How Much Is 250mb Of Data On A Cell Phone

The iPad models that come with Wi-Fi and 3G will let users choose, on a month-by-month ground, whether to pay AT&T for 3G data service at i of 2 service levels. The unlimited plan is $29.99 per month, simply like the iPhone'due south data fee; the 250 MB per calendar month program (combined upload and download) is only $xiv.99 per month. Volition that suffice?

At starting time, I thought such a small amount of data laughable. I use my iPhone constantly, and must push vast amounts of data through it; with an iPad, I would surely use it even more. Merely I forgot that the iPhone tracks 3G usage separately from data sent over Wi-Fi until colleague Tom Negrino noted so in Twitter.

Tom wrote, "Checked iPhone'southward 3G data use. Since Sep[tember], when I final reset the counter, 35 MB out, 171 in. iPad 250 MB plan OK."

This prompted me to check my usage, which you lot can do in the Settings app by tapping Full general > Usage, and then scrolling down to the Cellular Network Information section and adding the two numbers in that location. Equally far as I tin tell, I oasis't reset the phone'south usage statistics: I've used a combined total of one.9 GB over 7 months or well-nigh 270 MB per month, simply over the limit. I checked my AT&T account to encounter how much I used in January, a month in which I traveled with the iPhone and no laptop – just 150 MB total. Some research pegs average iPhone 3G usage at 500 MB per month. [And I've used merely 589 MB since purchasing the iPhone 3GS in July 2009, well under the 250 MB per month limit. -Adam]

Neither AT&T nor Apple tree has said what will happen if you go over the 250 MB limit in a month. A rational approach would be simply to charge you $29.99 for that month and give you unlimited data for the rest of the month, but rational approaches have no role in the cellular manufacture – unless Apple has insisted on that equally office of its continuing networking deal with AT&T. (The iPad could piece of work on T-Mobile's network in the U.s., but not at 3G speeds, as the iPad doesn't include the specific frequencies used past T-Mobile for 3G networking.)

One of our readers pointed out that Steve Jobs had said the AT&T plans would exist prepaid; that's in dissimilarity to so-chosen postpaid plans. A postpaid program requires that you pay for monthly service in the month earlier you utilise that service, but allows you to rack up additional usage and fees which are billed in the subsequent month. Prepaid service, by contrast, lets you apply simply the services that you have paid for, protecting you lot from boosted fees. (Postpaid relies on credit checks and credit cards; prepaid typically allows many methods of payment, and delivers only upwards to the precise service paid for in accelerate.)

If AT&T is charging on what it calls a prepaid basis, but will neb for overages, that could get pricey. Nigh cellular carriers charge in increments of 5 cents per MB – $50 per GB! – for plans that have limits. A few carriers warn customers via texts, electronic mail messages, and sometimes telephone calls as the data limit is approached. Without a cutoff, warnings, or a bump to the unlimited programme, expect customer horror stories to grow in the offset few months after the iPad ships every bit people unknowingly rack up huge data bills.

AT&T will include gratuitous Wi-Fi access at its 20,000-plus hotspots as role of both of the iPad 3G plans, and I'thou certain I've used my iPhone enough at Starbucks and other free locations, also as over my domicile and office Wi-Fi networks. (McDonalds' is now entirely free for everyone, and represents virtually 12,000 of AT&T's 20,000 locations, by the way; run into "Notice Free and Inexpensive Wi-Fi," 23 December 2009.)

Wi-Fi is likewise being widely installed for commuters, often at no cost or as part of a low-cost program. This includes trains, ferries, buses, and, ane day, the BART system in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most airports are already included in AT&T's network through roaming agreements.

If I were to purchase an iPad, I would lean toward spending another $129 to get a 3G flavour just for the advantage of having access, when I need it, everywhere I become. The fact that I haven't been overusing my iPhone's 3G plan is useful to know. To brand the $14.99 plan work, I'd just accept to exist slightly more careful about watching the meter.