iPhone Data Roaming - be careful with Maps app

hmd01

Hi,

I don't know how many people use the Maps app on their iPhone? I use it a lot, but I never realised how data intensive it is, and wanted to warn other users.

Just to find my current location took 1.4MB. That doesn't seem too bad if you have 1GB data plan, however...

My mobile phone network provider has just informed me that my phone can download data at a speed of 2MB per second!!! Is that really the speed of a 3G connection?? If so, that means you could use 120MB in 1 minute or your could use up your 1GB allowance in under 9 minutes of usage at this 2MBps rate.

I am very hesitant about posting this as it just doesn't seem possible to me that this can be true and I feel sure I must have got my MB and GB muddled up and my calculations wrong, but I've double-checked and always come out with the same answer.

I would be very happy to be told I've got this wrong... but if it is true, other iphone users might want to be aware how quickly an intensive burst of data like using the maps can mount up if you're on this high speed connection.

Thanks.

12bdebt3

iPhone CAN download at 2mb per second but most web pages are 1,000kb. It would take your 200,000kb to use up 2mb and there is no way you could load up 200 web pages in a second. When you are downloading media from the app store or iTunes it downloads it could download at 2mbps. A song is about 3mb average and it takes more than 2secs to download one from iTunes. It has the capacity to run this speed to Apple boast it. The only time you'd actually constantly use 2mbps is if you used your iPhone as a modem and used internet tethering and attached it to your computer, even then it's not likely to use 2mbps and you run on a different usage allowance with your network provider. Hopefully you understand that, if not then don't worry. Turn off data roaming you don't need it, especially abroad because that causes extra charges. I'm with Vodafone and get 1gb use every month, I always use about 800mb and I have lots of push notifications etc. The maps app does us a lot to initially find where you are, but once it has figured it out and mapped out the general area then it barely uses anything. Like some phone calls from landlines; the longer you are on the phone the less it charges you for the connection.

hmd01

Thanks for your quick reply arrontdep. I sort of follow what you are saying, but I thought there were about 1,000KB in 1MB? so to use your example, it would be 2 web pages per second not 200?

I just did another test of Maps, and it used 7.7MB just to load the area I was searching for in a very short space of time, maybe 10 or 15 secs at most. Even at 0.5mbps, you could get through your data usage quite quickly just using Maps.

hmd01

Just because the iphone is capable of 2mbps doesn't mean you would necessarily think the phone network is... or realise how quickly this data can be eaten up with such apps as Maps.

But if you are roaming and being charged up to £8/MB this is important information that should be highlighted.

On the international usage charge web page for my network provider, there are examples of how much data it would take to load a typical web page, download an email, or upload a photo. These are all pretty low. However, there is no such example to warn that to locate yourself on a Map it could take nearly 8MB, which at £8/MB, amounts to alot of money....

12bdebt3

http://egret.net/kb__mb.htm

1,000,000kb = 1,000mb = 1gb ... ish. It's just less than 1gb.

It can be confusing for anyone don't worry. If you are viewing you internet usage off your iPhone, i.e. settings > general > usage ... it isn't always right. Check with your actual balance with your network provider. If that's the case then they are charging you too much usage to what you actually use. Who is your network provider?

Edit: You will find that your service provider may give you 1,024mb usage which is 1gb.

JJ_Egan

You would need maps on the phone to save on data . Nokia + Android have such a setup dont know if Apple do .


jje

12bdebt3

JJ_Egan wrote: »

You would need maps on the phone to save on data . Nokia + Android have such a setup dont know if Apple do .


jje

Yes iPhone does.

Wintermute

Don't use data while roaming unless it's an emergency or you're made of money! It's stupidly expensive! Personally if I had an iPhone I'd be manually editing all the APNs before roaming after hearing a lot of horror stories about the data roaming setting not working as it should partially due to people using wifi and some badly coded apps.

12bdebt3

Wintermute wrote: »

Don't use data while roaming unless it's an emergency or you're made of money! It's stupidly expensive! Personally if I had an iPhone I'd be manually editing all the APNs before roaming after hearing a lot of horror stories about the data roaming setting not working as it should partially due to people using wifi and some badly coded apps.

This can be a problem which is why I told hmd01 to turn data roaming off! There are badly coded apps because Apple make it so anyone can write an app. They don't even check the coding properly they just check the content of the app and whether what it does fits their terms and conditions.

Wintermute

arrontdep wrote: »

This can be a problem which is why I told hmd01 to turn data roaming off! There are badly coded apps because Apple make it so anyone can write an app. They don't even check the coding properly they just check the content of the app and whether what it does fits their terms and conditions.

The problem is even in 4.1 turning data roaming off isn't guaranteed to work, if this happens the network will generally credit you for the full amount as a goodwill gesture, but it really is at their discretion as it's a software issue down to how the phone's been used and what apps are on it, it's nothing to do with their network and the network will have to pay the foreign network for the data and that money's got to come from somewhere.

wayne77

OK,so am I right in thinking if im just sitting in the house using my wifi connection then I can use the maps unlimited..?