How much data do I actually need?

Most travellers overbuy. Here is what each thing on your phone really costs per hour, and how that maps to a plan size.

Most travellers use 500 MB to 1 GB a day. Navigation and messaging are almost free; social media scrolling and video are what drain a plan. For a one-week trip, 5 GB is comfortable for most people, 3 GB is enough if you download offline maps, and 10 GB covers heavy use including tethering a laptop.

What one hour of each activity costs

Activity
Per hour
Notes
Turn-by-turn navigation (Google/Apple Maps)
~5 MB
Download the area offline and it is zero
WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram — text
under 1 MB
Photos sent are ~1–3 MB each
Email and general web browsing
20–40 MB
News sites with video autoplay run higher
Music streaming (Spotify, Apple Music)
50–70 MB
Download playlists on hotel WiFi instead
WhatsApp voice call
~30 MB
Cheaper than any roaming call
Instagram / TikTok scrolling
150–350 MB
The single biggest drain on most trips
Video call (FaceTime, WhatsApp video)
200–400 MB
Do the long ones on WiFi
YouTube at 480p
~250 MB
1080p is roughly 1.5 GB an hour
Netflix in SD
~1 GB
HD is around 3 GB an hour

Pick your profile

Type of traveller
Per day
What to buy
Light — maps, messaging, the odd lookup
200–400 MB
500 MB/day pass
Normal — the above plus social and sharing photos
500 MB–1 GB
1 GB/day pass, or 5–10 GB for the trip
Heavy — video calls home, streaming, laptop hotspot
2–3 GB
2–3 GB/day pass, or 20 GB for the trip

Figures are typical, not guarantees — video quality settings move them the most.

Five minutes before you fly, do these four things

  1. Download offline maps for your destination in Google Maps (Search the city → the "..." menu → Download offline map). Navigation then costs almost nothing.
  2. Turn off photo backup over cellular. iPhone: Settings > Photos > Mobile Data > off. Android: Google Photos > profile > Photos settings > Back up > Mobile data usage > No data.
  3. Turn off app updates over cellular. iPhone: Settings > App Store > Automatic Downloads > Mobile Data off.
  4. Cap video quality in Instagram, TikTok and YouTube — every one of them has a "data saver" setting that roughly halves consumption.

Doing these four is often the difference between a 1 GB day and a 3 GB day, which is the difference between a $1 day and a $4 day.

Common questions

How much data does the average traveller use per day?

Between 500 MB and 1 GB a day. That covers navigation, messaging, social media, looking up restaurants and sharing photos. Under 500 MB a day is realistic if you download offline maps and save video for hotel WiFi; over 2 GB a day usually means streaming or tethering a laptop.

Is it better to buy a fixed plan or a day pass?

A day pass suits trips where usage is uneven or you are not sure — you pick the number of days and get a fresh allowance every night, so one heavy day cannot eat the whole trip. A fixed plan (3, 5, 10 or 20 GB over 30 days) is usually cheaper per gigabyte if you know roughly what you need and your trip is longer than a week.

What if I run out?

Nothing breaks and you are not billed for overage — the data simply stops. You buy another plan and install it the same way, which takes about two minutes on hotel WiFi. It is one reason not to over-buy up front.

Does using the hotspot cost extra?

No. Tethering is included on every plan at no extra cost and is not speed-capped. It just consumes the same allowance faster, because a laptop pulls far more than a phone — budget 2–3× your phone-only estimate if you plan to work.

What quietly eats data that is not my fault?

Automatic photo backup to iCloud or Google Photos is the worst offender — a day of holiday photos can be several gigabytes. After that: app updates, podcast auto-download, and video autoplay in social feeds. Turn all four off over cellular before you fly.

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