages via internet-connected apps like WhatsApp, to browsing on social media platforms and watching online videos.
Years ago, 2GB of data might have sounded like a hefty sum. But in today’s world, it’s easy to drain 2GB from your account within a matter of hours.
So, how much can you do with 2GB of data? Is a 2GB data plan suitable for your phone needs, or do you need to choose a larger, more extensive plan? Let’s find out.
In simple terms, 2GB of data is 2,000MB of data. If that doesn’t make things any clearer, let’s put it this way. 2GB of data will allow you to browse the internet for approximately 24 hours, depending on what you’re going to be doing online.
Here are some more examples to help you make sense of how long 2GB of data can last.
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Songs Streamed on Spotify |
|
|---|---|
|
2GB of data |
270 x 3 minute tracks |
The average song streamed through an app like Spotify at a quality of approximately 320kbps will require 2.4MB per minute. This means the average song, lasting 3 minutes, will use around 7.2MB of data. This means you can stream around 270 3-minute tracks on Spotify with 2MB. The amount of data you’ll use will depend on the quality of the music, for instance: 24kbps: 10.8MB per hour, 96kbps: 43.2MB per hour, 160kbps: 7.2MB per hour, 320kbps: 144MB per hour.
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Netflix Video Streaming (on phone) |
|
|---|---|
|
2GB of data |
Stream around 6 Netflix films |
The amount of data you’ll use streaming video to your phone will depend on what kind of application you’re using, as well as the quality of the video file.
Netflix claims you can stream about 8 hours of content (around four films) with 2GB of data if you’re watching the content using the “Automatic” quality setting. However, you can switch to “Data Save” mode to increase your streaming length up to around 12 hours. If you switch to the HD version of Netflix, you’ll be using around 3GB of data per hour.
The higher the quality of your stream, the more data you’ll need to use. Notably, these figures apply only to the mobile app for Netflix, the desktop or TV version will have different data usage figures.
On YouTube, you should be able to watch around 4 hours of online content in standard definition. YouTube users around 2.7GB of data per hour in 4K, or 1.56GB per hour in 1080p.
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Social Media Use Examples for 2GB Data |
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|---|---|
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WhatsApp Video Calls |
Three hours of video chat tome |
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Apple FaceTime Video Calls |
Four hours of video chat time |
|
Photos on WhatsApp |
Send arpond 1000 photos |
Moving over to social media, the amount of data you use will depend on what you’re going to be doing on your social media platform. If you’re simply browsing through social media channels like Facebook or Instagram, you’ll use 90MB per hour on scrolling alone.
If you’re interacting with social media content, such as liking posts, commenting, or sending direct messages, this will increase to around 156MB of data per hour.
If you’re using Facetime, Skype, or WhatsApp to interact with people through social media video, the amount of data you’ll use will increase again. WhatsApp uses around 300MB of data per hour, while Skype uses around 270MB of data. 2GB of data will therefore get you around 6 hours of video time.
Apple’s Facetime application is slightly more efficient, using around 180MB per hour, depending on your settings. If you’re sending images through an app like WhatsApp, you’ll usually be able to send around 2,000 photos before you run out of data. This is typically the case when images are limited to a 16MB file size. You can also switch to “Data Saver” mode to reduce your data usage.
| How Many Hours Will 2GB Last | |
|---|---|
|
Internet browsing |
33 hours |
|
Music listening |
Between 13 and 185 hours (depending on quality) |
|
Watching video |
Between 0.66 hours and 2 hours (depending on your video app and the video quality) |
|
Browsing social media |
22 hours (Scrolling) or 12 hours (interacting) |
|
Using Facetime, WhatsApp, or Skype |
7-11 hours |
Once again, the number of hours your 2GB of data will last will depend on how you’re using your device. On average, these are the kind of hours you can expect as listed above.Is 2GB of Data Enough for the Average Person?
A few years ago, 2GB was a popular data option for countless mobile device users. However, according to Ofcom’s report in 2021, most consumers are purchasing at least double this amount via their monthly plans.
The average person uses a significant amount of data, depending on their specific needs. Three found that customers use about 19GB of data a month. However, a report from Ericsson suggests the average data use is around 10GB per month for most users.
Whether you need a higher or lower amount of data will depend on the things you use your phone for. However, if you’re going to be using social media, face time, and listening to music or watching videos, it’s likely you’ll need around 15GB per month.
If you’re not sure whether 2GB of data is enough for you, it can help to get an insight into how much data you’re typically using on your device today. This is relatively easy to do.
If you have an Android smartphone, you can go into the “Settings” section, then click on “More Network Settings”. Here, click on the “Data usage” option. Click to see how much data you’ve used during the last month. You’ll also be able to set a data limit and establish alerts to let you know if you’re using too much data.
If you have an iOS smartphone, go into the “Settings” page, and click on “Mobile Data”. You should once again be able to check your data usage and set limits. In some cases, your mobile network will allow you to track your data using either an app on your phone or your online account.
If you want to avoid paying for more than 2GB of data, then you may need to look for ways of cutting down your average use. Tracking how much data you regularly use should be able to help with this.
You can also connect your phone to a Wi-Fi spot whenever possible, as this will prevent you from leveraging data from your mobile network.
Another option is to go into the apps you use regularly, and check the settings for data usage. Some tools, specifically those for audio and video streaming, will allow you to switch to “data saver” mode. You can also cut down on the quality of the video or music tracks you access to reduce your data use.
If you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network and you want to access certain files later, you can also consider seeing whether you can download the content so you can view it “offline” without accessing any data allowance limits.
Today, 2GB of data is generally best suited to people who only use their phone for a handful of things, like browsing the internet, but not watching HD videos. In most cases, 2GB simply won’t be enough data to share a lot of images over social media, or listen to music online.
It might be worth looking for a deal with a provider which allows you to adjust your data allowance according to your needs on a monthly basis.
If you want to find the best SIM deals for any amount of data, 5G.co.uk has a number of exclusive SIM only deals available to offer. You might even find a higher data plan which won’t cost you nearly as much as you’d think.
Options are available for everything from 2GB of data, to unlimited data options.
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