June 23, 2024, 2:55 pm | Read time: 4 minutes

Smartphone users in Germany are consuming more and more data. While 1.5 gigabytes per month was sufficient in 2019, the average data usage in 2023 is 7.2 gigabytes, according to Statista. And the increase is growing year by year. However, mobile data is expensive in Germany, so it’s worth carefully considering your personal usage. This largely depends on individual usage habits. TECHBOOK provides an overview of how to better assess your data consumption.

Without high-speed data, almost nothing works

The amount of data indicates how much you can use on the mobile network at high speed with 4G or even 5G within a month. If your data is used up before the end of the month or the contractual deadline, providers throttle the mobile internet speed to a crawl. This is often so slow that you can no longer use your smartphone for browsing in many cases.

Especially social networks with their many images and videos then hardly load at all. Depending on the provider, even sending voice messages or updating the DB Navigator can overstrain the connection. With the purely digital Bahncard, such a situation can become unpleasant. For this reason, it is important to agree on sufficient data when signing a contract or booking options.

Generous data for video fans

Different smartphone applications consume varying amounts of data. The biggest data hogs are video apps like YouTube and Netflix, as well as video-based social media apps, such as TikTok. But apps with many images like Facebook or Instagram also quickly drain data. Although photos and videos are heavily compressed, several hundred megabytes can be used up in just half an hour on social networks.

So if you want to get lost in the depths of social media on the go or regularly stream series on the train, you should have 15 to 30 gigabytes of data or even an unlimited option. For context: Streaming Netflix for an hour in standard quality uses 1 gigabyte; in HD, 3 gigabytes. YouTube, on the other hand, consumes 1.8 gigabytes per hour at a resolution of 1080p.

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Occasional streamers and podcast listeners

If you only occasionally use social media and don’t regularly stream videos over mobile data, a medium data package of 5 to 10 gigabytes should suffice. Playing an online game now and then, short trips on TikTok and Instagram, or a brief video stream can easily be covered with this.

But what about hours of music and podcast listening? Music streaming and podcast services like Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and YouTube Music consume about 50 to 120 megabytes per hour, depending on quality. So if you stream music or podcasts for three hours every day over mobile data, you use 4.5 to 10.8 gigabytes a month.

For those who only use these services occasionally or don’t use the highest audio quality, 5 to 10 gigabytes of data may be sufficient. Alternatively, many music streaming services offer the option to download podcast episodes, albums, and playlists for offline listening. This saves data without sacrificing the service.

Data for strategic savers

Do you have Wi-Fi access at home and only sporadically use high-data apps on the go? In this case, 2 to 3 gigabytes of mobile data can be absolutely sufficient. Even with this relatively small data package, you can still surf for several hours, use Google Maps, stream music or podcasts, and make audio calls via WhatsApp and similar apps. Even a WhatsApp video call only uses about 5 megabytes per minute or 0.3 gigabytes per hour. The data consumption of messengers is generally so low that it can practically be ignored.

Moreover, you can enjoy good entertainment on the go even with a small data package. This does require some preparation, though. For example, you can download series, podcasts, and playlists in advance over Wi-Fi or opt for mobile games that can be played offline. If you frequently use public Wi-Fi hotspots, you should follow some security rules.

If you’re unsure about how much data different apps use or which application you use most frequently, you can check this in the smartphone settings under “Data usage.” Overall, users with high data consumption need 15 to 30 gigabytes, while most can comfortably live with 5 to 15 gigabytes. Even 3 to 5 gigabytes provide a solid data volume for basic mobile needs.