How much data does your family use?

In a monthly billing cycle, how much data do you use if you are on a family plan?  

I keep upping our data plan (just $20 more/month!) and our data usage magically creeps up to meet and exceed the plan—every time we increase the data.  Yes, I am thinking corporate foul play.

Our family plan includes two adults, a college student, and a high school student. Everyone has an iPhone. Way back when, we had 6 gb. It was fine.  Kids got older, so we got 8gb.  Great for awhile, then we repeatedly went over.  So we got 12 gb.  Exceed our limit again every month.  Now I upped it to 16 gb. Let's see how long it takes until Verizon tells us we are exceeding 16.


I didn't know they had a 12 gig option.

I honestly think some of the problem is app and browser use on handheld devices is getting more data intensive. More and more apps and mobile versions of websites seem to be pushing video at me, for instance. 

You can look on your Fios app and see which devices are using the most data, and my phone will actually break it down by app. 


go unlimited. Not much more $ and the headache saved worth any additional penny 


We cap the high schooler at 2.25gb and rarely go over. We have the 8gb plan. Nature abhors a vacuum? Well teens/young adults abhor leftover data and will fill up whatever is given to them. Really, my kid has no idea (even with the data tracking apps) where her data goes. I would try capping the two kids' data at 3gb each and see what happens. We capped her data because she rolled her eyes so far back in in her head we thought her retinas would detach any time we asked to to see where might all the data be going? Nope. OK, your data is capped. And she now rarely runs out.


Chances are there is just more streaming going on over data instead of WiFi.  On the Verizon app it tells you how much data each phone uses.  In our case high data usage is almost always my husband as the kids and I primarily use WiFi at work and school and he runs on data at work and on the train.  


We had to get an extender in the house because my daughter’s room kept dropping so she was using data even at home.  Once the family knew to be careful they were much more aware of their data usage and try to connect to WiFi whenever possible.  Except my husband who just pays the overage during peek streaming season (fantasy football).


Just switched to t-mobile. Unlimited data and free data/calls while abroad. So far, so good and much cheaper than at&t. 


it would drive me absolutely insane to worry about data each month and have to track it. What do you pay doing it this way vs unlimited?


conandrob240 said:
go unlimited. Not much more $ and the headache saved worth any additional penny 

It's not truly unlimited. With the unlimited plan, Verizon slows down your data when you reach a certain threshold.  Not going to put up with that.  


mrincredible said:

I honestly think some of the problem is app and browser use on handheld devices is getting more data intensive. 

Bingo!  Very well planned on their part.  

Did you know that using iMessage (vs. regular text messaging) is data-intensive?? That's what the very helpful customer service rep told me.  There is no difference AFAIK between iMessage and test messaging, and your iPhone defaults to iMessage when you text another iPhone.  I shut off my iMessage option today.  

This is planned data creep. It's devious corporate greed.  I'm planning to completely stop using my phone outside of wifi, except for unavoidable situations.

wendyn said:
On the Verizon app it tells you how much data each phone uses.  

 How do we know it's accurate?  Is it audited?  Or are we supposed to just trust Verizon?  

wendyn said:
We had to get an extender in the house because my daughter’s room kept dropping so she was using data even at home.  

 Another infuriating Verizon tactic.  So they sent us a new router because our old router was ... old.  We didn't ask for a new router.  It just came.  Old one worked just fine for our needs. Reached every corner of the house. 

Now, with new router—which is supposed to be super-duper 5G—the wifi signal doesn't always reach the master bedroom! I turned off "wifi assist" (so altruistic-sounding) a long time ago after I learned about that scam.  So why was my phone using data in the master bedroom?  Today I learned that wifi assist (so nice of them) kicks in when the wifi is weak. But when wifi is not reaching the device at all—BINGO!—data kicks in. I'm sure between me and my husband we're using at least 1 gb a month because the new super-duper router doesn't reach the south wing of our 1800-sf house.


conandrob240 said:
it would drive me absolutely insane to worry about data each month and have to track it. What do you pay doing it this way vs unlimited?

 It’s cheaper (old plan with a 25% discount vs unlimited with no discount) and no throttling.


As to the OP— about 30-40GB.


shoshannah said:


conandrob240 said:
go unlimited. Not much more $ and the headache saved worth any additional penny 
It's not truly unlimited. With the unlimited plan, Verizon slows down your data when you reach a certain threshold.  Not going to put up with that.  

 We’ve always had unlimited and use a ton of data and never had it slow in any noticeable way.


ctrzaska said:
As to the OP— about 30-40GB.

 That's quite a lot.  How many people (kids/adults/young adults) are on the plan?


If you have four or more phones on your plan, Verizon's price is $40 a month per phone plus approx. $5 for fees and taxes for unlimited. I haven’t noticed any slowdown of data speed but I doubt if we reach the cap for most months. It doesn’t cost any more than the 16G plan, so the peace of mind is worth it. 


We get to about 10 GB most months for two phones.  I have a plan with 8 GB ... it looks like the next plan up is one of the Unlimited packages for $65/phone.  I don't see a 12GB or 16GB plan with Verizon.

I usually end up paying for an extra gig or two at the end of the billing cycle when I get low.  

I've also got to get better about using my wifi at home, then I can probably continue with the 8GB plan.  I typically turn it off when I leave the house, and when I'm in the house and farther from the router I turn it off because it switches back and forth and slows connections down (For that problem I need to do something about the WiFi in my house).



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