How do i calculate web usage on a mobile phone?

mark1e

I am looking at using a smartphone and trying to work out what web usages mean - for example 1gb/mth? Do these phones show you what web usage you have used up so that you can tell if you have exceeded the allowance?

mr_fishbulb

If you have an android phone then 3G watchdog is good and free.

[Deleted User]

Was going to say 3G Watchdog. I have it running and it tells me what %age of my monthly allowance i've used. It even estimates when your allowance will run out at your current usage

BTW, i've used 20% after 3 weeks of having my first Android phone (HTC Desire). I've used maps quite a lot, browsed the web, used my phone to provide a wifi network for my laptop on the train, downloaded apps.. i'm quite surprised how little i've used

12bdebt3

Most new smart phones provide this. I have an iPhone on Vodafone, there is a Vodafone app where I can log in and it shows my usage. It also shows me on my phone in settings too. I think it's pretty much standard with most new smart phones now.

1gb = 1,024mb = 1,000,000kb+ (I see SO many news articles that say 1gb = 1,000mb. It's worked out on a binary system: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 etc. Which is why you get a 512mb USB memory stick or a 64bit cartridge for your MegaDrive. Sorry for the rant...)

A simple website with basically just text normally uses around 1,000kb, which means that you could vist use 1,000+ plain text websites with 1gb.

More complex websites (i.e. with flash players and lots of HD pictures or videos steaming, interactive advertisements, etc.) usually take up about 3 times as much usage.

You can probably send a million basic emails with 1gb or download a few hundred songs.

Obviously you won't use your GB usage for 1 particular thing, but you get the idea. For instance, streaming YouTube videos will eat up at your usage a lot quicker than loading a simple website.

Please note: The figures I gave aren't exact because every website and file is completely different, but what I said is meant to give you an idea of how much usage you can expect on your smartphone with 1gb of data.

kwikbreaks

I was very concerned that the 500MB on my cheap contract wouldn't be enough for my HTC Desire. It wouldn't if I used 3G exclusively but at home I use WiFi and got an unlocked 3 MiFi for my contract Vodafone 3G card which has a 3GB allowance.

What you should do is get an app/widget to switch off the 3G data when you aren't actually using it as background updates can chew up bandwidth. This will also help the battery which you'll find needs charging every night despite all the claims of 100s of hours standby.

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I thought I'd downloaded the 3G data switch but it's actually a widget from the standard settings app. Whatever it is it can certainly conserve bandwidth usage.