To those who use several tens of gigabytes of mobile data per month, what are you using it on?

CircularIllusion on 25/12/2020 - 20:45

I was reading a post on Whirlpool where someone said their kid burns through 20 GB of mobile data in 6 days and it got me thinking about how popular the 80 GB per month plans are on OzBargain.

When I was playing Pokemon Go, I was burning through 8 GB of data per month. Obviously, Pokemon Go is mostly just refreshing geographical and game-specific data which is not all that heavy in terms of usage. I'm currently using less than 2 GB per month as I'm working from home. Obviously video streaming is going to use a lot more than that and I can imagine that some people are pretty much always watching Netflix or some similar service. I also know that some people don't have their own home internet and they just do everything through their mobile data.

With that said, I wanted to see what the typical OzBargainer uses all their mobile data on because I sure as hell couldn't figure out what to use it on when my 240 GB Boost plan recently expired with 190 GB unused.

Mobile

Comments

  • fishing on 26/12/2020 - 08:23
    +3

    I use a Netgear Nighthawk withh a 200gb circles life Sim for "home" usage. Some months i use almost all of it, others only 40 gb or so. Depends entirely on work and zoom calls… And Netflix 😂
    I use a cheap Telstra Sim for unlimited calls and i 2gb data and a Vodafone eSim with 200Gb, again using only 40gb or so normally.

    I travel through regional areas and find living in this 3rd world country of ours, it's hard to get consistent 4g and need to have the range of carriers to be functional 🤷‍♀️

    All my storage is cloud based within ios, Google drive, Dropbox, flicker or Microsoft onedrive

  • Lawrencep93 on 26/12/2020 - 08:43
    +1

    I have unlimited fixed line internet at home, but if I am out somewhere I always connect my phone to my laptop and use the data as I never trust others wifi. Then Instagram, youtube, spotify is what I use up on my phone.
    My data is all in a datashare with my business so we have around 500gb between us I always use the most.
    I just checked I some how used 26GB on Instagram alone I must be an addict

  • Lurk Hartog on 26/12/2020 - 09:04
    +11

    ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    • capslock janitor on 28/12/2020 - 12:15
      +1

      ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) on the road..? 😏

  • Pelicannn on 26/12/2020 - 09:27
    +3

    I cancelled my broadband and went with a Telstra 4G unlimited plan a few years ago. It wasn’t cheap at $199 but it included unlimited 4G data, plus data overseas almost anywhere in the world and I travel a lot with my job. Could be overseas every month almost, especially in places like PNG and Solomon Islands and greater South West Pacific where I always had a data connection.

    Found that 4G was actually faster than my NBN anyway haha…

    The plan also allowed me to pick any phone I wanted so naturally I just picked the most expensive XS Pro Max 512gb iPhone and then sold it. I also am able to salary sacrifice my phone bills through work meaning I never paid GST on the bills and saved by paying the bill all pre-tax.

    3 years later, I still don’t have NBN and now I’m on Telstra 5G so the speed is excellent. I’ve never had an issue streaming 4K or latency in online gaming. People always ask if it’s an inconvenience but it’s as simple as swiping down on my phone and clicking hotspot before I turn on the TV or computer and it connects straight away. I have been doing it so long it’s just normal now.

    • ozgeek on 26/12/2020 - 17:06

      That's my dream plan. With shoddy NBN internet here. Spending days days days trying to download xbox games to my console on a measily 20mbps plan.

      My drawback is that I'd need to constantly activate the hotspot everyday. a bit tendious. I just wish they have a modem like device that shares the same sim data everything pulls off the mobile data and at the same time still have the phone not on hotspot constantly while still when taking it out to shops, work world etc would keep it connected to the "sim network" through the card in the phone - ala a home network from anywhere in the world.

      • Pelicannn on 27/12/2020 - 01:03

        Honestly the activating hotspot is really not an issue and only takes 5-10 seconds of my time. Which I easily make up with by downloading at 20-40 megabytes per second.

        It’s just second nature now :)

        • eklipsils on 27/12/2020 - 21:45

          Why not get a wireless router with a sim card slot and request Telstra for a Data Sim on the same plan? Will probably make life much more easier at home.

          • Pelicannn on 28/12/2020 - 00:52
            +2

            @eklipsils: They didn’t allow it. Could only have one sim connected to the plan and still needed it for my mobile.

      • cybapete on 28/12/2020 - 09:37

        you can get pocket modems with sim card slot that work as a portable wifi network
        once you login to it that connection will keep going indefinitely

  • lew380 on 26/12/2020 - 11:25
    +9

    OK, I'll just say it. Probably loads of porn. As an ex addict, it's all I used to do with my data. Kids these days are saturated in garbage.

