Debunking the Claim that Service Providers are secretly Consuming your Data Subscription
Since the introduction of the new generation (3G and 4G) of Smart Phones in Nigeria, there has been this misconception that one network consumes data more than the other.
This myth is totally flawed. This is due to the fact that an average internet user does not understand how the internet really works. When you purchase a data subscription to browse on the internet, you don’t actually consume, spend or use data. Rather, you use the subscription to access (transmit or upload and receive or download) a specified volume of data on the internet and your device simultaneously. This is called synchronous data communication.
I’ll write an article on “How the internet works; a layman’s guide” soon.
Let’s take two networks to analyze the topic.
Network A — Very fast
Network B — Very slow.
I won’t mention names, based to the fact that a network’s speed at every given point in time varies with location as well as other prevailing technical and environmental factors.
Breaking down the numbers;
So, let’s assume you purchase a 3GB/3,000MB (GB: gigabyte, MB: megabyte) data plan for 1,500 naira, with a 30 day validity period. With the data subscription you decide to surf Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
Let’s look at WhatsApp
An average active WhatsApp user has up to 100 contacts that post videos and pictures on their WhatsApp status daily.
Let’s assume that all of them posted one picture and one 30 seconds video each.
The average size of a 30-second video on WhatsApp status is 2MB. While the average size of a picture on WhatsApp status is 0.1MB. This means when you view the status updates of all your 100 contacts you will access approximately 210MB (You will actually access more than that. Just google “bit error rate” to gain more understanding).
If you are using Network A, you can literally consume that amount of data in less than 10 minutes (assuming you do not allow the videos to play till the end before skipping to the next).
Mind you, the data is accessed the moment the content opens. So, if you close/skip the content immediately, you don’t access less data.
As for Network B users, it will take a longer time for most content to load. Sometimes they don’t even load at all, or the application serves them a lower video or picture quality.
So while Network A can access 210MB in less than 10 minutes, Network B may take a longer time to access the same volume of data.
A WhatsApp video call using Network A will cost an average of 6MB per minute. While using Network B network may cost 3MB. This comes with poor video and voice quality and a lot of disconnections. This means while a Network A internet subscriber is accessing 360MB in a one-hour video call, the slow internet subscriber is accessing an average of 180MB.
In a nutshell, a Network A subscriber will access an average of 570MB in less than 2 hours if he does the above actions. While a Network B subscriber will access a maximum of 390MB or less within two hours.
Now let’s look at Facebook and Instagram;
Depending on the video quality, the average size of a 1 minute Instagram video is 5MB while the average size of a picture is 0.8MB. An application like Instagram will load up to 5 videos and 10 pictures as soon as the application is launched. Now that is at least 33MB accessed already. The more time you spend on the application, the more content is loaded in the background.
If you repeat a similar action on Facebook, you might have accessed at least a total of 66MB on Facebook and Instagram in a matter of seconds. You may access more than 100MB by spending up to 10 minutes on these applications using Network A. While a Network B user may access half that amount using the same time frame.
Miscellaneous access
I didn’t analyze figures of those uncountable applications that run in the background.
Some people think when they view pictures and texts they are not accessing data, or at least, the amount of data they access is negligible.
I didn’t even talk about the videos and pictures you download and upload on your WhatsApp personal chats, groups and status, Instagram and Facebook. Not to mention those 10 minutes IGTV videos you watch.
What about those 20 minutes Facebook videos?
Should I remind you of the content you flip through on YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok?
What about those people’s Instagram and Facebook profiles you stalk?
What of those blog posts do you read?
What about when you connect your laptop using your mobile device’s hotspot. Windows10 users that do not run a metered connection will relate.
What about those application updates and email attachments.
All these actions can silently access more than 1GB from your subscription in a matter of minutes if you are using a high-speed network or hours on a low-speed network.
You can go to your device settings to check a summary of all your mobile applications’ and hotspot’s data usage to get an idea of how your device access data.
In a nutshell, a device using a high-speed network will access more data than a device using a low-speed network given the same time frame.
An average “undisciplined” internet user with a high-speed network will access about 1GB to 1.5GB in a day without knowing. Now you see why a 3GB data plan will not last a month. Those making money on the internet won’t mind though.
Switching off/on your data connection one hundred times a day won’t solve the problem.
Smart Phones and mobile applications are by default designed to access more data with the best available bandwidth within the shortest possible time.
On the other hand, a low-speed internet user may access less than 500MB worth of data in a day. That is why their data subscription lasts longer.
There are some device optimization techniques and best practices you can adopt to reduce how you, your device(s) and your applications access data.
I’ll talk about that in my next article.
