How Many Hours Does It Take To Use 1gb Of Data

How much information do I need?

5 Oct 2021 past James Rogerson

How much data do I need?

Data assart is now the most important part of a telephone contract. Phone calls and texts take taken a back seat to Facebook Messenger, TikTok and WhatsApp, while web browsing, streaming and even working from our phones is something we're doing more and more of.

Equally such, it's vital that you have enough monthly information. But you besides don't want to exist paying for unused information, which many people do.

To assist yous get a handle on how much you might need we've covered all the common data-devouring activities, with information on how many precious megabytes they employ.

What are MB and GB?

Throughout this article nosotros'll be referring to data primarily in MB (megabytes) and GB (gigabytes). A megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes (KB) or 1,000,000 bytes. A gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes.

It's rarely useful to talk nearly information in smaller units than megabytes, as even the lowest data allowances are usually hundreds of megabytes, with the bulk of allowances being multiple gigabytes.

Although non referred to in this article, be aware that in that location are also megabits (Mb) and Gigabits (Gb). These sizes are tiny, with there being eight Mb in ane MB, but information technology's worth being aware therefore that a Mb is very unlike to a MB.

How much mobile data does the boilerplate person use?

The average person used 4.5GB of data per month in 2020, co-ordinate to Ofcom's Communications Market Report 2021. That'south a 27% increase on the 3.6GB used per month in 2019, which in turns is a 22% increase on the ii.9GB used per month in 2018. Data apply has steadily increased every yr included in the study too – with the stats going back to 2013.

The study doesn't include figures for 2021, merely with the growing availability of 5G and the ever-increasing data demands of modern applications, we'd look information apply will be continuing to grow quickly.

Sample data plans and usage

In this section nosotros'll give you an idea of what y'all tin practise overall with popular monthly data allowances available on UK mobile networks. Note that in all cases the figures we give are just estimates, and will vary based on the app/service you're using or the quality settings when streaming.

How much is 1GB of data?

1GB (or 1000MB) is near the minimum data assart you're probable to want, as with that you could browse the spider web and cheque email for up to around 40 minutes per day. That's still not much, simply should be fine for lighter users. That said, social media apps can use quite a lot more, with just xx minutes of Facebook use a day potentially using upward a 1GB information allowance, based on figures from Wirefly.

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1GB data

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Music is feasible too – using Spotify's normal quality setting y'all'll use around 45MB per hour, meaning yous could stream for up to effectually 22 hours per month, or for up to around 35 minutes a day on average. That's fine for a short daily commute, just only if yous're not using your phone for other types of data.

And for the highest quality streams you can expect to use around three times as much data equally that, so this certainly won't exist enough for audiophiles.

Video isn't much of an pick for anyone, with a couple of films probable to kill your allowance, depending on the quality you lot stream in. On Netflix for example, information use ranges from around 1GB of data every six hours for low quality to 3GB or more than every 1 hour for high quality, and some services will employ more.

1GB data sample monthly usage:

40 minutes daily of web browsing
Or xx minutes daily of social media apps
Or 22 hours per month of music
Or i-2 films per calendar month (low or medium quality)

How much is 2GB of data?

2GB of information (or 2000MB) a month is a programme aimed at those who don't employ mobile data ofttimes, but is plenty to scan the web for around eighty minutes a day, or use social media apps for at least effectually twoscore minutes per solar day. However, it is not suitable for those who stream lots of movies, or want to watch a lot of other videos.

2GB data sample monthly usage:

80 minutes of daily spider web browsing
Or at least 40 minutes of daily social media
Or 45 hours per calendar month of music
Or 3-iv films per calendar month (depression or medium quality)

How much is 4GB of information?

With 4GB of information (or 4000MB) y'all're approaching the lower mid-range of information use. Web browsing, social media and electronic mail should be zippo to worry about unless you're using mobile information much of the day, as yous could web browse for up to around 3 hours daily on average, or employ social media apps for at to the lowest degree half that.

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If you're happy with just around 40 minutes of daily browsing y'all could also stream effectually 2 hours of music each day, hit a nice balance betwixt the ii. Or you lot could cut the music and stream a few movies on depression or medium video quality. If y'all're a binge-watcher though this still won't cutting it.

4GB information sample monthly usage:

3 hours daily of web browsing
Or at to the lowest degree 90 minutes of daily social media
Or 40 mins of browsing and two hours of music daily
Or twoscore mins of browsing daily and a few films each month (medium quality)

How much is 8GB of data?

With 8GB of data (or 8000MB) nosotros're in comfortable video streaming territory. Use all your data on that and yous could stream up to effectually 32 hours of content on medium quality – more than than the length of a serial boxset, though of course turning the quality up substantially cuts that figure downward. On the highest quality you might barely manage two hours – though again, these figures vary depending on the service you're using.

