Madrid
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Published:
Thursday,
04 February, 2021
06:31
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You get a call. They offer you change your rate to a better, much more complete. You go from having 3 or 8 gigs to having UNLIMITED GIGAS. Thus, as a concept, the “Unlimited” consumption for a “limited” price sounds great to us. And there, the voice in your head begins to speak to you: “It’s 10 or 15 euros more a month. ‘Alone’. But it’s almost double what i pay now. Although in reality it is not so much. I will use it?…”.
If at this point in your reasoning they rush you, telling you that the offer ends today, you are lost. Signatures in a matter of seconds because they are “ONLY”, what? 15 euros more per month? (That’s 180 more per year … How much does the little whim you never give yourself because it’s expensive?)
That is why it is at this point precisely when you must question things: just before signing (even by phone). If nobody gives four pesetas hard … why this ‘unlimited’ offer? I really need it? Do we know how many Gigas we consume? Do we know what a Giga is? How many megabytes does a Giga have?
A Giga has 1024 megabytes
Let’s go by parts.
Where do I use my mobile?
This is vital. If I normally use it in places where there is a secure WIFI, you probably don’t need an “extra” data. In fact, there are those who use unlimited data to cancel your WIFI because, if the data does not limit me: why pay twice?
What do I do with the mobile?
It is important to know what you are using the phone for. Why if you just call, all you need are unlimited minutes, but not gigabytes. Do you send a lot of messages? Do you watch series and movies? Do you listen to music or podcast? Do you sail?
According to the latest INE survey, 89.5% of the population between 16 and 74 years old uses instant messaging services. That is, in practice, almost everyone. But you know how much do you consume every time you download a photo or a video in that instant messaging app that we all know?
The truth is that each file has its crumb. Not all photos weigh the same. Not all videos weigh the same. But there is something that will help you calculate: WhatsApp establishes a 64 megabytes per file. You cannot send or receive anything with more megabytes through that app.
If you deactivate the automatic download, WhatsApp tells you how much the file you are going to download weighs
Let’s do the calculation on maximums: if 1,024 megabytes are one Gb, for every 16 files that I receive or send, I consume one Giga. It’s simple. And let’s go further. I can configure the app so that whether or not I download the files automatically. Or so that you only download them when you have WIFI. Thus, I can save and control what I spend, deciding what to download and when.
You just have to go to ‘Settings’ -‘ Storage and data ‘-‘ Automatic download
Maybe you travel a lot on public transport or have a job with long breaks. If you use your mobile phone in between times to watch your favorite content, there are several things you need to know. Although not all platforms publish clearly what you consume when you use them, some do. Thus, watching a movie or series on your mobile consumes approximately 1 GB per hour. The consumption increases up to 3 GB per hour if we have the HD option activated, according to Netflix.com.
If we don’t want to spend so much, there are several things we can do:
– Lower the playback quality. So we can lower consumption to 0.3 GB per hour. This can be done on all video streaming platforms.
– Netflix, in particular, allows you activate the option “Save data” in the app. What you get like this is to see up to 6 hours of content with a single Gb of consumption.
– Play content only if we have WIFI.
– Download previously, with WIFI, the contents that we are going to see.
If you have the foresight to do the latter, you may not need to extend your data rate.
You still listen to music all day. Or podcast. While you work, at home, on the bus, in the car, on the beach … Well, you get it. All day. Do you know how much you consume?
When you use the configuration that comes by default in Spotify, for example, the cost is about 96 kb per second. Translated: about 43 Mb per hour. An expense that can multiply up to 3 if we have very high quality set.
On audio platforms you can also download the content before to leave home, but in the case of many only if you pay the Premium subscription.
It is very risky to say how much do you consume browsing the internet. Each page is a world and the habits of each ‘navigator’ a universe. But keep reading. There is a quick way to find out what is best for you.
What I do? Do I take the offer or not?
Big question. The answer? It depends. Because if you have come this far, you will have verified that your spending depends a lot on how, how much and where you use your mobile. There are certain adjustments that you can make in practically all the apps to try to save on mobile data.
But perhaps the smartest thing to do is not evaluate video-to-video or photo-to-photo spending. The best thing is that before hiring or expanding anything, you look at your latest bills. There you will find the data that you have consumed and the data that you currently have contracted. That will allow you to make a 100% personalized evaluation of what is convenient for you and only you.
And remember: almost never an offer that involves paying more than what you pay will expire in the next minute. Haste is a very powerful sales tool: offers that run out, products in which there is more than one interested buyer… Learn to identify that tool. Reflect, search and analyze what you spend and decide whether or not to pay more.
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