What exactly are MBs and GBs in internet data bundles?

In this day and age, the internet is everything. We heavily rely on this worldwide infrastructure for almost every aspect of our lives today. Facebook and Twitter for keeping up with friends and family, Skype and a bunch of other apps for video calling, entertainment, you name it, we’re doing it online. I mean even governments have moved on to provide services to the public over the internet. The internet is everything.

If you are using your phone to connect, chances are you have a monthly/weekly or daily data allowance. This is the amount of internet you are allowed before you either have to pay more for access or you’re cut off.

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This is pretty straight-forward for most people but there are many people that wonder, How much is enough, too much or too little when it comes to choosing your smartphone data package?

What is Mobile Data?

Internet tokens/bundles are measured in bytes. That is the unit of measurement. One kilobyte or KB is 1024B. One megabyte MB is 1024kilobytes KB. One gigabyte is 1024MB and so on and so on.

Carriers offer internet bundles in various denominations from as low as 20MB to as high as 100GB. The validity of these bundles also varies from bundle to bundle for economic reasons obviously.

Some carriers go on to offer their heaviest users Unlimited data plans which offer users unrestricted access to the internet with no caps for a given period of time.

How much Data do I need?

So, different tasks on the web require different amounts of data. For instance, text-based emails are usually really light so you don’t really need that much data to clear your Inbox by replying to all those emails you have been putting on hold.

Tasks like video streaming, especially in the higher resolutions, say Full HD 1080p or even 4K are some of the heavier ones. To do this on a mobile plan is often considered a little extravagant. That is why it is recommended that this be done over WiFi or fiber internet as those often offer Unlimited Plans with differences in connection speeds.

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That said, below is a nifty little data calculator tool from the good folks over at Confused.com. The tool helps you estimate how far your data allowance will go before you need to consider purchasing a different plan

How much mobile data do you think you consume in a month? What app on your phone do you spend most of your data on?

Featured Image courtesy of AndroidAuthority

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