    • capslock janitor on 28/12/2020 - 12:15

      how'd you overcome the addiction

      • lew380 on 28/12/2020 - 13:31
        +3

        Addiction is complicated. Lack of the right social environment, lonlieness and other issues that isolate and make substituting normal relationships with a virtual life. Ultimately, it was the formation of normal relationships. Held my girlfriends(wife) hand for the first time and never even thought about porn since. That's my take on it all, other people might have a different cause.

  • OzHunterNSW on 26/12/2020 - 11:29

    I get 100gig on $49 per month phone plan.
    Everything is connected via phone hotspot.
    Computer general stuff: email/ surf… TV and their internet stations, Utube, internet radio, and download the odd "free Movie" via phone app to watch on TV, via HMDI cable.

    Usually chew through 80+ per month

    • njastar on 26/12/2020 - 17:41
      +1

      The battery on your phone must die so quickly

      • Monad on 28/12/2020 - 20:44

        I do much the same, use my mobile for my sole internet. Just have the phone on charge and no problems there.

  • Keplaffintech on 26/12/2020 - 11:35
    +4

    The more you have the more you will use.

    For example, I used to keep music and photos on an SD card on my phone. Now I store all on the cloud, upload any time, and use streaming services.

    I used to avoid watching YouTube over 4G. Now I'll watch videos in 4k.

    Mobile hotspot on the train / wherever I need to.

    Download updates wherever.

    Never need to ask people 'whats the wifi password'

    Etc

    • whitelie on 28/12/2020 - 11:24

      I do all of that (albeit I don't spend hours on YouTube/Netflix etc when I'm out of the house, maybe the odd lunch break here and there) and still only crack 10-15gb per month. No idea how/why people need these 180gb plans unless they don't have NBN at home for the TV etc.

  • md333 on 26/12/2020 - 13:58

    I assume they've all been hacked and are part of some bot net.
    Either that or streaming video continuously.

    And the community of people who download vast amounts of video to hard drives in case they might want to watch it one day may have moved to mobile data.

  • crashloaded on 26/12/2020 - 14:44
    +1

    Optus sport

  • Oz em on 26/12/2020 - 15:07

    I have 80gb a month and had no home internet so I used it for everything.
    Now I hardly use it but at $40 a month it’s not worth changing.

  • JennyLong on 26/12/2020 - 15:21

    App/game updates on my phone, including fire emblem heroes. Sometimes you cannot play unless you are updating immediately. I spend around 10GB on updates. The rest is basically ads from sites like bloomberg which load the video in the background even though you aren't even watching it. It's muted as well.

    In the past I would store downloaded files onto my sdcard but then it kept becoming corrupted and I spent more data on my limited home broadband plan (which subsequently over time became unlimited). However, I just got into the flow of it being cheaper to just use mobile internet to get stuff when I needed it on demand and not worry about broken sdcards and damaging the limited cycles for the internal memory on the phone.

    It all came down to the amount of time it was taking me to download, move files which at that time most sdcards were limited in speed; and very annoying. These days I use portable ssd instead of usb drives as they move so much faster and you save at more than just a couple of hours a year just doing ordinary work. (e.g. needed to transfer medical images from one computer to another - was around 7GB, it would have taken ~30mins on usb, but it only took <1 min using a portable ssd.)

    It's all about how much you value your time.

  • D33bz on 26/12/2020 - 16:02
    +3

    None of your business ;)

  • kkkkkkkat on 26/12/2020 - 16:10

    That's actually normal usage tbh, considering updates for software, watching videos, streaming content.
    It's better if you just get a home internet plan if the usage concerns you.
    Cheaper in the long run, usually unlimited too.

  • ribze1 on 26/12/2020 - 16:31
    -2

    pr0n

  • tomlikesbeetroot on 26/12/2020 - 16:43

    I had a job that required me to travel and work away 4-5 days per week.
    60GB data plan was just enough most months for netflix etc to pass the time in motel rooms. Some months not enough.

  • ozgeek on 26/12/2020 - 16:59

    Disney +, Youtube.
    Automatically uploading videos and photos from my camera roll to my Onedrive
    Uploading videos and photos to FB.
    Apps and Games download and updates.

    Used to be on a 120GB/month plan but now downgraded to 65GB as I don't use that much.

