The Internet has become an essential part of our lives. We rely on the internet to browse social media, communicate with friends and family, and handle our professional stuff. Most of the time, we rely on Wi-Fi to connect to the internet, which is quite a great experience. But imagine having no access to Wi-Fi? What will be your options in such a scenario?
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The only option left is Mobile Data. Network providers give you various data plans so that you have access to the internet when you are away from your home. A 50GB data plan is the most sought-after among other plans. Most people rely on this data plan because it gives them ample data for the whole month.
This must have triggered a question in your mind about what is 50GB of data: How much is it, and how long does it last? Well, this is what the blog is going to be about. You’ll learn all the information you need to know about how much data you need. Toward the end of the blog, you will know How long will 50Gb of the data last and what steps you should take to reduce your data usage.
Ready to start? Let’s jump in.
Table of Contents
What is a GB?
Let’s start with defining the basic concept first. I’m sure you already know what a GB is, but if you don’t, here is the basic definition of a GB. GB is an abbreviation for Gigabyte, and it is a unit for the measurement of digital information.
When using the word GB, most people refer to the amount of internet you can use when connected to mobile data. Typically, more GBs means you can have internet access for longer.
To calculate how many GBs, you need for the whole month, you need to track your activities on mobile data. If you casually browse social media platforms, you do not have to worry about running short of 50GB of data, but if you stream a lot of video content, you might need more extensive plans.
So, how much is 50GB of data? We have that covered in the upcoming heading.
How Much is 50GB of Data?
50GB of data is a lot to be consumed in a month. The communication report of Ofcom indicates that an average user consumes 4.5 GB of data monthly. With these statistics in mind, one can claim that 50GB of data cannot be consumed in a month -unless you keep watching lengthy Netflix seasons for the whole day.
50GB of data is sufficient to support your professional work, even if you are working from home. For example, you can send emails, attend meetings, and communicate with your teams. Roughly speaking, you can browse the internet for 2,500 hours with 50GB of data.
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How Long Does 50GB of Data Last?
50 GB of data is enough for an average consumer browsing social media and casually streaming the content. We have listed the amount of data each activity consumes, and to get an exact answer to how long 50 GB of data lasts; you need to check the time spent on every activity and calculate it by the table below.
The figures in the table are listed in MBs (Megabytes), and 1,000 MBs equal 1 GB.
Activity | Data Consumption |
Browsing the internet | 60MB per hour |
Listening to music on Spotify | 144MB per hour (320kbps) |
Watching Netflix | 1GB per hour (standard definition)
3GB per hour (HD) |
Watching YouTube videos | 1.56GB per hour (1080p) |
Browsing social media | 90MB per hour (scrolling)
156MB per hour (interacting) |
Skype | 270MB per hour |
FaceTime | 180MB per hour |
To check the actual consumption, you need to calculate the hours on each activity. Once you have a clear picture of how much you consume daily, it becomes easier to calculate monthly consumption.
Multiply the daily consumption by 30, and you will know how many GBs are sufficient for you. To give you a rough estimate, if you consume 1.5 GB (1500 MBs) daily, you will still have 5 GBs left till the end of the month.
Still trying to understand how long 50 GB will last. Check out the table below to get the exact number of hours.
How many hours will 50GB of data last for?
50 GB of data will allow you to browse the internet for 833 hours. Whoops! This is more than the total number of hours in a month. But this is true only if you limit your activities to web browsing, which is unlikely!
We often have to stream content and videos of our favorite shows for entertainment, which is where you might need more data. The table represents time duration with 50 GB for different activities. This will help you calculate the exact number of hours.
Activity | Time duration with 50GB* |
Browsing the internet | 833 hours |
Listening to music on Spotify | 347 hours (320kbps) |
Watching Netflix | 50 hours (standard definition)
16 hours (HD) |
Watching YouTube videos | 32 hours (1080p)
18 hours (4K) |
Browsing social media | 555 hours (scrolling)
320 hours (interacting) |
Skype | 185 hours |
FaceTime | 277 hours |
With 50GB of data, you can use social media, browse the internet, and stream the content of your choice. If you fear running short of data, you can download lengthy videos while on your Wi-Fi and watch them later on a journey. This will help you avoid boredom while saving extensive use of your Mobile data.
Reduce your Data Usage?
