When it comes to data limits, the first thing that may come to mind is cellular data plans. Not many of us consider the amount of data we’re using on our home Internet services like cable or DSL. However, Comcast has actually been one of the leaders in the use of data caps, charging as much as an extra $100. On most of their residential plans, you’re allowed up to 1.2 TB of data. That may seem like a lot, but if you like to stream frequently, you may quickly use up that data. Check out our data usage calculator to see for yourself. Note that if you do use over 1.2 TB, they’ll charge $10 for every 50 GB of extra data.
What’s the Best Way to Avoid Overages with Comcast?
Comcast recommends a few plans with unlimited data if you think you could go over this limit in a month. Per Comcast:
As of January 1, 2021, the plan will be available nationally. It does not apply to Xfinity Internet customers on our Gigabit Pro tier of service, Signature+ More and Super+ More packages, Business Internet customers, customers with Prepaid Internet, or Bulk Internet agreements.
Luckily, if you live in the following Northeast markets, Comcast does not enforce these limits: CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, VA, VT, WV, the District of Columbia, and parts of NC and OH.
How Much is Unlimited Data from Comcast?
Comcast provides customers that go over their limit one free allotment of 50 GB of data every 12 months. Although, this is only the first time. If you do it a second time, they will charge you an extra $10 a month. At an extra $25 per month, Comcast’s xFi Complete with unlimited data plus its xFi Gateway will allow you to have unlimited data. Keep in mind that this is only for the states listed above.
How Can I Avoid the Comcast Data Cap Fee?
If you have the choice available to you, providers like Verizon and T-Mobile do not have any data caps on their fixed Internet services. If cellular isn’t available to you, check out Starlink instead. Of course, this also has its limitations. Another option is to switch to HD-only streaming, since 4K uses much more, and monitor how much data you use.
The ability to work remotely has opened up a world of opportunities for people who love to travel. With a cellular internet connection, you can work from almost anywhere in the world. Whether you’re a freelancer or a full-time remote worker, working from the road can be both exhilarating and challenging. In this blog, we’ll discuss the steps you can take to work from the road with a cellular internet connection.
The most crucial aspect of working from the road is a reliable internet connection. A stable and fast internet connection is essential for most remote work jobs, as most tasks require internet access. It’s important to research ahead of time and find out if your destination(s) offer any internet connectivity. Even if they do, we suggest investing in a cellular Internet device and service so that you don’t have to rely on someone else’s connection.
Choose the right equipment
The first step to working from the road with a cellular internet connection is to choose the right equipment. You’ll need a reliable laptop and/or tablet along with a portable cellular hotspot device. This can either be your smartphone acting as a hotspot, a dedicated battery powered WiFi hotspot, or a router with embedded cellular modem. If you’re looking for the most reliable however, we recommend a router. These are meant to stay online 24/7 (if needed) and allow for multiple connections, wired and wireless. They can also support multiple WAN connections and automatically failover and failback between connections.
You’ll also want to consider an antenna or signal booster that can improve the existing signals wherever you go. Should you select a router with an embedded modem, an antenna should be sufficient. These are meant for connecting directly to a single device at a time. However, if you will be using multiple cellular devices to connect with, then a signal booster is the best option. This will take the existing signal and boost it wirelessly to any device within range.
Choose the right cellular provider
The next step is to choose the right cellular provider. Do some research to find out which providers offer the best coverage in the areas you’ll be traveling to. Look for providers that offer unlimited data plans, as you’ll be using a lot of data while working remotely. If you’re going to be using your phone, make sure your plan includes a good amount of hotspot data as well.
Find a good spot to work
Once you’ve set up your equipment and chosen a cellular provider, it’s time to find a good spot to work. Coverage maps show availability, but you won’t know the signal or speeds until you get on site. Test the connection speeds to verify if you have enough to work. You could also look for coffee shops, libraries, co-working spaces, or other places that offer free WiFi. Just make sure that the WiFi is also fast enough to support your work.
Manage your data usage
Working from the road with a cellular internet connection means that you’ll be using a lot of data. To avoid running out of data in the middle of an important task, you need to manage your data usage carefully. One way to manage your data usage is to use data-saving apps and browser extensions. These tools can help you compress images and videos, block ads, and reduce your data usage while browsing the internet.
You should also be mindful of your data usage when streaming videos or music. Consider downloading your favorite shows and songs before hitting the road. This way you can avoid eating up your data plan too quickly. Just take a look at our data usage calculator to gather an idea of how much data you may need.
