All muddled up over megabytes? Can’t get your head around gigabytes? We explain exactly what you get for your mobile phone’s data allowance.
If you have a phone that can surf the web, check Facebook and Twitter, or send emails, then whether you know it or not, you will have a monthly data allowance.
This is the amount of internet use you are allowed in a month without being charged extra.
That’s all very well and good but how do you know what is enough, too much or too little when it comes to choosing your smartphone data package?
Hopefully, we’ve broken it down into terms that are easy to understand for anyone.
Mobile data explained
Firstly, it’s worth explaining what each unit of measurement is worth.
Some 1,024 kilobytes (KB) make up one megabyte (MB).
The next measurement up is a gigabyte (GB), which is made up of 1,024MB.
As a point of reference, mobile data allowances of 1GB are commonplace nowadays, but deals can start as low as 100MB and rise to as much as 5GB – though this will bump up the cost of your monthly mobile phone deal.
With a data allowance of
1GB
you could spend
44 hours
Surfing the web
*Based on 1 hours use, which uses 23MB on average
With a data allowance of
1GB
you could send
34,133 messages
on Whatsapp
*Based on sending a text-only WhatsApp message, which uses 30KB on average
With a data allowance of
1GB
you could Watch TV
10 episodes
of Eastenders
*Based on streaming a 30-minute episode, which uses 100MB on average
With a data allowance of
1GB
you could spend
51 hours
on Facebook
*Based on 1 hours use, which uses 20MB on average (not including streaming videos)
With a data allowance of
1GB
you could spend
17 hours
on Google Maps
*Based on 1 hours use, which uses 60MB on average
With a data allowance of
1GB
you could Send Emails
34,133 emails
*Based on 1 email sent and received without attachments, which uses 30KB on average
