Data usage on cell phone plans

[perfect_oil]

When looking at these prepaid plans at Tracfone, they say up to 750 minutes of talk time and 2.0 GB of data usage for $50 and 90 days. How long would it take to use up 2.0 GB of data if you're using it for Google Maps? I plan on getting a cell phone to keep in the trunk of the car for roadside emergencies. I can't see any reason to use the phone other than for phone calls or Google Maps.

https://www.tracfone.com/shop/plans

 

[Alfred_B]

60 Meg's a trip

 

[Trav]

Look at consumer cellular, they offer low monthly plans. $50 for 3 months is $200 a year, they have plans with data for not much more cheaper than that.
Google maps or Waze doesn't use a lot of data at all a few mb each use. 500mb a month is more than you need for the use you describe, I had AT&T and save $100 a month on 2 phones and notice no difference at all and I kept my old number.

https://www.consumercellular.com/shopping/choose/plan

https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/How-Much-Data-Does-Google-Maps-Use

 

[MrQuackers]

Mint Mobile is 25 dollars a month if you buy the yearly card. Includes unlimited data and 12 gigs of 4g each month.

 

[Chris142]

2G will go real fast. Especially if you watch a few youtube videos. Metro PCS is $40 a month with Unlimited talk,txt and Data.

 

[supton]

Shop around, my wife has Page Plus and she likes it. Me, I went tracfone years ago, but talk very little. . So when I got a smartphone (under their BYOP plan) I found myself with like 2,000 minutes, 2,000 texts and 1.5GB of data. I think I upped the texts once. Anyhow, that was off their $20 card every 3 months.

Just got a new iPhone so I'll start leaving some stuff, maybe try maps sometime. If I run out of data, I'll just buy a data card. If that becomes a problem, I'll finally switch plans.

 

[Cujet]

Phones can use a lot of data in the background. Including location services, and updating apps. Even when one carefully selects the "OFF" position on all the features, data is being used. Sometimes a stunning amount.

Some apps are hungry

Often it's impractical to pre-load maps or cache a route before a drive.

OFF TOPIC A BIT: On my old company 15 gig plan, I'd go over on most months and a $15 or $30 charge would result. It almost cost me my job!!! Epic fights resulted. I was unable to use any local Wi-Fi's to download aircraft databases while on the road due to size (3.8GB per aircraft) so I used my phone for the database downloads. (which, by the way, was cheaper than paying for internet service at my office). It mattered not. Testes were painfully removed....

I now pay $175 per month for unlimited data out of my pocket to cover the risk.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Download the maps to your phone when you're at home, over wifi.

Then you'll use very little of your data plan while out and about running Google Maps.

 

[Wolf359]

If you have Comcast, they offer a mobile plan that's just $12 a month for 1 gig of data and that's unlimited talk and text. Better than Google Fi which now allows you to bring your own phone and covers a lot more phones. Google maps uses very little data, just download the area you're going to be in ahead of time at home on wifi. I have a pretty big area selected and it's only a few hundred megs in map data. It uses very little for traffic data. You might even be able to get away with it for free because 100mb is included for free each month.

https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/

You do have to pretty much check your data and lock down any apps that tries to grab data.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by Cujet


I now pay $175 per month for unlimited data out of my pocket to cover the risk.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Download the maps to your phone when you're at home, over wifi.

Then you'll use very little of your data plan while out and about running Google Maps.



Yeah, this. I have tracfone and burn through my data first. They sell "just data" cards and sometimes will offer a better deal at checkout.

My regular best deal on refills is through target.com though.

 

[BrownBox88]

Originally Posted by MrQuackers
Mint Mobile is 25 dollars a month if you buy the yearly card. Includes unlimited data and 12 gigs of 4g each month.


ONLY at the promotional INITIAL price is it $25/month for 12GB of LTE, after the first three months, it becomes $45/month for that plan.

 

[MrQuackers]

12 month plan

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted by Cujet


I now pay $175 per month for unlimited data out of my pocket to cover the risk.


Does that at least come with lube?

typically unlimited is around $45-$80

 

[javacontour]

You can download map data while you are on WiFi so your have the maps "offline" and no need to use mobile data to get it.

Originally Posted by perfect_oil
When looking at these prepaid plans at Tracfone, they say up to 750 minutes of talk time and 2.0 GB of data usage for $50 and 90 days. How long would it take to use up 2.0 GB of data if you're using it for Google Maps? I plan on getting a cell phone to keep in the trunk of the car for roadside emergencies. I can't see any reason to use the phone other than for phone calls or Google Maps.

https://www.tracfone.com/shop/plans

 

[Lyman]

I have a 2GB data plan through Verizon. I use Maps all the time and it uses very little data. Harder on the battery then anything. I pay $40/mo.

 

[The_Nuke]

You didn't mention the possibility of using the phone as a wireless access point to tether some other device to the cellular connection for internet, but if you think that is ever going to be a necessity, you need to make sure that aspect of the data plan is allowed and how much data is allotted in the plan before making a decision on which plan to go with.

For example my prepaid ATT plan has unlimited data for the phone, and it allows the tethering option, but it only allows 10GB of data over that shared connection(s).

Other versions of my plan were cheaper but didn't allow the data sharing, and so on and so forth.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by Trav
Look at consumer cellular, they offer low monthly plans. $50 for 3 months is $200 a year, they have plans with data for not much more cheaper than that.
Google maps or Waze doesn't use a lot of data at all a few mb each use. 500mb a month is more than you need for the use you describe, I had AT&T and save $100 a month on 2 phones and notice no difference at all and I kept my old number.

https://www.consumercellular.com/shopping/choose/plan

https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/How-Much-Data-Does-Google-Maps-Use

+1 They're great. I had started out with 1GB of data with them, about a year or two ago they bumped me to 2 GB data, at no extra cost, 10/1 they bumped me to 3 GB data at no extra cost. I've been with them for about three years now and no rate increases, and a big savings over Verizon. $52.07/month NY taxes included, two phones unlimited talk and text, 3 GB data. I use Waze and Google Maps often, IIRC the most data we've used in a month was about 1.5 GB data, and my wife is on the www. often.

 

[JustinH]

I would stream podcasts almost daily and use maps and facebook and general apps, we would use about 5gb per month.

I'm with Cricket, we just upgraded to an unlimited plan. $80 for two phones.

We tried Metro and the Tmobile coverage is bad in San Antonio, Cricket uses ATT towers and it has been fine.

We travel to mexico and canada a couple times a year, and I need phone service, so I can chat into Cricket customer service and have them put that on my plan for a week for like five bucks. So, I'll have data coverage when I travel to Toronto next week. Many other cheapo prepaid plans can't do Mexico and Canada for that cheap, or at all.

 

[bullwinkle]

Originally Posted by perfect_oil
When looking at these prepaid plans at Tracfone, they say up to 750 minutes of talk time and 2.0 GB of data usage for $50 and 90 days. How long would it take to use up 2.0 GB of data if you're using it for Google Maps? I plan on getting a cell phone to keep in the trunk of the car for roadside emergencies. I can't see any reason to use the phone other than for phone calls or Google Maps.

https://www.tracfone.com/shop/plans

Biggest thing is-turn cellular data on when you need it, turn it off when you're done. Simple as that. I have Tracfone on my wife's & my personal phone, and since we're normally on wifi, data usage is very low. If you shop on eBay, 365 day smartphone plans are available for under $100, and all balances roll over. I'm up to around 10GB of data, 7500 minutes, 9-10,000 texts, I just pay $50-ish a year to continue service.