How much data is enough?

[garage man]

Going to go full time in my RV soon. I have read information until My eyes have crossed about data plans for internet and Dish TV.
I can't find anything that related Gigabytes of data to real world.
Can anybody help?
If I spend an hour reading and sending emails how much data might be used?
What about an hour of reading threads on this forum?
How about and hour of Youtube videos?
How about streaming an hour long movie?

Anything ideas?
I live in the country and have Centurylink which does all I need with 10mbps down and 1mbps up.

Thanks for the help.

[TravelSolo]

You should be able to go to your CenturyLink account and check how much data you are using monthly now.

Generally emails are very light on data unless you use huge attachments. Forums tend to be light as well especially if you set the options to not show signatures or image by default and you also run an ad blocker.

Streaming content is the killer of data.

[wildmandmc]

Hello. I'm an IT guy. from what you said, you should be good with 10gb data, but, The Video's are the killer. Depending on how many during course of the month, thats a big unknown. along with if u stream. But u mention dish, so that be seperate.
What you have to remember, an i know park rv wifi isn't best. some phones you can shut off data an then u use wifi . When u leave yor rv an go out driving, make sure your data is off or else anything u do will start the clock on use of data. Another prob is apps once in while require an update which = data. settings can be change to only update using wifi. But if your 55 or older. get a unlimited cell plan, go online using phone. other stuff on laptop ect..

[carybosse]

I tried to get a number from AT&T on how much data I was using at my office a few years ago. All they would tell me was that I had unlimited data on my landline. I was hoping to run a hotspot to replace the AT&T line, as it was not reliable, but could not determine what my usage was.

I tried the hotspot from a cellphone with 100 gig per month, only to discover that when someone called the cellphone, the hotspot dropped out. Had to stick with a landline connection.

[CWSWine]

Streaming Video is the killer. I can easily use 400 to 800 GB per month and I have used over 1000 GB.

Resolution Streaming Bitrate Hourly Conversion
480p (720×480) 1750 kbps ~792 MB per hour
720p (1280×720) 3000 kbps ~1.3 GB per hour
1080p (1920×1080) 4300-5800 kbps ~1.9 GB to ~2.55 GB per hour
1440p (2560×1440) 6350 kbps ~2.8 GB per hour
4K (3840×2160) 8000-16000 kbps ~3.5 GB to ~7 GB per hour

Some of Netflix video are at 60 frames and can us the following.

Resolution Streaming Bitrate Hourly Conversion
720p (1280×720) 3600 kbps ~1.6 GB per hour
1080p (1920×1080) 6960 kbps ~3.1 GB per hour
4K (3840×2160) 16000 kbps ~7 GB per hour

[Nwcid]

As others have said it really depends on what you are doing.

Back when I had a cap of 20GB at home (satellite) I could make it last most months with carful use. This was minimal video (Youtube) and absolutely no streaming.

Now that streaming is our primary way to watch TV is it not uncommon for us to use 400-800GB/month

[Newps]

Get an ad blocker for your browser, that will help save data as well as cut out most of the crap that is downloaded. I use Firefox for my browser and use AdBlocker Ultimate.

[garage man]

This is why I love this forum.
Thanks so much for all the info.
I intend to use Dish for TV. The RV had Dish with an antennae.
Unfortunately The man with the RV was retired and succumbed to Covid-19 in 2020. I bought the RV from his son who knew little about the coach and there is a ton of manuals and paperwork that I am still working through. I want internet access and would love to have Starlink once it is available for RV's.

I have read hours of threads here on this forum that talk about antennae, boosters, routers, sim cards but you (all of you) are the first to give me an idea of what is enough data.

Thanks so much. I will reach out to Centurylink and see if they can tell me how much Data we use now.

[Suburbazine]

Personally, I use a LOT of data. I run two 800GB+ plans (technically limited at 1TB each) through AT&T and Verizon. On any given month I will burn through about 600GB to a peak of 710GB, assuming I get a decent cell service where I'm parked. Mostly streaming media, some game updates (sigh, Activision and their 80GB updates) and a lot of web browsing.

[TravelSolo]

I use my laptop 5-6 days a week for surfing the web, emails, some youtube. 200GB a month.

I use my phone about 50GB a month and its for texts, wifi calling, surfings, games, apps, emails.

My hotspot on my last trip used 25GB in 4 weeks and that included streaming (on low quality due to small TV not needing HD) every other evening, plus all my other laptop uses for work.

[lo-tek]

We used about 650GB while on the road for 10 days. Tablet surfing and streaming movies at night, 4k when we could

[tetranz]

Originally Posted by Suburbazine

Personally, I use a LOT of data. I run two 800GB+ plans (technically limited at 1TB each) through AT&T and Verizon. On any given month I will burn through about 600GB to a peak of 710GB

You call that a LOT? (No, it's not me).

[tetranz]

And recently someone bragged about this: If you can't read the top it says 95 TB on T-Mobile home internet for a month. That seems a little excessive if you ask me.

[TandW]

2 paid for Moto G stylus running on Straight Talk with 40 Gigs of shared data. Wifi hotspot in either shuts down in Android 11 when host senses no connections. About $63.00 total monthly with auto-pay. Perfect!