08.04.25
Best Affordable Unlimited Data Plans 2025, Starting at $0
by Valeria
The average person uses 22 GB a month, according to a 2024 Ericsson report. But that’s just the average — your monthly data usage may run higher or lower.
How much data you need will depend on how often you can use Wi-Fi and how data-intensive your daily activities are. Also, the number of users on a data plan can bump up the data needed. Here's a rough guideline:
Light data users who are usually on Wi-Fi and/or typically use mobile data for email, text-based websites, and a small amount of social media: 1GB-5GB a month for a single line or 8GB-20GB for a family of four.
Medium data users who are sometimes on Wi-Fi and/or typically use mobile data for social media, streaming video, or maps / navigation: 10GB-15GB for a single line, 40GB-90GB for a family of four.
Heavy data users who are rarely on Wi-Fi and/or use mobile data extensively for social media, video streaming, gaming, or hotspot: 30+GB for a single line and 120GB or more for a family of four.
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What uses mobile data on a cell phone?
Whenever your phone connects to the internet while not on Wi-Fi, it’s consuming some of your phone plan’s data allowance. (You might also see mobile data referred to as cellular data, because it's accessed via your carrier's cellular network.) But how much data gets used depends on the activity.
Browsing the web: Just looking at text-based sites doesn’t take much data, but sites with high-resolution photos or with videos start to eat up more. On average, you could use 1GB of data per 10 hours of browsing.
Social media: Using video- and photo-heavy apps like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook can consume 1GB or more in 8 hours.
Online gaming: The data used while playing a multiplayer game on your phone or using your phone’s hotspot can vary widely, with complex games using 1GB or more for three hours of play.
Messaging: WhatsApp, Twitter and similar messaging apps can burn up data when sharing video and pictures, and also if you have auto-downloading of messages enabled. Videos are particularly data-heavy at high resolution — Lenovo estimates sending a 5-minute high-res video could consume 1GB.
Video calling: 1GB of data can cover a Zoom call between two people lasting 30-60 minutes.
Streaming entertainment: YouTube will use mobile data at 1GB per 90 minutes for standard definition, while watching Netflix on high definition could blast through a gig in only 20 minutes.
Another way to approach it is to ask, how much is 1GB of data? How much data is 10GB of data? etc. This table shows how quickly common activities will use up various amounts of data:
| Activity | How much is 1GB of data? | How much is 2GB of data? | How much is 5GB of data? | How much is 10GB of data? | How much is 50GB of data? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web browsing | 5-6.5 hours | 10-13 hours | 25-32.5 hours | 50-65 hours | 250-325 hours |
| Social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) | 8 hours | 16 hours | 40 hours | 80 hours | 400 hours |
| Music streaming (standard) | 20-25 hours | 40-50 hours | 100-125 hours | 200-250 hours | 1,000+ hours |
| YouTube streaming (standard quality) | 1.5 hours | 3 hours | 7.5 hours | 15 hours | 75 hours |
| Zoom video call (between 2 people) | 30-60 minutes | 1-2 hours | 2.5-6.5 hours | 5-10 hours | 25-50 hours |
| Netflix streaming (high definition) | 20 minutes | 40 minutes | 100 minutes | 3.3 hours | 16.5 hours |
As you can see, video-heavy apps eat up data. If you want to do a lot of streaming or scrolling of social media, look for an unlimited data plan or be sure you can use Wi-Fi for a large part of your day.
How much data do I need for hotspot?
When you use your phone as a mobile hotspot you’re just using its cellular connection to provide internet access for other devices. How much cellular data that uses depends on the what the connected devices are doing. For example, if you connect your laptop to the internet using your phone hotspot then stream videos, expect the same data usage as if you were doing that on your phone. There’s no “extra” data used simply for running the hotspot.
Some data plans pull hotspot data use from your overall limit, while others offer an amount of hotspot data on top of the overall limit. And some plans don’t allow hotspot use at all.
If you tend to use hotspot regularly, take that into consideration when choosing a data plan.
How many GB per day for travel?
How much mobile data you need while traveling heavily depends on how you plan to use your phone:
Will you make extensive use of maps and navigation apps? Will you be posting your adventures to social media? You might want to add a little extra to be on the safe side.
Do you expect to be too busy having fun to spend much time on social media, streaming, etc.? Maybe you can get away with less.
Check how much data you use at home per day or week, using the steps below, then use that as a guideline to estimate how much you need for the duration of your trip. Using an international SIM card is a great way to get coverage while traveling. Check your carrier’s international coverage offerings and cost, and see how it compares to using an international SIM.
How to see how much data you use
To understand “how much data do I need?” for your individual habits, start by checking how much mobile data you’re currently using.
Unless you’re brand new to cell phone use, you have a built-in way to see how much mobile data you typically use. Your phone’s settings will show you both overall and per-app usage.
How to check data usage on Android
An easy first step to finding out how much data you need is knowing how much data you already use. On most Android phones:
Open your phone's Settings app
Tap Network & Internet, then Internet
Tap the Settings gear icon next to your carrier’s name to see your total usage
Tap App data usage to see per-app use; tap the down arrow to pick a time period.