If unlimited plans are not offered, some folks will get multiple lines of data from the same carrier. This way they can switch SIM cards once one has used all its data allotment. If that’s not possible, they’ll opt for a different carrier as a secondary connection.
Stay connected and secure
Working remotely can be isolating, but it’s important to stay connected with your team and clients. Use video conferencing tools like Zoom, Skype, or Google Meet to communicate with your team members and clients.
It’s also a good idea to set up a virtual private network (VPN) to protect your online privacy and security. A VPN can encrypt your internet traffic and protect your data from cyber threats. You can also find a router with a good firewall. This allows you to protect your entire network from possible threats.
When you’re connected to someone else’s Internet, it makes your devices vulnerable as they can be seen by other devices on the same network. If you plan on doing this, we recommend you use a router to connect into the network first. You will then have your own private network that you can connect all your personal devices to.
Have a backup plan
Even with the best equipment and planning, things can go wrong when working from the road. That’s why it’s important to have a backup plan in place. Consider carrying a backup battery for your laptop and smartphone, as well as a backup portable WiFi hotspot device. You can also download important documents and files to your laptop or smartphone, so that you can access them even if you don’t have an internet connection.
Before You Get on the Road
Working from the road with a cellular internet connection can be both challenging and rewarding. It’s important to do research beforehand so that you select the best cellular carrier and data plan. Once you have your hardware in place, test it out at your main location and see how it works. Evaluate the connection performance for your primary applications to make sure it’s sufficient. Remember that an antenna or signal booster can help with the performance. By following these steps, you can stay connected and productive while exploring the world.
You may already know that streaming video eats up a lot of data, but what about the important applications you use for business? In this article, we’re going to address some common application types and look at how much data and bandwidth they will require.
VoIP
Like most things, the higher the quality of the call, the more data and bandwidth it will need. Each service uses a different codec to transform speech into data. Below are some common examples.
G.711: uses approximately 1.3 MB of data per minute (78 MB per hour)
G.723.1: uses approximately 0.33 MB per minute (20 MB per hour)
G.726: uses approximately 0.78 MB per minute (47 MB per hour)
G.728: uses approximately 0.48 MB per minute (29 MB per hour)
G.729: uses approximately 0.5 MB per minute (30 MB per hour)
As far as bandwidth, a .256 Mbps by .256 Mbps connection should be more than enough for normal VoIP. However, having speed isn’t enough. You also need a stable, high-quality connection with minimal packet loss and latency. You can measure the health of your internet connection by taking a Speed Test that includes latency, jitter and packet loss. Cloudflare’s speed test does just that. Although, once you have the data, how do you interpret it?
Latency, which is essentially the time it takes for data to reach its destination, is measured directly in the ping time. For an excellent connection, the ping should be under 100ms. For a good connection, it should be under 250ms. Anything higher than that is going to provide poor results.
Jitter is the time difference between when a packet is sent and received. The longer it is, the bigger the delay and the worse the quality of your calls. Jitter is measured in milliseconds, and a good value is between 15-20ms. If it’s any higher than this, the connection will become laggy, and audio will therefore sound choppy.
Packet loss is when “packets” or pieces of data traveling across a network do not reach their end destination. In a VoIP call, this will appear as garbled audio with missing information like words and sentences.
Video Calls
As you might assume, video calls use significantly more data than voice calls. There are a number of variables, such as video quality, screen size, and the specifications of the connecting devices. For example:
A video call between two mobile devices uses about 3.75 MB of data per minute (225 MB per hour).
A video call between a mobile device and a computer uses about 4.5 MB of data per minute (270 MB per hour)
Here’s a look at usage when we factor in the video quality:
A standard definition video call uses an average of 190 MB per hour.
A high-quality video call uses an average of 400 MB per hour.
An HD video call uses an average of 1.25 GB per hour.
Regarding bandwidth requirements, here are some averages we gathered:
1:1 video calling:
High-quality video: 600kbps (up/down)
720p HD video: 1.2Mbps (up/down)
1080p HD video: 3.8Mbps/3.0Mbps (up/down)
Group video calling:
High-quality video: 1.0 Mbps/600kbps (up/down)
720p HD video: 2.6Mbps/1.8Mbps (up/down)
1080p HD video: 3.8Mbps/3.0Mbps (up/down)
Emails
Like online web browsing, checking your email should require no more than 5 Mbps. The amount of data used by emails with attachments can vary based on the size of the attachment. So, based on emails without attachments, you can send and receive 100 and only need 30 MB per month.
Credit Card Transactions
Credit card transactions require very little bandwidth. On average a minimum of 1.5 mbps download speed and 768 kbps upload speed should be sufficient. Data usage is very small as well. If you were to run 1000 credit card transactions per day, this would work out to be just under 300 MB of data.