  • solidussnake on 26/12/2020 - 17:10

    I get 45GB for $45 a month mostly use it on Youtube/Facebook/Ozbargain and google maps, will go through about half of it

  • 11112007 on 26/12/2020 - 17:38

    I used 110GB a month average pre COVID on my personal phone (travelling interstate at least once a week)

    • Games
    • YouTube/Netflix
    • Downloading stuff from unnamed sources

    Last 3 months I've averaged 5GB being at home.

  • itsHughesy on 26/12/2020 - 17:38

    Internet piracy.

  • greatlamp on 26/12/2020 - 18:29

    The JB/Telstra 80gb deal comes to $17.33 pm ($59 x12 - $500 voucher)

    At that price it doesn't matter if you waste it.

    I leave wifi off permanently, still don't get close to using it up

  • Neoika on 26/12/2020 - 18:41

    I got loads of SIM cards for data, over 6 months supply from Shopback/Cashrewards bonus cashback for $5/$10 spend on eBay/any stores. I can safely say, averagely I do not spend more than $5 for 60GB use per month.

  • kaleidoscope on 26/12/2020 - 18:51
    +1

    If thats your only available connection or your fixed internet sucks, then it makes sense. I got mates that work on remote sites and cellular is the only reliable option and some others mostly who do things while commuting on train.

  • silo on 26/12/2020 - 18:55
    -1

    Nice try FBI…

  • Brendoo on 26/12/2020 - 19:03

    YouTube or Netflix easily takes up about 5GB per day average.

  • Willco88 on 26/12/2020 - 19:07

    Every month I buy a new SIM card cheaply like $5 - $15 the most data I can get and use it for anything and everything ;)

  • dlakers3peat on 26/12/2020 - 20:01

    I use over 700gb per month across 2 phones and 3 ipads and an xbox. Its my my main internet source

    • [Deactivated] on 27/12/2020 - 00:31

      Which plan are you on?

      • dlakers3peat on 28/12/2020 - 00:29

        Optus $69 500gb plan per month and another mobile which has 200gb per month

  • ccrap on 26/12/2020 - 20:48
    -1

    24/7 Prawn Hub. In 4K with my Premium subs.

  • syousef on 26/12/2020 - 21:18

    It's quicker to post "I don't watch video on my mobile."

  • bazingaa on 26/12/2020 - 22:11

    Maybe it's their main internet connection

  • StingyJoe on 26/12/2020 - 22:44

    How on earth are you using less than 2GB a month working from home? Even if you have no online streaming meetings etc, surely just your operating system patch requirements are more than a gig a month easy? The last office patch was 1.2GB and that is not including the OS patching or any other company third party applications that has to be catered for.

    My company laptop just on patching, updates and "phoning home" for AV, backups and security stuff easily consumes 5GB a month!!

    • CircularIllusion on 27/12/2020 - 13:47
      +1

      The "less than 2 GB per month" statement was specifically referring to mobile data. I probably used far more data on my home internet connection in 2020 than any other year.

  • [Deactivated] on 26/12/2020 - 22:48
    +2

    Pornhub.

    Don't lie guys.

    • Oofy Doofy on 26/12/2020 - 22:58
      -2

      Paedophilia enablers all those porn upload sites. Only recently did PH take down 10 million videos, leaving only a few million left, due to not being able to confirm the ages of many people (mostly females) in the videos posted. Took a lot of outside pressure to get them to even do that. Porn needs to be highly regulated.

      • lew380 on 27/12/2020 - 01:03
        +4

        One of the great evils of our day. Most of the videos were from European countries where they essentially kidnap young girls, get them on small amounts of addictive substances and rape them till they are submissive and then ready to be pumped out into their industry. We live in a disturbed world where we don't care about horrendous evil.

        • Willco88 on 27/12/2020 - 01:16

          Calm down

          • Oofy Doofy on 27/12/2020 - 01:38
            +7

            @Willco88: Why? PH and many other streaming sites have effectively been making money from allowing underage porn to be on their sites. Lazy policing doesn't excuse it.

            In the eyes of the law, ignorance is not an excuse.

      • pandamninator on 27/12/2020 - 20:48

        Let me guess - all videos should be sent to you for rating and approval?

        • Oofy Doofy on 27/12/2020 - 21:23
          -1

          Huh? Why would I review it? It should be regulated and age verified with due process by whichever authority that would deal with something like that.

          I don't watch it. Does nothing for me.

        • lew380 on 28/12/2020 - 10:38
          -1

          Kidnapping and rape make me a little angry and I don't like people just ignoring it. Am I in the wrong for having this view?!?