Check data used on iPhone
Open your phone's Settings app
Tap on Cellular, then scroll down to Cellular Data to see overall data usage and roaming for the current period.
To see per-app usage, tap on “Show All” in the Cellular Data section of the display.
Important note: “Current period” doesn’t necessarily mean your current billing cycle! It's the period since you last reset your cellular usage statistics. Go to the bottom of the display and tap “Reset Statistics,” then check your usage again in a week or a month to get a current snapshot of your data usage.
How do I know how much data I need if I never had a data plan?
If you've never had a data plan before or are getting your own phone plan for the first time, you could consider what kind of apps you'll use and how much data those apps uses.
Are your most-used apps streaming-heavy? If you spend a lot of time on Spotify, YouTube, online games, Netflix and the like, you’ll find the best value in an unlimited high-speed data plan.
Are your most-used apps social-heavy? If you’re consistently using platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. then an unlimited, high-speed data plan is your best bet.
Are your most-used apps messaging heavy? If your phone use is focused on WhatsApp, Messenger, email ,etc. you can likely get away with either a limited data plan or even a talk & text only plan that will keep you connected with a phone number. You will still be able to access any other apps over Wi-Fi, or in the case of some talk & text plans, with the small data amount included.
The table below shows much data popular apps use (keep in mind there are about 1,000MB in a GB).
| App | Data used per hour |
|---|---|
| Spotify | By streaming quality
|
By type of use
| |
| TikTok | By streaming quality
|
| YouTube | By streaming quality
|
By type of use
|
For example, if you want to use Spotify on your hourlong commute, you can expect to use up to 150MB of data depending on the streaming quality you use.
How much data is 'unlimited'?
A few unlimited data plans give truly unlimited high-speed data, with no slowing or cap on how much you use. But most will state an amount after which speeds may be reduced for the remainder of the billing period. For example, among T-Mobile's postpaid plans, its Essentials plan gives 50GB of high-speed data then may slow speeds until the next billing period, while its Experience More and Experience Beyond plans promise all high-speed data with no slowing.
On prepaid phone plans, it’s rarer to find truly unlimited high-speed data. The level for possible slowing tends to be lower, too, such as 35GB with Mint Unlimited or 40GB on Boost Unlimited+.
When selecting a phone plan, check all the details (especially the FCC-mandated broadband fact sheet) and read the terms and conditions. Look for information on how much high-speed data you get, and also what speed data is slowed to after that. For example, Simple’s Truly Unlimited+ 5GB Hotspot gives you 40GB of high-speed data, and after that may slow you to 2G speeds — enough for basic web browsing, email, and very simple apps. On the other hand, AT&T’s Unlimited Basic prepaid plan slows to 1.5 Mbps after 30GB — that’s enough for social media browsing, music streaming and watching video at the lowest-quality setting. (You may want to learn more about the Mbps demands for various activities before choosing a plan.)
How can I use less data on my phone?
Try these tips to use less data on your phone:
1. Adjust phone and app settings
If you're looking to stay within budget, without sacrificing time on your favorite apps, you can simply adjust a few settings to save mobile data.
Turn on your phone’s data-saving mode. It stops apps from refreshing automatically in the background, including sending and receiving data when you’re not using them. You can exempt some apps individually (that’s helpful for apps that send you notifications and alerts). On an Android, go to Settings -> Network & Internet -> toggle on Data Saver. On an iPhone, go to Settings -> Cellular -> Cellular Data Options -> Data Mode and toggle on Low Data Mode.
Toggle on the data-saving option in the settings menu of commonly used apps.
Turn off certain apps so they don't use your cellular data. Go into Settings to the list of per app usage and toggle off the apps you select.
When streaming music or video, change the quality setting to low when using mobile data and turn it back on to high when you're back on Wi-Fi.
Turn off the Wi-Fi assist function if your phone has it. This feature lets your phone automatically switch to using mobile data if your Wi-Fi connection is weak. Toggle off Wi-Fi Assist on iPhone in Settings under Cellular. On Androids, look in Settings for Wi-Fi Assist, Adaptive Connectivity or Switch to Mobile Data.
2. Use Wi-Fi whenever you can and download content in advance
Another efficient way to save data is to prioritize Wi-Fi for data-heavy apps. This would mean that you don't watch YouTube or scroll through Instagram/TikTok unless you're connected to Wi-Fi, either at home or at a public Wi-Fi hotspot.
You can also download content over Wi-Fi ahead of time and then watch/listen to the downloaded content while out rather than streaming it directly.
These tips also can help you avoid potentially costly data roaming, especially when traveling.
3. Compare your data usage to your plan’s allowance
After making these adjustments, test it out for a month or two. See if your data usage went down or stayed the same. You could switch to a cheaper phone plan if you find you don’t consistently get near your data limit.
If you find you still need more data than you have, then your best bet would be to look for an affordable unlimited data plan. That "affordable" is important, because your phone bill will affect your credit if you fail to pay it in full within a certain period.
On the other hand, if you are a heavy data user who streams entertainment, plays online games and similar activities, you may want to simply opt for a plan with plenty of data and access to higher-end 5G UC.
Frequently asked questions about mobile data
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