How much cellular data do I actually use?
Plug in your habits to estimate monthly GB. Then we recommend a data tier and link you into the plan finder.
Tip: enter only the time you spend on cellular, not on Wi-Fi. If you stream 2 hours of video at home over Wi-Fi and 30 minutes on the bus over cellular, the entry is 0.5 hours, not 2.5.
How the estimate works
We use typical per-hour data rates at common quality settings. Real usage varies with video codec, screen resolution, and how much your phone caches over Wi-Fi at home.
| Activity | Per-hour data |
|---|---|
| Video streaming, SD / 480p (cellular default) | ~0.5 GB |
| Video streaming, HD / 720p (phone "high quality") | ~1.5 GB |
| Video streaming, 4K UHD (rare on cellular) | ~7 GB |
| Video calling (Zoom, FaceTime, etc., HD) | ~0.85 GB |
| Music streaming (Spotify "Very High") | ~0.05 GB |
| Browsing & social (mixed images, occasional video) | ~0.15 GB |
Hotspot bands assume a laptop being primary user during the tethered hours. "Occasional" is roughly two evenings of laptop use per month; "regular" is a couple of WFH days per week; "daily" is using the phone as the household's primary internet.
Most people overestimate cellular data because phones default to Wi-Fi at home and at work. If you spend 8 hours/day on Wi-Fi at the office and another 10 hours/day on Wi-Fi at home, only the remaining 6 hours of awake time hit cellular. That's why even heavy phone users often consume under 10 GB/month.
Related tools
- Home-page plan finder — finds plans that match your data tier and budget
- Plan-vs-plan comparison — line up two plans side by side
- Guide: Why is my cell phone bill so high?
- Glossary: Hotspot · Throttling · Deprioritization