IP Cameras
There are a few factors that determine how much bandwidth an IP security camera system uses. This includes video resolution, frames per second, file compression (e.g. H.264 and MJPEG), and the number of cameras. All four help to determine exactly how much bandwidth you need for your system.
Note that special applications, like facial recognition or license plate recognition, will eat up more IP camera bandwidth, since these applications require higher resolution and frame rate recording.
In our research, we frequently came across the following formulas for calculating IP camera bandwidth requirements.
Resolution in pixels x Color depth in bits = Bit rate
Bit rate x Frame rate in frames per second = Bandwidth requirement in bits per second
Using the above formulas will give you its raw bandwidth requirement before compression. Audio, communication, and compression protocols also contribute to raw bandwidth, but they generally use a negligible amount.
As an example, let’s say we have a high definition (1280 x 720 pixel) online surveillance system in true color (24 bit) that operates at 30 frames per second. Based on these formulas, we would have a raw bandwidth requirement of 665 Mbps. However, due to compression, this can be reduced down to as little as 2 Mbps (depending on the compression standard).
Here’s a quick reference chart based on resolution and compression:
IP Camera Bandwidth Requirement
Resolution
H.264
MJPEG
1MP (1280×720)
2 Mbps per camera
6 Mbps per camera
2MP (1920×1080)
4 Mbps per camera
12 Mbps per camera
4MP (2560×1440)
8 Mbps per camera
24 Mbps per camera
VPN
A VPN experiences something called “encryption overhead.” Encryption is a form of security for that connection and can increase bandwidth. Any activity you perform on your computer or network with the VPN enabled will use more data than when it is disabled. The increased amount could be anywhere from 2% up to 19%. The strength and protocols of your VPN will also contribute towards more usage.
Generally speaking, the amount of bandwidth speed required for a VPN depends on the type of applications you’re accessing. For example, say you’re downloading a large HD movie file that’s 4GB of data. Over a non-VPN connection, the data usage would be exactly 4GB. However, due to the VPN encryption, the data usage will increase. 4GB is actually 4,096 MB of data, so that means you’re technically transferring closer to 4,396 MB in total.
Streaming Audio
Now, if you’re anything like me, you probably have some sort of music streaming throughout the workday. So, while this might not be “important,” it is common enough that we wanted to touch on the subject. There are dozens of ways to stream music these days. Some of the more popular services include:
Pandora
Spotify
Google Play
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
SoundCloud
Typically, streaming music does not use much data or bandwidth. Although each service differs slightly in the stream quality. So what does that mean in terms of your data usage? If you were to stream music for an entire eight-hour work day, you would use about 1 GB each day. Based on your average month of 30 days, that could turn out to be up to 30 GB of data usage!
Does this seem like a lot of work? Not sure it makes much sense? Well, we made it more simple for users with our data usage calculator. This is an easy way to help determine your usage requirements, and average monthly usage based on common applications like credit card processing and emails.
Scammers and other “bad actors” are finding more unique approaches to gather sensitive data from potential victims. We see this from time to time ourselves and think there’s no better time to share what we’ve learned.
Here are a few general rules:
Filter spam
Don’t trust unsolicited email
Be cautious with email attachments from senders you don’t recognize
Avoid clicking links in messages
Install antivirus software and keep it up to date
Install a personal firewall and keep it up to date
Configure security features in your email account
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) made a list years ago of some common fraud schemes, which still appear to be recycled to this day.
bogus business opportunities
chain letters
work-at-home schemes
health and diet scams
easy money
“free” goods
investment opportunities
bulk email schemes
cable descrambler kits
“guaranteed” loans or credit
We also see quite a bit of phishing emails, which are those that are crafted to look as if they’ve been sent from a legitimate organization. For example, a company you regularly work with may alert you that there’s a problem with your account. There’s a link included that may look real, but if you were to uncode that link, it would look completely different. See example below:
visible link: http://www.company.com/accounts/
actual link to bogus site: http://it.co.ar/data/company/index.html
Other things to look out for:
Bad grammar or misspelled words
Generic/ Unfamiliar greetings
Demands for urgent action
Inconsistencies with the email address, links, or domain names
Requests for Login Credentials, Payment info, or other sensitive data
If you suspect you may have been scammed, check out IdentityTheft.gov. They have steps here that you can take based on the information you’ve lost.
