Find the best data plan for your trip

A gigabyte (GB) is a unit of digital information that represents 1,000 megabytes (MB). When it comes to mobile data usage, understanding how much data fits into 1 GB can help you manage your internet activities more effectively. 1 GB stacks up for different types of activities:

• Social Media (chatting, photo sharing, video calls ~480-540p): ~2 hours (450 MB/hour);
• Video Streaming (~1080p): ~40 minutes (1500 MB/hour)
• GPS, Maps, and light gaming: ~12.5 hours (80 MB/hour)
• Work Tools (email, cloud storage, Zoom ~360–480p): ~4 hours (250 MB/hour)

How long 5 GB will last you, depends largely on your daily activities and how data-hungry they are.

• Social Media (chatting, photo sharing, video calls ~480-540p): 5 GB would last approximately 11 hours (450 MB/hour).
• Video Streaming (~1080p): 5 GB would last approximately 3 hours (1500 MB/hour).
• GPS, Maps, and Light Online Games: 5 GB would last about 62.5 hours (80 MB/hour).
• Work Tools (email, cloud storage, Zoom ~360–480p): 5 GB would last approximately 20 hours (250 MB/hour).

10 GB of data provides you with 10,000 MB of usage. It's enough for a lot more activity than 1 GB, but depending on what you’re using it for, it can still run out faster than you might think.

• Social Media (chatting, photo sharing, video calls ~480-540p): 10 GB lasts about 22 hours (450 MB/hour).
• Video Streaming (~1080p): 10 GB lasts approximately 6.5 hours (1500 MB/hour).
• GPS, Maps, and Light Online Games: 10 GB lasts about 125 hours (80 MB/hour).
• Work Tools (email, cloud storage, Zoom ~360–480p): 10 GB lasts approximately 40 hours (250 MB/hour).

Whether 1 GB of data is enough for a day depends entirely on your usage patterns and activities. For moderate tasks such as browsing the web, checking emails, or engaging on social media platforms, 1 GB should be more than sufficient to get through the day. Activities like texting, posting on social media, and even making a few video calls at lower quality (around 480p) will consume relatively little data, allowing you to stretch 1 GB over several hours. However, if your day involves more data-intensive tasks, like streaming high-definition videos on YouTube or Netflix, 1 GB will not last long. For example, streaming video at 1080p can consume up to 1.5 GB per hour, so 1 GB would only allow for about 40 minutes of viewing. Similarly, if you're using video calling apps like Zoom or FaceTime for extended periods, 1 GB will run out fairly quickly, especially for video calls at higher quality.

If you enjoy streaming video, 50 GB of data can last a significant amount of time, though the exact duration depends on the quality of the content. For high-definition video at 1080p, 50 GB is enough to watch approximately 33 hours of content. In practical terms, this means you could stream platforms like YouTube or Netflix non-stop for roughly a day and a half before reaching your data limit.

Understanding how much data YouTube uses can help you decide whether you want to watch videos in higher quality or conserve data. Here's the typical data usage for different YouTube video qualities: - 480p: About 250 MB/hour - 720p: About 500 MB/hour - 1080p: About 1.5 GB/hour So, for example, if you're watching 1080p content, 1 GB would last around 40 minutes.

FaceTime, widely used for both audio and video calls, has varying data consumption depending on the type of call and video quality. Audio calls are relatively light, using approximately 3–4 MB per minute, while video calls require significantly more data. Standard-quality video at 480p consumes around 30 MB per minute, whereas higher resolutions such as 720p or 1080p can use up to 90 MB per minute. Consequently, a one-hour FaceTime video call can consume anywhere from roughly 1.8 GB to 5.4 GB, depending on the video quality.

The amount of data the average person uses varies depending on their internet habits, but here’s a general idea of data usage for different types of users: - Light Users: Around 2-3 GB/month (primarily text and light social media) - Average Users: Around 5-10 GB/month (mix of browsing, social media, and occasional video streaming) - Heavy Users: 10-30 GB or more per month (frequent video streaming, gaming, and other data-heavy activities)