S
martphoneusershaveaverycomplicated
relationship with their mobile data. Although
thelatestAustralianCommunications
andMediaAuthority(ACMA)mobiledata
reportshowsthatinstancesofbillshock
have declined, we’re still paying around $60 a month
onaverageinchargeswedidn’tanticipate.Howdo
we stop this? By picking the right plan for our mobile
habits.WHEREDOESALLYOUR
DATA GO?
Data users can be classified into three categories: low,
medium or high use. Online comparison site WhistleOut
classifieslowdatauseas1GBamonth,mediumuseas
between2GBand3GBamonthandhighdatauseas
5GB a month or more.
Certainappsusemoredataperhourthanothers,so
dependingonwhatappsyou’reusingatthetime,your
dailydatausagecanfluctuatewildly.Thismakesit
difficulttoidentifywhereyourdataisgoing,whichis
whatyouneedtoknowtoaccuratelypredicthowmuch
datayou’regoingtouseeachmonthsoyoudon’thave
tooversubscribeto$10dataadd-onsoroverzealous
data plans.
To help consumers get an idea of where their data
goes, the team at WhistleOut has run tests on the most
popularappstoidentifyhowmuchdatatheyrequire
perhour.Fromthere,thehardpartisworkingouthow
muchtimeonaverageyouwouldspendeachdayoneach
app away from your home or workplace wi-fi connection.The trick to
picking a
plan with
just the
amount of
data to suit
your needs
is to work
out what
type of user
you are
STORY
STEPH NASHMY MONEYMOBILE PLANS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Socialmediaappsarethebigdatakillers.Andlikeitor
not,manyofusaretooaddictedtothemtodoanything
about it.
Facebook uses between 80MB and 160MB every hour,
depending on how much video content you’re browsing.
Ifyouusetheappforanhoureveryday,youwouldbe
usingbetween2.4GBand4.8GBeachmonthonFacebook
alone. This 2GB range shows to what extent video
content can affect your data usage, so if you’re looking
forwaystocutback,disablingFacebook’svideoauto-
playfeatureisamust.
WhistleOut editor Joe Hanlon says that out of all the
social media apps he tested, the results for Instagram’s
data use was by far the most surprising. The photo-
sharing and video-sharing app clocks up a whopping
720MBanhour,meaningthatifyouspentonehoura
dayontheapp,yourInstagramusewouldequatetoan
enormous21.6GBamonth.Forhard-coreInstagram
users, Hanlon recommends a minimum data allowance
of 20GB a month.
“We were shocked at how quickly Instagram used
up data,” he says. “It’s as if YouTube was loading a whole
bunchofvideosinthebackgroundreadyforyouto
watchthemjustincaseyouneedto.”
Ifyoutravelalotorhavefamilylivingoverseas,you
might regularly use a video communications app such
as FaceTime or Skype. While you might expect these
appstousealotofdataeachtime,WhistleOutrecommends
a mid-range plan of at least 3GB if you’re going to use
them for about an hour a day.Choose
the
right
deal