If you think you clicked on a bad link or attachment, update your computer’s security software. Then, run a security scan to check for vulnerabilities. Here are a few free ones that are very helpful:
AT&T has announced a new unlimited data plan for 5G, called “Value Plus Plan,” which is rivaling its competitors’ offerings. In comparison, the plan sits at a cost of only $50 rather than $60 or $70 from T-Mobile and Verizon. That’s quite significant when you take into consideration the fees of just about everything being raised due to the pandemic.
Be aware that the new “Value Plus Plan” isn’t advertised on the carrier’s website among its unlimited plans. Even though it includes unlimited talk, text, and data, look for it in the operator’s “other plans” category. The plan is also subject to being throttled during times of congestion, or what the provider lists as, “AT&T may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy.
While some analysts don’t expect a response from AT&T’s rivals, AT&T touted demand for the offering. “We have research that suggests an increase in market demand for access to a lower price point for unlimited postpaid, particularly for single lines and customers who prefer to bring their own devices,” explained an AT&T representative in response to questions from Light Reading on the new plan. “This new value plan is meant to serve those customers looking for a basic entry level unlimited plan.”
If you dig a little deeper into the cellular data plan options, you’ll actually find that there are lower cost alternatives, even to this new AT&T plan. That is because they’re not from the major carrier directly, but instead a MVNO – this stands for mobile virtual network operator. A MVNO is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. Essentially, these providers piggyback off the major carrier’s infrastructure to broadcast service to their customers, and they’re able to do so for a lower price.
T-Mobile, for example, has “Metro By T-Mobile.” They offer prepaid unlimited 5G service for one line at $60 per month. Also, Verizon’s Visible brand offers unlimited 5G services for $40 per month for one line of service.
5G holds a lot of promise, some of which we’ve already seen in new technology and services. It’s expected to have a big impact on enterprise IT, which includes storage. Just think about how much we as personal users rely on data storage, then imagine that multiplied by ten and it’s likely what most enterprises deal with in the same time frame.
Almost any business process where there are sensors and data collection, or where data will be delivered to endpoints, will likely be enabled by 5G at some point. Together with artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), 5G can allow enterprises to gain insight and value from all this data.
Put simply, the impact on storage is that there will be more of it, to handle much increased (largely unstructured) data volumes, with bulk storage scattered in new network locations at the edge. Meanwhile, security and durability needs will increase in these locations, and performance requirements will dictate use of flash and NVMe.
What is 5G?
This is defined as the fifth generation mobile network. It is a network that runs on several new frequencies, as well as old, and means that our bandwidth speeds and latency should be well improved (at least in some cases).
5G mainly operates across the following frequency bands:
Low-band 5G operates between 600-850 MHz. This is similar to what 4G networks currently use and is only moderately faster than 4G, between 50-250 Mbps offering similar coverage areas for each cell tower.
Mid-band 5G operates in the 2.5-3.7 GHz range and delivers speeds between 100-900 Mbps. While offering less range per cell tower, this type of 5G is going to be the most common implementation of 5G networks for many years to come.
High-band 5G is the band that is most commonly associated with 5G. Operating at 25-39 GHz, this is known as the “millimeter wave” spectrum and delivers gigabit speeds (some tests have shown as high as 3 Gbps). The tradeoff is that millimeter wave transmitters have very limited range and require the deployment of many small transmitters, so it’s only viable in urban areas where transmitters can be near closely spaced homes and buildings.
While the full capability of 5G won’t be achieved for a while (full maturity has been estimated to be three or four years away), 5G is suggested to be the first mobile technology that’s truly suited to use in enterprise applications.
At the same time, the changes needed bring implications for hardware infrastructure, including storage. This is mainly because 5G’s millimeter wave delivery mechanism demands a much higher density of hardware infrastructure in terms of base stations, but also in local processing and storage capacity.
5G for Enterprises
5G can potentially make dramatic changes as a transport for enterprise applications. That could include internet of things-driven deployments in vehicles and retail systems, advances in manufacturing and distribution, and consumer-facing delivery of content.
It is true that 5G can provide significantly faster cellular bandwidth rates. This could just mean new bottlenecks in un-deployed parts of the topology, because the increased volumes of data will not suddenly flow from core to edge, unimpeded by network economics.
All of which means the private enterprise and public sector deployment of 5G will likely be very significant – and with its own characteristics – in terms of total data volumes and in its impacts on the architecture of that delivery.
5G WAN architecture
There’s quite a bit available on 5G and how it works. When talking about the impacts of data storage, we want to address the variations of 5G-enabled wide-area networking architecture. They are likely to include:
Endpoints: These could be consumer-facing or with the enterprise, including industrial, vehicle, retail, personal, receiving and collecting and transmitting data. Endpoint storage capacities, as well as performance, will increase.