          • Oofy Doofy on 07/01/2021 - 11:55

            @lew380: You're actually correct here, this was part of the original allegations based on people who were actual victims who reported their abuse and imagery/videos being posted online to X rated websites

  • Seaeagles on 26/12/2020 - 23:04

    My Telstra mobile phone plan cost me $65 a month which gives me 180gb on 5/4G after that its unlimited at a reduced speed.
    I go through all of it plus some and never had an issue with the restricted speeds.
    I also got rid of my home NBN service and just hotspot for my computer and television.

    I am well in front as my old phone plan was $99 a month and my NBN was $90 and the speeds I'm getting are a lot quicker than i was getting on the NBN100 plan.

    • whitelie on 28/12/2020 - 11:34

      What speed are you seeing on 5G and do you get it at home?
      I'd need to be able to route it across the house plus I don't think there's coverage so not sure it's entirely viable for me :(

      • Baghern on 28/12/2020 - 13:15

        Im on the same plan, it goes unlimited at 1.5mbs which is low fi streaming (480p seamlessly - or 720 if they're lucky)

        I assume seaegales is a low user, and possibly not fully utilising 5g, or the NBN he had.

        No way can a 180gb plan replace regular phone and tv streaming for the average user.

        4g twitch streaming at 1080p is a couple gigs. That woud be 3 hours twitch streaming every day for a month at 180gb.

        • whitelie on 28/12/2020 - 13:19

          Definitely not feasible for a household then….I think our NBN usage is around 500-700gb/month for a family (two teens that absolutely munch thru data). It would be like the world is ending if I reduced them to ADSL speed lol.

  • Pizdets on 26/12/2020 - 23:14
    +3

    Having worked at Medicare and Centrelink I pretty much send all data to Lord Vladimir Putin.

  • lonewolf on 27/12/2020 - 09:41

    My plan has been the telstra $30 prepaid plan which is only like 2.5gb For a few years now. I never go over but i do think its time to change plans.

    • fozzie on 27/12/2020 - 22:18

      Yes, you are being ripped off

  • Ryugen on 27/12/2020 - 13:41

    My rate on average is about 10gbs/5days, top 5 being:
    Tidal capped at HiFi (Masters would probably make it 20-30gbs/5days). This is the majority of where all the data goes.
    Facebook
    Instagram
    Youtube
    Chrome

    I only occassionally Netflix on phone as the screen size annoys but the eps are usually around 70-80mbs/episode of 22mins as I'm pretty sure it's just loading SD content for my phone, which I'm fine with.

  • KanTakahashi on 27/12/2020 - 14:35

    Around 160GB/month, mostly TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook and Netflix. Plus whenever i need to download something fast because 5G could go all the way to 1Gbps and my home nbn could barely hit 30Mbps.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/12/2020 - 15:31

    I have 110gb shared between my phone and laptop. I travel for work and the places I work have terrible WiFi so I use my data. I reckon most months I use 70-90gb, sometimes the full 110gb.

  • MorriJ on 27/12/2020 - 16:09
    +1

    Where I live, we don't have internet. Fixed Wireless is delivered circa mid next year, I am on the border of the FW coverage and Satellite coverage.

    I rely on the 4G for work so need to have it running.

    I have:
    1TB Tangerine using Optus network @ 79/mo
    500GB Optus 4G using Optus @ 59/mo

    for fixed 4g at home and then two sim plans in the phone, both Telstra.

  • tebbybabes on 27/12/2020 - 16:11

    My entire family are on the 80gb for the whole year thing. We're always on our phones but have used less than 3gbs a month. This is in contrast to before (pre-covid) where we'd usually sit at the 4-5gbs a month. Really, video on demand is the only thing that chews through our mobile data and if we make a conscious decision to not use video or only utilise it deliberately rather than playing in the background, then we can be on the internet all day and still not run into any issues.

    The first year I was on the 80gb, I ended up only using 28gbs for the whole year.

  • ECE on 27/12/2020 - 16:26
    +1

    p😷rn

  • Mumbles on 27/12/2020 - 17:23

    I used to keep it below 2.5GB per month when I was very frugal and had home NBN and public WiFi. 2.5GB allowed Pokemon Go (+ emergency game updates), Ozbargain and price comparison websites.

    Pokemon Go forced me to upgrade to plans >5GB. Now I am on a 10GB per month 4G plan and discontinued the home NBN. I now spend almost 10GB on security updates for 3 devices and viewing Facebook. The mobile data is used mostly by Linux security updates, Windows security updates, Android security updates. Plus social media chews up the rest as Facebook videos automatically play when you scroll over them. Same problem with autoplaying of videos if you visit advertising websites like Cnet or Tom's hardware or News websites where videos are streamed with the mute button switched on.