Reducing the data usage helps you avoid running short of data towards the end of the month. We have brought some tips to help you reduce your data usage. First, you should stick to a Wi-Fi router whenever it is available. For example, your workspace must have an internet connection, which you can use to leverage your data consumption. Using Wi-Fi is like being taken out for lunch; you enjoy a delicious meal while the payment goes from someone else’s pocket.
Secondly, you should download and upload the data when connected to a Wi-Fi router. This includes downloading your favorite Netflix seasons, YouTube videos, and app updates. Since video streaming consumes most data, you will save a huge if you stick with this advice.
Another important thing you can do to save data is to turn off auto-play on social media apps. Take the example of Facebook; when scrolling through the feed, the platform has auto-played videos.
This drains a lot of MBs from your data plan. To save this unnecessary drain, turn off the auto-play option and play your desired video manually. You should also reduce background data consumption and kill the background apps regularly.
Is 50GB of data a lot? Well, it depends on individual usage. And it can last for a whole month, depending on your activities. The upcoming heading highlights the actions you can do with 50 GB of Mobile data.
Interesting Read: What is Background Data – Everything You Need to Know
Is 50GB of data enough for me?
50 GB of data is a lot to be consumed in a month. Most internet users can only consume 25 to 30 GB of data monthly. When subscribing to a data plan, always consider your reliance on a Wi-Fi router. If you use Wi-Fi more frequently, you do not need 50 GB of data.
50 GB of data is ideal for people who:
- Watch a lot of videos and high-quality content on their mobile data.
- Download and Stream music
- Play online games on their mobile data.
- Frequently access the internet and social media platforms.
If you do not fall into the above categories and have more aggressive internet usage, you might run short of data towards the end of the month. 50 GB of data isn’t ideal since it lies in the middle; people with aggressive data usage would run short of data, while light data users would end up paying more for less use.
What are your options? Well, two different data plans will help you out. One of the plans is 30 GB of data, ideal for people with light internet usage. In comparison, the second plan includes 100 GB of data, perfect for people with more aggressive use.
Data Usage by Activity(Per User)
The segment will talk about the different uses of data and how heavy these segments can be on your data allowance. Although these are rough estimates since the actual data usage depends on the app, the quality of streaming, and certain other factors:
- Browsing/Social media: On average, this segment can consume about 20MB to 120MB per hour.
- Instant messaging: The average data consumption for such activity is about 50MB.
- Email: The data usage of emails significantly depends on the attached files. Therefore, the range for email data usage is between 1MB and 100MB.
- Streaming music: Streaming services like Spotify will use less mobile data than other streaming services. On average, they will consume 45MB per hour.
- Video streaming: If you are streaming a 4K video, you will likely consume more mobile data. A YouTube video would consume around 250MB/hour.
Video calling: What’s App and Facetime will likely consume about 200-300MB per hour.
Does 5G Use More Data?
There is a misconception that 5G use more data. However, all the misconceptions are false since 5G and 4G connectivity will use the same amount of data. For example, if you download a file on 5G, it will have the same size even if it were downloaded on 4G. The thing is that with 5G you will only get faster download speed.
However, what make 5G more viable to consume more mobile data is it ability to download big files and stream high-quality videos. Since you’re getting better download and upload speed with 5G, you’re susceptible to opt for HQ videos and end up consuming more data.
50GB of Data with Talk Home Mobile
The Talk Home Mobile Silver Plus monthly plan is ideal for people with casual internet usage. When subscribing to the silver data plan, you get double the data on your initial price of £2.5.
The monthly plan comes with unlimited minutes and text messages so you may remain in touch with your loved ones. Hurry up and wait no more. Avail of this fantastic data plan to enjoy uninterrupted social connectivity.
This plan is ideal for people who have access to a Wi-Fi router and need mobile data when they are out of their homes. If you fall into this category, you are an ideal fit for 50 GB of data with Talk Home.
Bottom Line!
The bottom line is that 50GB of data would be sufficient to browse the internet for approximately 600 hours, stream 10,000 songs online or watch 100 hours of standard-definition videos. If you think 50GB of data wouldn’t be an excellent fit for you, you have two different options.
These options are 30 GB of data and 100 GB of data. Both these plans have a different customer base. If you are a light internet user, you may subscribe to the 30 GB plan, so you do not end up paying more when you need less data. On the contrary, 100 GB of data is ideal if you are a heavy internet user. You may subscribe to this plan not to run short of data at the month’s end.