Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Phone data - how much do your teens go through?

24 replies

nocampinghere · 26/03/2018 16:23

DD1 burns through data, barely half way through the month she is out of data (1GB)
She says the school wi-fi is a bit rubbish and therefore it switches to 4G.
They do seem to use their phones for legit activities in school (checking email, internet etc..)

Wondering what is reasonable.

TIA

OP posts:
BeyondThePage · 26/03/2018 16:38

mine has 1G of data, once it has gone it has gone. She uses wifi at home and limits her use at school, some months she runs out, but she knows that if she desperately needs more for a valid reason, we will do an add on for her, or she can pay for one from pocket money if desperate enough. (she is never desperate enough)

HibbityBlibbity · 26/03/2018 16:40

1gb isn’t a lot really. I use my phone a lot less than the average teen and use over 1gb. I would say I was a low user really.

AveEldon · 26/03/2018 16:40

Mine is at a school that bans phone use during the school day
1 GB a month is about right for us - on giff gaff

nocampinghere · 26/03/2018 17:24

ok thanks.
i'll get her a 500mb top up this month.

I've been through her settings, turned off youtube, spotify and some games from using mobile data - they should be wifi only. Hopefully that will help.

From looking at her battery usage breakdown over the past 7 days there's a lot of spotify which if she is streaming rather than having downloaded playlists will burn data.

OP posts:
ihearttc · 26/03/2018 18:21

DS1 is 13 and has 20GB on his phone (it was randomly cheaper than one with less data!) and he usually uses about half of it. I have 4gb and usually use nearly all of mine and Im on my phone a lot less than most teens.

Witchend · 26/03/2018 18:56

Mine are on PAYG. School allows phones but the WiFi is good.
Dd1 (17yo) goes through about £20 a year for everything. She rarely goes on data.
Dd2 (14yo) is closer to £40 a year as she won't wait until she's in a WiFi spot if she really want to do something.
When ds (10yo) first got his he went through about £10 in the first month before we worked out how to turn data off. He hasn't used it since.

sunshineandsnow · 26/03/2018 19:11

On iPhones you can turn off the thing that automatically switches to 4G if WiFi is crap.

nocampinghere · 26/03/2018 19:14

thanks all. interesting perspectives, glad i didn't get cross with her.
I've turned off mobile data from the non essential apps and also turned off wifi assist.

OP posts:
prettybird · 26/03/2018 21:02

Ds is 17.5 and is now on a £7.50/month contract and never goes over his 1G (or is it 750mb? - Tesco basic contract) allowance (nor his texts or minutes allowance). He's never once gone into the £2.50 buffer.

To be fair, he was on PAYG from when he first got a phone aged 11 until 1.5 years ago, so he was used to keeping his data turned off and using wifi where possible.

School doesn't expect them to use their phones for research: phone are tolerated within school but only expected to be used at lunch and breaks.

Orangettes · 26/03/2018 21:40

Mine are on a sim only contract, 4GB for £9 a month and that includes unlimited downloads of netflix and spotify. It must be enough as I they never mention it.

whiteroseredrose · 26/03/2018 21:47

Wow. DS and I share 40G but use about half. DD has 10G to herself and probably uses most. I pay about £80 a month for all 3 including 2 phone costs.

dementedpixie · 26/03/2018 21:48

We got a good deal on SIM cards that have 12gb per month

WhitneyHoustonsbathtub · 26/03/2018 21:49

1G is nothing

nocampinghere · 27/03/2018 08:56

ok so maybe she doesn't "burn through data" !

there is wifi at school and home though...

OP posts:
SandyDenny · 27/03/2018 08:59

I use much more than that a month, I'm not surprised 1gb isn't enough. I'd expect most teens would use more than that

Heifer · 27/03/2018 09:54

DD (14) is on 4GB a month and is usually fine. Did run out the first few months of having it but has learnt how to manage it better.

SoupDragon · 27/03/2018 09:59

DSs have 3gb and usually use most of it. I think they would use as much as they are given - they used to have 2gb and this ran out in about 3 weeks or so.

DD had something wrong with the settings on her phone, we aren’t sure what, and she used up 1gb in one day every month. We did lots of things to her phone and this stopped.

JufusMum · 27/03/2018 10:29

DD has 4GB and almost uses it all every month, she has the most expensive contract in the house but she has an Iphone.

omnishambles · 27/03/2018 12:19

Same as Prettybird. Tesco mobile (£7.50 a month)which is one with a hard stop at £10 over but he has never used it. DS has 250 a month which he only uses for bus checking etc. Everything else including school is WiFi.

If he wants more he can get a job when he is able and pay for it. You do have to start as you mean to continue though.

LizB62A · 27/03/2018 12:25

My 19 year old has 15gb and says it's not enough - he's planning to move to 3 on a sim-only "all you can eat" unlimited data plan !

fleshmarketclose · 27/03/2018 12:26

Dd has 2gb but rarely uses it all. She used it all regularly before the school had a complete ban on mobile phones though.

omnishambles · 27/03/2018 13:18

I honestly think that if you have less then you learn to be more organised with what you're doing than if you have a lot so downloading playlists and content for your commute etc.

My mind boggles as to how teens are using loads unless you are downloading content on the move and why would you do that? I have just checked mine and I have used 168mb data and 3.3gb WiFi over a month and I have a job where I am looking at a lot of content.

elephantintheroom2 · 27/03/2018 13:31

my dd's have 3GB. Giffgaff (no contract) 10 pound/month for 3GB, unlimited text and 500 mins calls. They often run out 2 or 3 days before.

prettybird · 27/03/2018 14:16

To be fair on those using lots of data: ds does use masses of data Shock - it's just that he does it all on wifi.

He was the reason I had to change to an unlimited package at home (even before we started streaming a lot of catch-up TV) because he was streaming so many videos, YouTube, rugby games (he is fanatical about rugby), TV shows....

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread