Your unlimited plan is probably ripping you off: How much data Americans actually use

[iMore.com]

The numbers are in and you probably don't need an expensive unlimited data plan.

Full story from the iMore Blog...

 

[Quis89]

I definitely need every gig in my unlimited. Lol. As a family we are currently over 100 GB.

 

[Ledsteplin]

I definitely need every gig in my unlimited. Lol. As a family we are currently over 100 GB.

So are we, but we did manage before with 24 gb shared and wifi. But my son was about to burst at the seam though. LOL

 

[Quis89]

So are we, but we did manage before with 24 gb shared and wifi. But my son was about to burst at the seam though. LOL

I agree. We managed previously. Mainly because we had to. It's much nicer to not have to worry about it now. I'm sure your son loves it lol.

 

[robertk328]

So are we, but we did manage before with 24 gb shared and wifi. But my son was about to burst at the seam though. LOL

We use half of our 24gb, but it's $30 more to get unlimited. No thanks!

 

[Ledsteplin]

We use half of our 24gb, but it's $30 more to get unlimited. No thanks!

I'm liking it. My bill is $6 less and I don't stress over what others use.

 

[Tartarus]

I pay €10 more for unlimited (was €20 for 300 minutes voice or 300 text and 6GB of data)
I was really forcing myself to use less data, had all apps that supported it set to 'Use Less Data'. And at the end of the month I had barely any MB's left.
Now with unlimited I have disabled 'Use Less Data' and am using cellular data to its fullest extent. So no, I'm not being ripped off.

Oh, unlimited also applies to all of EU, which is a real win for me. With my previous plan I only had 250MB of free roaming. That's no more.

 

[Ledsteplin]

I pay €10 more for unlimited (was €20 for 300 minutes voice or 300 text and 6GB of data)
I was really forcing myself to use less data, had all apps that supported it set to 'Use Less Data'. And at the end of the month I had barely any MB's left.
Now with unlimited I have disabled 'Use Less Data' and am using cellular data to its fullest extent. So no, I'm not being ripped off.

Oh, unlimited also applies to all of EU, which is a real win for me. With my previous plan I only had 250MB of free roaming. That's no more.

Cool! But what is "use less data"? I don't see that. All I have is a toggle to turn cellular on or off for each app. Is it something new in 10.3 or what?

 

[Tartarus]

Cool! But what is "use less data"? I don't see that. All I have is a toggle to turn cellular on or off for each app. Is it something new in 10.3 or what?

Instagram and Snapchat are two examples that offer this in their settings.
Many other social media apps have similar options. If they don't , they at least offer the option to auto-download media on either wifi and data, or just on wifi.
The other thing they offer is to download and/or upload videos in high quality or low quality.

Even iMessage has such an option.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Instagram and Snapchat are two examples that offer this in their settings.
Many other social media apps have similar options. If they don't , they at least offer the option to auto-download media on either wifi and data, or just on wifi.
The other thing they offer is to download and/or upload videos in high quality or low quality.

Even iMessage has such an option.

I don't see anything for iMessage other than the toggle in settlngs > Cellular and for low quality images. Don't see anything in Facebook settings except for video, but it doesn't mention cellular. The only thing I see in Twitter is for video play. I don't use Instagram or Snapchat.

 

[lemony0]

Is it true that some of these unlimited plans don't allow tethering? If so, how do they prevent it? I don't use that much data on my phone alone but an unlimited plan might be worth investing in for when I'm on the go and have my MacBook with me.

 

[Tartarus]

I don't see anything for iMessage other than the toggle in settlngs > Cellular and for low quality images.

Yeah, that's the one.

Don't see anything in Facebook settings except for video, but it doesn't mention cellular.

I'm not that much on Facebook anyway, so I didn't care to check it. You may be right.

The only thing I see in Twitter is for video play. I don't use Instagram or Snapchat.

Yup. And I had everything what in any way resembles the usage of less data over cellular enabled.
This is not the case anymore. Hence the reason that I'm happy with unlimited.

 

[Tartarus]

Is it true that some of these unlimited plans don't allow tethering? If so, how do they prevent it? I don't use that much data on my phone alone but an unlimited plan might be worth investing in for when I'm on the go and have my MacBook with me.

I don't know about US carriers. But net neutrality in EU prohibits carriers from excluding any kind of service from their data plans.

 

[Lee_Bo]

I think it also depends on the plan you may be on as to switching to unlimited or not.

For example, I was on a family share plan with 10 gigs each for $180-ish (4 lines). We are on wifi most of the time so really didn't NEED an unlimited plan. Then my carrier came out with 4 lines of unlimited for $150 (Taxes included with autopay feature on). So for me it was more about shaving another few dollars off my monthly bill. Are we using more data now? Nope. But for roughly $30/mo savings ($360 year) it's worth it.

 

[robertk328]

Is it true that some of these unlimited plans don't allow tethering? If so, how do they prevent it? I don't use that much data on my phone alone but an unlimited plan might be worth investing in for when I'm on the go and have my MacBook with me.

ATT's unlimited doesn't allow it, or at least the one they bundle with DirecTV. Part of the reason I didn't switch back! I don't use it much but do in emergencies so that's a no-go.