I used 4gb data in 5 days?!

[sushifor5]

I'm a techno dummy and don't understand much in this realm, lol, but with my new att sim plan nexus 7 mobile, I appear to have used 4gb of my monthly 5gb in less than one week. I've streamed two movies, downloaded apps and music and a couple books and magazines. I've surfed web and done gmail. I have no auto syncs turned on, no gps turned on and i use airplane mode when I'm done with internet and email. WiFi not an option. Is that data usage for real or is there something I need to know about setting up and using this device? TIA for any input!

 

[Harry2]

When you switched to the new phone, Google might have automatically downloaded all these apps that you had installed on your former phone.
Installed app are linked with your Google account.

Just guessing, but I have had this issue some time ago

Harry

 

[Powie21]

Go to settings/wireless & network/data usage and check where what's using your data.

Without examining exactly what your downloading if your not using Wi-Fi then your data allowance can soon get eaten up.
For example :-
Streaming a HD quality movie for can easily use over 1GB/Hr.
Some apps (mainly games) are well over 1GB in size.
A typical song is about 10mb (this soon builds up if you download alot of music).

If your N7 is new then your also going through the phase of playing with it alot which won't help your data allowance.

 

[repoman123]

Streamed 2 movies? That's gonna take up a significant chunk of what you've used so far!

 

[Teknologic]

Streamed 2 movies? That's gonna take up a significant chunk of what you've used so far!

Movies are indeed the most likely culprit here, along with any big apps that are tied to your account. Gps won't consume any data and autosync will use very little, in any case it'll only be a very tiny fraction of your data, compared to streaming one movie.
Movies hover between 700mb and 2gb, depending on encoding. Scrolling through or rewinding a live stream can use up even more data if it doesn't use a very large buffer/cache.

 

[dan330]

this thing is new to you .. so you are playing a lot with it.. surfing here and there.. streaming vid and music... you are eating a lot of data.

stream movie is about 500 mbs..average.
music is not so bad.. but still it adds up.
apps are a few megs each.. big games (ex: shadowgun) can be a few 100mbs each

but 4GB in 10 days.. that is a bit much.. i think you might have forgotten a lot of other things you payed with.

there are apps on the playstore that can help you keep track of your usage.. for each app and when.

you just need to watch your usage.

 

[Rcarnes91]

These things are data hogs it is easy to burn through 30 gigs a month stream movies over wifi download apps over wifi use that 5 gigs for Web pages and casual YouTube

 

[sushifor5]

Thanks everyone, it makes sense that it was likely the movie streams. I looked in data usage and xscope browser had used 2gb, which was how I watched the streams (loaded flash). So if it was 1gb per show, that means I spent $10 to watch pbs...not worth it, lol! Will be more careful.

Essentially, if someone doesnt have wifi and wants to use tablet for everything, the data consumption would be astronomical, right?

 

[Rxpert83]

Connect to WiFi whenever possible to cut down on data

 

[Demache]

Thanks everyone, it makes sense that it was likely the movie streams. I looked in data usage and xscope browser had used 2gb, which was how I watched the streams (loaded flash). So if it was 1gb per show, that means I spent $10 to watch pbs...not worth it, lol! Will be more careful.

Essentially, if someone doesnt have wifi and wants to use tablet for everything, the data consumption would be astronomical, right?

That's a pretty sound conclusion.

Videos, if nothing else, take up GOBS of data. So yeah it would be preferable that you did have wifi if your going to watch videos on it.

 

[dan330]

5GB should be ok for a month of surfing .. if you dont stream vids or music.

 

[Teknologic]

I think 5GB should support streaming music, as long as you don't do it 24/7.
Without streaming anything you likely won't ever get to 1GB/month.

 

[dan330]

I think 5GB should support streaming music, as long as you don't do it 24/7.
Without streaming anything you likely won't ever get to 1GB/month.

but he has NO access to any wifi.. so a month of all surfing and normal data use... would go over 1gb.
add in any stream of media... would push him over that limit.. easy.


i am in wifi at work and at home... so 90% of the day.
tomorrow is end of month for me and i used almost 1.62 GB.


note: did you know that McDonalds, Starbucks, and local malls have free wifi! There are many places now that give public free wifi.

 

[JanComputerman]

Rent the movies from Redbox for $1.20 + tax plus get a free one each month via text message and save a bundle. Cell service data access is way over priced unless you get onto an unlimited plan at a low data rate for a cell phone. High def movies are like a DVD 4-5 GB each but with compression they get a bit smaller.

 

[bob60626]

I do a lot of Pandora and browsing; however, the only way I get near/over 5 gigs is with movies. Audio should be fine.