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2GB of data may not sound like much in today’s data-heavy world, but it can actually give you quite a lot. With 2GB of data, you can do things like stream music, watch videos, browse social media, and more without worrying too much about going over your data limit. Let’s take a look at some specific examples of what 2GB of data can provide.
Streaming Music
One of the most common uses of data is streaming music from services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. Streaming music doesn’t use too much data – typically about 1MB per minute. So with 2GB of data, you could stream music for approximately 33 hours.
That’s enough to listen to music for a couple hours every day for two weeks straight. You could stream about 2000 songs, giving you plenty of listening before needing to connect to WiFi.
Watching Video
In addition to music, many people use their mobile data to watch videos and movies. Streaming video uses more data than audio – generally about 7MB per minute for standard definition video.
With 2GB of data, you could stream around 480 minutes of SD video. That’s equal to about 8 hours of Netflix or YouTube. You could watch a couple movies or binge several episodes of a TV show over the course of a month before needing more data.
Social Media Usage
Social media apps don’t use too much data individually, but it can add up over time. Here’s an estimate of how much data common social media activities use:
| Activity | Data Used |
| Scroll through Facebook feed for 10 minutes | 20-50MB |
| Post photo to Instagram | 1-2MB |
| Send 5 tweets on Twitter | 250KB |
As you can see, just casual social media use can eat through data. But 2GB is enough for moderate daily use of apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and others. You could scroll for 1-2 hours a day and make several posts and still likely stay under 2GB.
Web Browsing
General web browsing uses less data than streaming video, but can still add up over time. Basic text-heavy sites use about 2MB per hour, while image-heavy sites use about 10MB.
With 2GB of data, you could browse text-based websites for approximately 1000 hours! For more visual sites, you could browse for 200 hours. That’s plenty of web access for reading news, shopping online, researching topics, and more general internet use over the course of a month.
Gaming
Online mobile games typically don’t require much data. Simple games use 5MB per hour or less. More complex multiplayer games may use up to 30MB per hour.
At those rates, 2GB of data would give you 400 hours of gaming time – over 16 full days worth! You could easily play mobile games for at least an hour or two daily with that amount of data.
Email and Messaging
Staying on top of email and messages uses very little data. Here’s a breakdown:
| Activity | Data Used |
| Send/receive 100 emails | 10MB |
| Send 100 instant messages | 2MB |
As you can see, you could send and receive tons of emails and messages before making a dent in 2GB. Staying in touch via email, texts, and messaging apps is totally doable with this amount of data.
Audio and Video Calling
More advanced phone functions like audio and video calls use much more data than simple messaging. Here’s how much data popular calling options use:
| Activity | Data Used |
| 1 hour video call (WhatsApp, FaceTime) | 300MB |
| 1 hour audio call (cellular, WhatsApp) | 60MB |
You could make about 7 hours of video calls or 33 hours of audio calls lasting one hour each on 2GB of data. Of course, most calls are shorter than that, so you could make even more typical 5-10 minute calls within the data limit.
Uploading and Sharing Photos
Posting photos from your phone to social media or sending them to friends uses more data than simply browsing. Here are photo sharing data usage estimates:
| Activity | Data Used |
| Upload and share 10 photos | 200MB |
| Upload and share 100 photos | 2GB |
Uploading a few photos here and there will just put a minor dent in your data. But sharing tons of high-res photos could use it up more quickly.
Google Services
Many Google apps and services syncing in the background use small amounts of data that can add up:
| Activity | Data Used |
| Google Maps navigation, 1 hour | 60-100MB |
| Send and receive Gmail, 30 days | 50MB |
| Google Play app updates, 10 apps | 50-100MB |
These amounts are quite minimal. With 2GB of data you could use Google Maps navigation for around 20-30 hours over a month. You could keep Gmail synced for months. And update dozens of Google Play apps.
OS and App Updates
Updating your phone’s OS and apps can use large chunks of data quickly. Here are some examples:
| Activity | Data Used |
| iOS update | 500MB-2GB |
| Android OS update | 100-600MB |
| App update, average | 25-100MB |
As you can see, just a single OS update could use nearly all of 2GB of data. App updates use smaller amounts, but can still add up if you update frequently instead of on WiFi.
Downloading Files
Downloading files like documents, ebooks, and photos uses large amounts of data, especially for large files.
| Activity | Data Used |
| Download 5MP photo | 5MB |
| Download 10MP photo | 10MB |
| Download PDF ebook | 5-100MB |
| Download MP3 song | 5-10MB |
You could download a couple hundred photos, a dozen ebooks, or a few dozen songs with 2GB before running out. But large files over 100MB each could use your entire data amount quickly.
Conclusion
While 2GB of data may seem small, it’s enough for light use of streaming music, video, social media, web browsing, gaming, communications, and other common phone activities. However, large files or constant heavy usage will eat through those 2GB quickly. It’s a good amount for moderate daily usage, but power users will likely need more data.