How to quantify 50 meg. of data usage

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David G. Imber - 19 Jul 2008 05:07 GMT

    I'm considering getting an iPhone for my use in Japan. AT&T
offers a 50 megabyte data package for $60/month. I've tried to
quantify what usage would be like for ordinary web use and e-mail, but
I really can't visualize it. I know that Japan's 3G network is quite
fast, which is helpful, but can anyone throw out some benchmarking
ideas about how much is expended in megabytes using a device like the
iPhone for a month. I know that the device does have a tracker, but I
doubt many people keep an eye on it, as data usage is typically
unlimited while in the home country.

    Thanks in advance for any advice.

    DGI

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Larry - 19 Jul 2008 06:57 GMT

> I'm considering getting an iPhone for my use in Japan. AT&T
> offers a 50 megabyte data package for $60/month. I've tried to
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>
> DGI

50MB is 12 MP3 songs at 128Kbps sample rate.
50MB is about the size of 10 CNN webpages full of moving spam GIF pictures,
various javascript-enhanced Flash movies no longer than 10 seconds in
length.

50 MB is nothing.....like running a Hummer with a cup full of gas.....

What a ripoff $60 is!

You should get a Geisha free!

...or a room in a Japanese love hotel with a schoolgirl.

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Beer Drinking Dog - 19 Jul 2008 07:10 GMT

>> I'm considering getting an iPhone for my use in Japan. AT&T
>> offers a 50 megabyte data package for $60/month. I've tried to
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>
> ...or a room in a Japanese love hotel with a schoolgirl.

You know Larry, you're maybe not so bad. You've got a dirty old man's
mind. Just like me!

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David G. Imber - 19 Jul 2008 10:30 GMT

>...or a room in a Japanese love hotel with a schoolgirl.

While it's true that she'd be carrying a phone ten times more
functional than anything we have here, it seems a rather involved
workaround for getting my mail.

Thanks for the info. DGI

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Larry - 19 Jul 2008 16:48 GMT

>>...or a room in a Japanese love hotel with a schoolgirl.
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Thanks for the info. DGI

It has some really nice fringe benefits that use no bandwidth at all!

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zwsdotcom@gmail.com - 19 Jul 2008 21:14 GMT

> fast, which is helpful, but can anyone throw out some benchmarking
> ideas about how much is expended in megabytes using a device like the
> iPhone for a month. I know that the device does have a tracker, but I

It's really impossible to match up one person's mobile net usage to
another's. If she was only receiving text emails I'd say she'll be
fine. If she's regularly using YouTube and downloading huge HTML
emails with ten megs of embedded graphics in each, then you're gonna
eat that 50Mb pretty damn quick. One large photo can easily be a
megabyte (after encoding) all on its own. And will she usually be
around wifi or not?

I use my phone _constantly_ for email and web browsing; I send photos
to my Facebook account, my wife and other people, and I receive them
too. You can check your usage in your AT&T account settings, no need
to refer to the phone itself. Last month I used 150MB of data and my
wife used 312MB. She doesn't have access to Wifi during the work day;
I do.

So I'd say unless this person is exceptionally well trained and
watches the meter, you're going to be paying big overages for any
"normal" use of the Internet side of the phone.

Another warning: Visual Voicemail counts towards data usage, not voice
minutes!

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