  • 1968 on 27/12/2020 - 21:05

    Tether mobile connection to laptop… don’t need home internet that way…. easy 80gb per month..

  • SillySorjai on 27/12/2020 - 21:48

    Blippi.

  • Zondor on 27/12/2020 - 23:02

    Youtube

  • [Deactivated] on 28/12/2020 - 07:47

    teenagers and there never ending appetite for porn

  • bender000 on 28/12/2020 - 09:51

    videos. Like several hours of youtube a day and blammo 20 gigs

  • akashra on 28/12/2020 - 10:01

    I chewed through 530GB in November of which that included:
    - Having to re-download my whole Dropbox dir (don't ask): >120GB
    - Assassins Creed Origins - 70GB
    - Assassins Creed Valhalla - 70GB
    And then Amazon Prime Video isn't unmetered on my ISP, that's like 2GB/hr any time I use that.

    But November was a pretty heavy month. Since the pandemic and working from home I've been using 350-550GB/month.

  • Whomastadon on 28/12/2020 - 11:25

    imagine living in 2020 soon to be 2021 and not understanding what streaming is or how it works

  • Herbse on 28/12/2020 - 12:40

    40gb a month sent to giant corporations that give me a free product in exchange for my personal information to use for their Benefit.

  • darkmattersunB6c0MV on 28/12/2020 - 13:13

    My 240 GB plan annual is coming to an end, but still 220 GB left, thanks to WFH.
    My younger son, on the other hand, once ran through about 40 GB in a fortnight on mobile. But that was when he was trying to finish the data.
    Once earlier, when I had limited 150 GB monthly home internet ( not mobile), I was surprised to see 120 GB warning within a week. Guess who the main culprit was? 😀😀

    • matt-ozb on 28/12/2020 - 13:22

      Your son must be downloading a stack of Linux isos

  • DeeTrance on 28/12/2020 - 15:28

    I use 20GB a month, mostly YouTube, Kayo, and Google Map and Emails.

  • [Deactivated] on 28/12/2020 - 16:24

    I download a cars

  • Kiro on 28/12/2020 - 17:06

    I'm on the Optus 500gb plan.

    The things I do are as follows:

    1. Stream YouTube at 1080p on one of my data share Sims on my tablet at work or listen to old time Radio broadcasts online {Richard diamond, X minus 1,. Etc.}.
    2. Update my linux USB flash drives and update my personal work computer.
    3. Stream Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon prime on my tablet.
    4. Stream 2GB.
    5. If NBN is down use it as a hotspot.

    So far I have managed 140gb. Im trying to abuse it with some torrenting between my work laptop and my home desktop.

  • The Value on 28/12/2020 - 17:26

    I use to download YouTube videos and podcasts at home to consume when I'm out but I have so much mobile data now, I don't bother.

  • comfarol on 28/12/2020 - 18:46

    i'm on 1tb usage for this month, on a Aussie Broadband unlimited for $80? but streaming media nearly all day and leave streams going at night cause its unlimited so whore cares. Than netflix and facebook/youtube from other family members through out the month. so probably 1.5tb a month. If my internet could hand 4k steaming i'd steam that too.

    • releasethekr4cken on 29/12/2020 - 13:30

      haha come on bro, turn it off overnight, it's still just a waste of power.

  • alikazi on 28/12/2020 - 21:31

    I'm on Home Wireless Broadband 500 gigs per month for $70 and despite constant YouTube and Netflix and xbox gaming I don't reach the cap. Still I use around 400 gigs in a month, more than half of it is game updates and downloading new games.

  • Bunnyburger on 28/12/2020 - 22:43
    +1

    To download prawn to help our recently devastated local fisheries industry.

  • releasethekr4cken on 29/12/2020 - 09:06

    I travel a lot, sometimes I forget to pre-download movies/TV shows before I get to the airport, it's faster to use cell. I pay $60 a month for 60GB of data so now I just don't even stress. When I was on those small 5GB plans I'd get text message warnings or surprise large bills or worse shudder throttling.

  • rainynight65 on 29/12/2020 - 09:41

    Mobile data is what I use for my home internet, as I have no other viable option where I live. I have a combined 200GB across two contracts, and a 4G modem connected to my home wifi. Most months I use 80-90% of my allowance.

  • tazdevil76 on 05/01/2021 - 12:35

    Streaming Foxtel as dont have a set top box.

  • RogerSyd on 06/01/2021 - 14:01

    I use my phone internet as hotspot at home. With lots of GBs data available with phone plan i have not taken a WiFi connection at my new place. Not sure about any negatives of this approach though.

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