You may have noticed that your data just finishes fast after watching videos and doing a few things online.
Don’t feel terrible about it. Actually, your activities on your phone are consuming your data.
Here are some things that you should know about your activities on your smartphone and how much of your internet subscription each takes.
How Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Estimate Data Usage
When you hear 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, it is okay to begin to think of how much data you will spend.
Indeed, your data consumption depends on a large number of factors and one of them is the speed of your connection.
First, the nature of technology (2G, 3G, 4G or 5G) that you are using determines the amount of data each activity will consume. This is the quality of network.
Now, the quality of the network determines the speed of download and this is also what network providers consider to bill you.
The type of websites you visit and the specifications of your handset also affects your data consumption.
For instance, two handsets can use different amounts of data to download or stream the same video on YouTube!
This depends on the internet speed that you are using and the quality of the video that you set when downloading or watching the video.
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If you watch video in HD, of course, you consume more data than when you watch in 480p, 360p or anything below those.
That said, find underlisted an estimation of data usage as provided by Nigeria Communications Commission (1).
Kindly note that these are mere estimations provided by an operator based on typical/average file sizes.
- 1 Hour of Social Media = 200mb
- 1 Hour of Browsing = 60mb
- 1 Hour of Instant Messaging with video calls = 140mb
- 1 Hour of streaming music = 60mb
- 1 Hour of Streaming Videos = 350mb (Non HD) and 1GB (HD)
- 1 Email sent or received with attachments = 500kb
- 1 minute of connected game play = 60mb.
Note: This information was provided by the NCC.
These Activities Use Up The Most Internet MB
Here are your activities (inclusive of uploads and downloads) that use large amounts of your internet subscription.
- Downloading and watching videos online especially on sites Like Netflix and YouTube
- Sending and receiving emails with large attachments
- Software or apps updates and virus definition updates
- Going on Social Media sites such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok etc
- Playing Games on a website or via a downloaded app
- Remote security cameras
- Data sent between sites on a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
- Mobile App online Notifications from social media, social marketing sites, etc.
Now that you have seen an estimate of how much data that each activity on your smartphone consumes, what do you intend to do about it?
