The right plan size depends on what you do on your phone more than on how long you are away. Start from your daily habits, multiply by the number of days, and leave a margin.
Typical usage
| Activity | Typical data use |
|---|---|
| Music, normal quality (96 kbit/s) | about 45 MB per hour |
| Music, very high quality (320 kbit/s) | about 145 MB per hour |
| Video, standard definition | about 0.7 GB per hour |
| Video, HD | up to 3 GB per hour |
Maps, messaging, email and browsing use far less than streaming. What adds up quickly is video — including short clips in social apps — and photos or videos sent or backed up over mobile data.
A quick estimate
Two hours of music at normal quality and half an hour of standard-definition video a day comes to roughly 90 MB + 350 MB, or about 0.45 GB a day. Over two weeks that is about 6 GB. Add a margin for maps, photos and the things you forget to switch off, and choose the next plan size up.
Making the data last
- Download offline maps and playlists on Wi-Fi before you leave.
- Set video apps to a lower quality on mobile data.
- Turn off automatic app updates and photo backup over mobile data.
If it runs out
Some plans can be topped up while the e-SIM is still active — the plan page says whether yours can. Otherwise you buy a new plan. Travelling through several countries? One regional plan usually beats buying data country by country. Or start from your destination: Turkey, Japan, Thailand.
Adonis Telecom · Updated