Some people are confused about how much data they should sign up for when using their smartphone. Monthly fees are determined based on the amount of data, so choosing the wrong plan can result in expensive monthly payments.
Therefore, in this article we have compiled average data on smartphone data usage. We also explain how to check your own data usage. Please use this as a reference when choosing your fees plan.
It has been found that about half of smartphone users are fine with 3GB of data per month.
According to a Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announcement, calculations based on data obtained from mobile telecommunications carriers (KDDI, NTT, SoftBank, and Rakuten Mobile) as of June 2020 showed that 49.5% of people responded "up to 2GB" when asked "Percentage of users in terms of actual data usage" (*1).
Additionally, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announcement mentioned above also found that approximately 75% of smartphone users would be fine with 10GB of data per month.
However, if you want to frequently watch videos and play games without using Wi-Fi at all, we recommend signing up for a plan with a larger data capacity.
The reason is that people who can get by on 3GB per month often have Wi-Fi at home and are able to communicate without reducing their smartphone data capacity.
In fact, the Consumer Affairs Agency's document states the following:
"Data usage varies greatly depending on how you use your smartphone, but if you only use email, text-based social media, and surf the web, it should be under 1GB per month. Even if you also watch videos and use social media, if you have Wi-Fi at home, it will usually be under 3GB per month. (This was created based on the websites of various companies.)" (*2) (Original text)
Also, considering that purchasing additional data capacity is often expensive and that speed restrictions will be applied if your data usage exceeds the data capacity of your contract, we recommend choosing a plan with a large data capacity if you do not use Wi-Fi or if you do not have a Wi-Fi environment.
You can check how much data you've used on your smartphone (how much data you've consumed) without connecting to Wi-Fi using the support app of your carrier. Since app specifications vary depending on the carrier, we recommend checking the website of your carrier.
Alternatively, you can check the setting in your smartphone's Settings app as shown below. We've summarized how to check this for Android smartphones. Please note that this may vary depending on the model and OS version, so please also check the manufacturer's website or instruction manual.
The reasons given for signing up for plans with large data capacities include concerns about the cost of purchasing additional data capacity and speed restrictions, but with povo2.0 there is no need to worry about such things.
The basic plan fees is 0 yen (*5) (*6) (*7), and you can purchase data Topping (paid) as much as you want and when you need them. There are various data Topping available, but you don't have to worry about additional charges. Therefore, even in situations where you no longer have a fixed data capacity and are subject to speed restrictions, adding a data Topping will solve the problem.
You can use the "Data Top-up (180 Days)" (*8) (12,980 yen/time, tax included included) within validity, or if you want to use a large amount of data for just one day, you can use the "Unlimited data (*9) (24 Hours)" (*10) (330 yen/time, tax included included). Please use it as you like.
In addition to au 's 4G LTE network, which boasts a population coverage rate of 99.9% (*11), povo2.0 also includes data Topping on au 's 5G (*12) network. Please use 5G *12 in eligible areas within Japan. Why not use povo2.0 to eliminate worries about speed limits and other issues related to monthly data usage?
