How much data do I actually need?
Most people buy unlimited because they have no idea what they use. Answer seven questions about a normal week and you’ll get a monthly estimate, the range to shop in, and the cheapest plans that cover it. Nothing to sign up for.
A normal week
Estimate hours per week for each. Guessing high is fine — the result shows a range, not a single number.
The single biggest driver. Streaming quality matters more than hours.
Autoplaying video makes scrolling far heavier than it feels.
Only count calls you take off Wi-Fi.
Cheap: a full commute of streaming costs less than five minutes of video.
Includes maps and navigation, which use almost nothing.
Tethering is billed from a separate allowance on most plans. Worth checking before you buy.
Home and office Wi-Fi is why most people use a fraction of what they expect. This is the number that changes the answer most.
A heavy month lands near 18 GB. Shop for that number, not the average.
You are at the crossover point. A 20 GB plan and an entry unlimited plan cost about the same, so take whichever has the better network and hotspot terms.
Plans that cover 18 GB
The cheapest plans we track with enough high-speed data for a heavy month, ranked on the standard rate rather than the intro price — the same rule the rest of the site uses.
20 GB high-speed data
Read the review →35 GB high-speed data
Read the review →Unlimited high-speed data
Read the review →Nothing here fitting? Browse every ranking we publish or compare plans side by side.
The numbers behind the estimate
Published figures from the apps themselves, rounded to something you can do in your head. Video quality is the only setting that moves the total by an order of magnitude.
0.7 GB at 480p. 7 GB at 4K — ten times the cost of the same show.
Autoplay is video. An hour of TikTok is closer to Netflix than to email.
Group calls run higher. Audio-only calls use effectively nothing.
A daily hour of streaming costs under 3 GB a month. Maps are smaller still.
Questions people ask
Is unlimited worth it?
Below about 15 GB a month it usually is not. A capped plan at that level costs $15–$25, while unlimited starts around $25–$35 — and most unlimited plans slow down after a threshold anyway, so you are often buying a cap with a friendlier name. Above 30 GB the maths flips and unlimited is the cheaper way to buy.
Where do I check what I actually used?
On iPhone, Settings › Cellular shows a running total — reset it at the start of a billing cycle to get a clean month. On Android it is Settings › Network & internet › Data usage. Your carrier app has the billed figure, which is the one that counts. Check three months, not one, and use the highest.
What happens if I go over?
On prepaid plans, almost always a slowdown rather than a charge — typically to 128 Kbps, which is enough for messaging and not much else. Postpaid plans may bill overage per gigabyte. It is worth knowing which one you are on before you cut it fine, and the difference between a hard cap and deprioritisation is covered in throttling vs deprioritisation.
Does hotspot data count the same?
Usually not. Most plans give tethering its own allowance, separate from phone data, and some cheaper plans exclude it entirely. If you work off a laptop on the move, treat the hotspot figure as its own requirement when comparing plans rather than folding it into the total.
How accurate is this?
It is an estimate built from published per-hour rates, so it will not match your bill to the gigabyte. It is designed to put you in the right bracket — the difference between a 5 GB plan and a 20 GB one — which is the decision that costs money. If your carrier app shows a real figure, trust that instead.
