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Written by: Emily Chen
Data Usage Abroad
- Updated: September 30, 2023 | Published:
As you plan for your upcoming holiday abroad, it’s important to consider how much data you will need for your trip. Whether you’re using your phone for navigation, streaming music and video, or staying in touch with loved ones, having a good data plan is essential.
Here’s a breakdown of the data usage for common activities and a calculation to help you estimate your needs:
Breakdown of Common Activities
Social Media
If you’re planning to share your adventures on social media, you can expect to use around 1MB of data per post for Facebook and 2MB per tweet for Twitter. For example, if you plan to post 10 times per day on Facebook and 10 times per day on Twitter, you will use a total of 20MB per day.
Internet Browsing
GPS
Spotify
Sending emails typically uses very little data, with each message using around 0.1MB. However, if you plan to send or receive a lot of emails with large attachments, your usage may be higher.
Video Streaming
Skype or Video Calls
Online Gaming
Downloading Apps or Updates
If you plan to download apps or updates while you’re abroad, you can expect to use a significant amount of data. The exact usage will depend on the size of the download, but it’s not uncommon for apps to be several hundred megabytes in size.
Online Gaming
Calculating Your Total Data Needs
To calculate your total data needs for your trip, add up the data usage for each activity you plan to do. For example, if you plan to use your phone for social media, GPS navigation, and streaming music for 2 hours per day, you can expect to use around 206.4MB – 306.4MB per day.
As you can see, there are many activities that can use data while you’re abroad. By considering all of the activities you plan to do and estimating your usage, you can ensure you have enough data for your trip.
Remember to overestimate your needs to be safe, and consider purchasing a local eSIM card or data plan if you think you will need more data than your current plan allows. With the right data plan, you can enjoy all of your favorite activities and stay connected while you’re away from home.
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