How much data/month?
 

Hi,

I've never used a smartphone before, and I was came across a number of posts here about data usage and what networks allow what etc.

So, I know that mobile internet pages are smaller, but one of the main features of the n900 is that the web will be as it is at home.

How much data do you think you'll need (average user) for this phone per month (or per day)? I figure it's going to be a data slut.

Re: How much data/month?
 

This browser opens all pages just like your computer, so pages are not smaller.
I manage to live with 150mb on my Nokia 5800, but I don’t see youtube videos or download music on the phone.

Re: How much data/month?
 

Plans here in the UK seems to set their aceptable usage at 500MB or 1 GB. I guess that seems pretty high compared to your 5800. But, it will be surfing constantly. Any other estimates out there?

Re: How much data/month?
 

Hi,
Last two weeks or so: upload 42Mb, download: 545Mb (Wlan&GPRS)
Mainly installed applications, listened to internet radio, some web browsing such as youtube, twitter, gps etc. i.e "normal" usage. Not 100% sure if that Dataplan Monitor is working though (haven't payed attention...) so it could be more.

//K

Re: How much data/month?
 

Depends on what you really use it for. Personally, I have used my N82 as a modem when my home wifi broke down for about one month. In that month, I used close to 30GB of data.

Re: How much data/month?
 

This is very personal, so the only true way to figure this out is in practice. Some providers provide some guidelines about how much data is used when you do something, and give advice which subscription to apply for which usage. But be aware this advice comes from same folk who are trying to sell you something; hence may be skewed.

I have FUP (not allowed to regularly use more than 1000% of average data usage). While the FUP is not transparent (I cannot easily calculate my total usage from telco website nor can see average monthly usage) I am otherwise OK with the FUP and never received complaint. I use about 300 MB a month with 24/7 e-mail & RSS, with sometimes also web browsing and IM. When I am near WLAN for which I have access (800+ in NL, home, and some others) it automagically will use that connection. I use offline maps.

If data is expensive make sure you make precautions. For example, use a proxy (by provider or on Maemo or e.g. run by Opera) in your browser which downsizes the quality of images. Because N900 has good screen quality you may opt for not doing this or only when situation requires e.g. when on slow network, with very big pictures (e.g. 1+ MB), or when data is very expensive, or when roaming. There are also widgets you can run on desktop which show your data usage in development, such as here.

Statistics show people using iPhone which heavily uses GPRS use more data than people with smartphones less optimized for internet usage. Because N900 is not primary a phone but rather a mobile computer you can expect the same from N900; so the data usage of N900 is probably more than what I described here above (Nokia E71).

Once Nokia N900 is out, we can perhaps gather some statistics from various users, and see if any users got complaints from their ISP.

Re: How much data/month?
 

These sort of phones should only be used with a "unlimited" type of data plan, there's no way to estimate what you will use.

I've used between around 700 megs to a gig per month on my 3G unlimited plan and HTC Hero (Android) phone in the few past months. This is with streaming music (Spotify), RSS, Facebooking, web pages, GoogleMaps for navigation, some youtube etc...pretty normal use, I would say except for the streaming music which might not be that common.

Anyway, my point is that the only way to use phones like this is to have a set price - and to make sure data roaming is off if you leave the country/area :)

Re: How much data/month?
 

I'm having a hard time getting to 200MB a month, but I'm often around WiFi and the N900 silently switches to WiFi when you come into range of a known network.

Re: How much data/month?
 

My data consumption per month has been from 100MB to little over 1GB while owning and using 770, N800, N810 and now N900. Usage has been just normal rss, web surfing, email, OSM map downloads, some application installations etc. Over 1GB moths I have been using my mobile phone also as a modem for a laptop.

Average for tablet only months is somewhere around 350-400 MB for month.

Re: How much data/month?
 

For reference, I've averaged 75MB a month on my iPhone (that's only Cellular Network Data), However, I'm connected to WiFi 100% of the time I'm at university/work. That includes push email, web browsing, but never "Downloads" per se, or YouTube vids (I've never bothered with them much on the phone).

Re: How much data/month?
 

The real secret is how many times your device connects to internet to check your mail,twitter and similiar applications because every time when it connects your mobile operator takes off from your account 100kb of data. Even if you have no new messages. But if you have application on your phone which keeping connection all the time your data consumption is about 80% smaller. I´m using Nokia Messaging from a few weeks and it keeps connection all day long so I observe that data consuption is very,very small.

Re: How much data/month?
 

For what it's worth, with my previous smartphones (Nokia E61, E90 and iPhone 3GS), I only used a few dozens of MB per month. That was mostly spent on email, Twitter and a bit of web browsing.

With the N900, I've only had it for 2 weeks but am already at 635MB of downloaded data (and 35MB sent) - that includes both 3G and wifi. Part of this is probably the new toy excitement syndrome. But in general, the N900 is just a fantastic Internet device that pushes you to be online all the time.

IM is always there and so seamless that you just use it without really thinking about it. Web browsing is a real joy. YouTube videos display inline and just work - I've found myself watching much more embedded YouTube videos than I did with my previous phones. The FM transmitter is great too - I've been regularly listening to French radio streamed over 3G while driving thanks to it.

Re: How much data/month?
 

That's a very valid point actually but it depends on your operator.

In the UK, AFAIK, all operators charge by the Kb when in the UK (and if you get an N900, you'd really want to get an unlimited data plan anyway). When roaming, I remember that some operators used to charge a minimum of 100Kb for each connection. Not sure if this practice is still in place.

Re: How much data/month?
 

Some operators give you all you can eat for X minutes. For example, Vodafone NL asks 0,75 EUR for 15 minutes with speed 3600/384 while T-Mobile NL costs by the 10 kB, rounds up, and provides less bandwidth. Vodafone NL would work great if you were to download some Google Maps for offline usage whereas on T-Mobile NL this would be expensive. Conversely, if you'd check your e-mail every hour or stay connected Vodafone NL's scheme would cost you a fortune.

The reason you use 100 kb of data is because of authentication with your e-mail server. If you stay connected some bytes will be used to keep the connection alive, and when it does check for messages it only has to sent that command every X minutes and receive reply hence skipping authentication. This will not work with POP3, but will work with IMAP4, and I suppose as well with something as Nokia Messaging. Also, I think IMAP-IDLE, which is supported on S60 client, reduces the need to check every X minutes further lowering data usage while allowing real-time communication when necessary. I don't know about P-IMAP though.

Re: How much data/month?
 

Here in Italy there are a lot of rate plants depending by your vaforite operators. So ... exactly your data/month use depends on you.
The only thing that I can add is that in N900 you can configure as you want your apn and internet connection, so you can use also a special promotion made by the operators for only one mobile.

Example: Here in Italy you can ave 2 Gb/month ONLY if you have an Iphone. But ... the same SIM works great also into the N900 :-)