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Bold you don't desire to stream daily you should exist able to spider web browse and listen to music for 40 minutes or more each per solar day, too as streaming a motion picture or a few episodes of a bear witness once or twice a week.

8GB information sample monthly usage:

6 hours daily of web browsing
Or at least 3 hours daily of social media apps
Or enough to stream 32 hours of medium quality video
Or enough for a mix of browsing, music, and the occasional video

How much is 20GB of data?

20GB of data (or 20,000MB) ups those figures substantially. With that much monthly data you could on average stream around 4 hours of music, scan the spider web 2 hours and stream an episode of your favourite show every day, or potentially even a film. Or if yous're not interested in streaming you could browse all the websites y'all want without being in much danger of running out of data.

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20GB data sample monthly usage:

2 hours of spider web, iv hours of music and 1-2 hours of video daily
No danger of running out of information if yous're only web browsing

How much is 50GB of data?

With 50GB of data (or 50,000MB) you're looking at several hours of music streaming, several hours of web browsing and a couple of movies (streamed in medium quality) every twenty-four hours. This is more information than most people are likely to demand, but worth it if you like to stream on your commute or don't have regular access to Wi-Fi at home.

50GB data sample monthly usage:

iii hours of web, 3 hours of music and 2 medium quality streamed films daily

How much is 100GB of information?

100GB data (or 100,000MB) is functionally most unlimited. Even with video streamed in high quality you could manage effectually 30 hours a month (depending on the source). Chances are y'all don't demand that much, or would be fine with medium quality, which gives y'all a lot more.

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Realistically that means y'all can stream both sound and video for several hours each twenty-four hour period, as well as browsing the web and using social networks exclusively on mobile data, and are still probable to have some going spare at the end of the month.

100GB information sample monthly usage:

30 hours of loftier-quality video per calendar month
Or a robust mix of use types

Need even more than information? Then you'll want an unlimited data plan so you lot tin scan without limits.

Data figurer

Data Calculator

Web Browsing

Social Networking

Emails

Music

Video

Boob tube & Film Streaming

Apps & Games

0MB per month

We've created a helpful information calculator so you tin find out exactly how much data y'all need.

Simply use the sliders to select how much of each activity y'all undertake and your total monthly data apply will be calculated automatically.

Data usage by activity

In this section we'll encompass the dissimilar data uses – and how heavy on your data assart they are. These are all rough estimates, every bit actual data use volition depend on the app/service, the quality, and other factors.

Activeness	Average information utilise (per 60 minutes)
Web browsing/Social media	20-120MB
Instant messaging	50MB
Electronic mail	1-100MB (depending on attachments)
Music streaming	45MB
Video streaming	250MB
Online gaming	3-300MB
Video calling	200-300MB

Web browsing/Social media

Web browsing tends to be fairly light on your allowance, with each page y'all view averaging around 1MB of data. That said, social media can use more, with Facebook for example frequently using around 2MB per infinitesimal.

Web browse continuously for an hour and you're likely to scroll to around 50 pages, for around 50MB of information use, while on the Facebook app an hour'due south use (with no video content) will likely come in at around 120MB. That said, different social media services will employ unlike amounts of information.

In either case that'due south not much, simply it can quickly add together up. If you're using your telephone to web browse over mobile data for an hour each day you could chew up as much as 3GB per month on web browsing lonely, with social media potentially using even more.

Consider whether you really practise that though – you'll probably be on Wi-Fi a lot of the time, then mobile web browsing will likely but happen for the virtually part when you're outside or on a commute. As such, your actual use may well be far less than an hr each day, fifty-fifty if you're an internet aficionado.

Messaging

If you do a lot of instant messaging using the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, that could use up to around 150MB per 24-hour interval – but note that figure is for if you're using these services every bit your main messaging platforms, exchanging dozens of messages each twenty-four hours, and doing it all over mobile data.

Realistically if yous spend most of the day on Wi-Fi or don't utilise these services much you'll probably be using less than 50MB a day – though every bit with web browsing that can still add upward.

Notation that nosotros're only talking nigh sending instant messages hither – non voice or video calls, which volition utilize a lot more information. A video call on WhatsApp for example will use around 5MB per minute, according to TechWithTech.

Streaming music

If you tend to stream music on services such every bit Apple Music, Spotify or Amazon Music when you're out and near you lot could be eating upwardly between effectually 10MB and 150MB of data per hr (depending on service and quality). Those are the verbal ranges you're looking at on Spotify as you move between low and very loftier quality, according to WhistleOut, with around 45MB being used on normal quality.

Listen on normal quality for an 60 minutes every 24-hour interval and that's almost 1.5GB per calendar month before you've even done annihilation else, and that figure triples for audio in the highest quality.

