We live in an age where everything we do on our phones consumes data. Most people use their phones at home and work while connected to wi-fi, so it doesn't really use up your Wireless carrier's data plan. But when you're on the road, all bets are off.

Thanksgiving vacation for us meant traveling out of town to meet family. Approximately 12 hours spent in the car with 2 adults and 2 kids from Wednesday night to Saturday night. We ended up using 2 iPhones with Verizon LTE or 3G data. So how much data did we use for all that we did with our phones?

radioPup streaming radio app
CJ/TSM Utica
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A good portion of our time on the road was spent listening to my iPhone streaming our local radio station through the radioPup app. You can find out more on a computer by clicking here. From an Android device (phone or tablet) click here. From an Apple device (iPhone or iPad) click here. This certainly uses data, but does it use more or less than other Smart Phone apps?

Google Maps on Phone
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While I was driving, I was also using the phone's Google Maps app for navigation. I made sure I had a nice dashboard mounted holder so I could see the map without being distracted from the road. This also uses data and quite a bit of battery life. It's always a good idea to make sure your phone is connected to a power source or you won't be hearing those Google directions for long.

Gas Station
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At rest areas and gas stations, I was frequently checking e-mail. Working at the radio station means I often get commercials or music sent to my e-mail, and downloading these and listening on the phone definitely chews up a decent amount of data. Not as much as streaming videos from Netflix, but it all adds up.

Social Media On Phones
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My wife was providing additional navigation from her iPhone. She also did her fair share of texting, watching videos on Facebook and YouTube, as well as SnapChat and who knows what other streaming services. When I check data usage on my phone, it generally shows me that Facebook uses the most. So on the road, you know that definitely consumes a great deal.

Check out our full data usage below.


What can you do with a Carbone Chevy with Chevrolet MyLink?

Carbone Chevrolet GMC
Google Street View via Google Maps
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You can pair your Chevy vehicle with up to 10 different compatible devices via Bluetooth. Remember, you’re still using your phone plan’s data. Bluetooth also tends to use more battery on your phone, so it’s best to leave it connected to your car’s power source.

Bluetooth
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Available touch screen displays offer easy to use navigation of a ton of options. From hands-free calling and dialing, to a really robust streaming music system that gives you complete control of in-car listening, you'll love connecting your phone to your Carbone Chevy. There are also various options with Navigation systems, or you can still use your phone's apps for navigation and listen to the directions over the vehicles’ speakers.


On our mini-vacation, we restricted our kids to DVD's only, so we weren't using our data to stream videos from Netflix or Hulu. If you are a Verizon Wireless customer, you know the different data packages they offer, and if you go over your monthly data, you are charged a ridiculous amount. That's why we opted for a 6gb data plan - so we wouldn't have to worry about overages, and still get to use all the features of our smart phones. Here's a look at our data usage for approximately the past 15 days, including the data-heavy vacation:

Verizon WIreless Account Usage
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Here's a look at what apps used the most data:

Verizon Wireless Data Usage
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So we probably could have let the kids play and stream to their heart's content! My "techy" solution would have been to make one of our phones a HotSpot and connect an iPad to that network.

How much data do you use on your Smart Phones and Tablets?

 

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