Simply once more, consider how much y'all really do this. You'll probable be on Wi-Fi much of the fourth dimension, or playing music that's already downloaded to your phone. And an hour each 24-hour interval is quite a long time. Even if you do it on your commutes yous probably won't be doing it on weekends.

Streaming video

Streaming video, such as using YouTube and Netflix, volition depend on the service and the video quality. Some platforms give y'all controls, such as Netflix, which lets yous utilize up to about 1GB of data every 6 hours if you stream in low quality (known equally 'save data' on the mobile app), 1GB every 4 hours for medium quality (chosen 'automated' in the app, but designed to strike a residue), and 3GB or more than every 1 hour if you stream in high quality.

You definitely shouldn't do that unless yous take unlimited data, but even at depression or medium quality Netflix (and video streaming in full general) will consume more information than nigh anything else you lot might exercise on your smartphone. And some streaming services likely utilize a lot more than data than Netflix.

So if you lot plan to stream a lot of video over mobile data you volition want a loftier data limit, of probably at least effectually 15GB per month. Note however that data use on Netflix is likewise higher than on some other video services, then it's worth checking the details of whatever services you lot use near.

Downloading apps

There shouldn't be much need to regularly download apps – or anything else – over mobile data, as this usually isn't urgent or you tin can download them before you get off Wi-Fi.

Merely, if you lot must download apps, be sure to check the file size. These can vary from a few dozen megabytes to multiple gigabytes – though the latter is ordinarily only the case for games.

Checking email

If you utilise your telephone to cheque your email over mobile data every 24-hour interval you lot'll all the same likely just employ effectually 150MB of data per month (unless you lot alive in your inbox or send/receive lots of emails with attachments). And then this eats a lot less data than nearly things and isn't something you need to overly worry about unless you have a small data limit of 1GB or less.

Uploading photos

This is some other very small data drain. You'll usually be able to upload several photos to cloud storage or social networks before you've fifty-fifty used 10MB of information, so unless you're uploading thousands this shouldn't have much impact. That said, this will depend on the file size of the images yous're uploading. If your phone's camera is packed full of megapixels and you shoot using all of them, then photo file sizes could exist quite a lot larger.

Video calls

Video calls, such equally on Skype, Facebook and Zoom, tend to utilize around 15-25MB of information for a five-minute phone call, so if you tend to keep your calls short or don't make many of them this kind of data utilize shouldn't add upwardly likewise much, merely if you're video calling people for hours at a fourth dimension it could do.

A 1 hour video call could use up to effectually 300MB of data – which still isn't all that much, but do that regularly and it could easily full 1GB or more each month.

Tethering

Tethering volition typically apply a lot of data. Fifty-fifty if you're merely spider web browsing for example, you lot'll generally be getting the full desktop versions of sites (since you'll likely be viewing them on a tablet or laptop) and these utilise more data than mobile versions.

Similarly, video is probable to stream in higher quality, as the services will think yous're on a Wi-Fi connectedness (Netflix for instance can use upwards to 7GB per hour if streaming 4K video on a PC), and if you tether to a tablet and have it set to automatically update apps over Wi-Fi, those updates volition happen while you're tethering.

As such, this is some other kind of information employ that demands a high allowance if you lot program to do it a lot. Think 20GB minimum.

Does 5G use more data?

5G doesn't use any more information than 4G. So if you download a file over 5G it will be the aforementioned size as if you download it over 4G – information technology volition just download faster with a 5G connection.

However, the speed of 5G means that it's more than viable to download big files and stream in higher quality and the similar, so it could motivate y'all to use more data.

Some video streaming apps and the like may also default to higher quality if they discover a 5G connection, which will and then use more than data. But you should exist able to switch to lower quality if you lot prefer, you'll just need to look out for this.

Decision

Overall usage	Data per month
Lite	1GB+
Medium	6GB+
Heavy	20GB+
Very heavy	30GB+

So there y'all take it. Hopefully with this data you lot'll have a better idea of how much information you actually need. But, if we presume that you lot tend to mostly use Wi-Fi and don't exercise much tethering or video streaming, it's very likely that you lot can go by on under 6GB per month (quite maybe far nether).

If you're merely a light user – occasionally using instant messaging, web browsing and email checking for example, simply not much else, then y'all may even exist okay on 1GB, though we'd be wary about having a lower data allowance than that unless you really don't use information technology at all.

Meanwhile, if y'all're using mobile data much of the day, every mean solar day, or using data intensive things like video streaming and tethering regularly, you'll probably want at least 30GB – and even that might not be enough.

Assuming you currently accept a information allowance yous should be able to bank check how much you lot're using each month by logging into your account on your network's site or app, so that too tin can give you a good thought of what you lot demand. Practice that, compare it with the figures here, and yous should be able to piece of work out a comfy limit.