Cell-site and street locations: Some local processing and storage will be needed to maximize throughput and minimize latency. At these locations, data would be retained either as part of the delivery process or collection, governed by the fact that a direct route between core and edge may not always be desirable from an economics or performance perspective. These could be sites from which local content is delivered, which could mean sizable files being delivered to consumers.
Campus or “edge cloud”: In private 5G networks, there are likely to be campus- or location-level sites where data needs to be staged. This means data staging, up and down, but perhaps the environmental concerns are lower. This is more like a local cloud data center.
Cloud, the core of the network: This is of course, the most economical place to store and process data. The cloud core will be pretty much the same, but there will be an increase in storage capacity, of the required performance and for unstructured data, to service downstream demand and upstream data collection.
5GStorage
To sum up, storage for 5G will include:
Increased capacity, at the core and edge.
High-performance for streaming and analytics.
Ability to handle unstructured data.
Storage and processing in new locations, such as street cell-sites.
The “edge cloud” as a new location for storage and processing.
Possible form factor changes; environmental durability and security needed.
Verizon is finally hopping on the bandwagon and competing more evenly with AT&T and T-Mobile’s truly unlimited plans. This is partly in effort to make the upcoming, new 5G service more attractive. The cost will remain the same for basic plans, but customers can pay a little more for the “Get More” plan, which includes unlimited monthly “premium data.”
The plans previously known as Start, Play More, Do More, and Get More Unlimited are now adding 5G to their name. The Get More plan ($90/ month for one line with autopay) previously included 50GB of premium data each month. Once customers reached that limit, they’d be subject to throttled speeds during times of network congestion. The new 5G Get More plan does away with that monthly cap.
The new 5G Get More plan also includes a boost in premium mobile hotspot data: 50GB, up from 30GB. The Play More and Do More plans now offer 30GB compared to 15GB. The only thing not changing is for customers on the basic Start Unlimited plan – they won’t have access to the faster Ultra Wideband network at all, just slower Nationwide 5G. That shouldn’t be noticeable now, but when C-band is finally in use, it could be a significant difference!
Data Usage can add up quickly, especially streaming all those videos around the holidays. Monitoring data usage and tracking it can be done in a couple ways, but you can also get a general idea of usage before you even start. This can be important for ensuring you don’t go over any usage limits or reach your allotted high speed data before the month is over.
We only covered some of the most popular streaming services. If you don’t see yours listed, we also offer a handy data usage calculator you can use at our website. Check it out here!
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon has no public information for streaming data usage at this time. Based on research from users online, here’s what we can surmise from an hour episode:
SD: About 0.14 GB per hour
HD: About 1.82GB per hour
Disney+
Disney+ automatically detects your system’s capabilities and internet connection speed and delivers the highest quality experience possible as a default setting. They also give you the choice to change your data usage settings on all devices. With the Auto option, you can stream in the highest quality, up to what your device supports.
For example;
4K: 7.7GB per hour
HD: Up to 2GB per hour
SD: 0.7GB per hour
HBO Max
There’s no specific data on this, but the application automatically adjusts the video quality based on your network bandwidth and connection speed. Most shows and movies are available in high definition (HD). Manual video quality settings are not currently available.
Hulu
HD video streaming will use about 650MB per hour. Data usage controls are NOT available, nor is an official data chart, but this data was confirmed from users on their forums. Hulu does however have quality control settings, which can help with data usage.
Netflix
Standard-definition (SD) video streaming on Netflix uses 1 GB of data each hour.
High-definition streaming will consume 3 GB of bandwidth per hour.
4K videos use 7 GB of data every hour.
For comparison, Netflix offers the following video settings:
Low: 0.3 GB per hour per device
Medium: SD: 0.7 GB per hour per device
High: Best video quality, up to 3 GB per hour per device for HD, and 7 GB per hour per device for Ultra HD
Auto: Adjusts automatically to deliver the highest possible quality, based on your current internet connection speed
Paramount+
Per their Help guide – mobile data use will fluctuate based on the quality of your Internet connection and varies from 74 MB per hour for the lowest connection speed, up to 800 MB per hour for the highest quality video stream.
According to the European Commission, mobile “roaming” will remain free within the European Union until 2032.
In a press release announcing the agreement to extend the free roaming policy, the European Commission said:
Citizens will be able to call, text and use mobile data while traveling within the EU at no extra costs and with the same quality they experience at home; they will have improved access to emergency communications regardless of where they are in Europe; and, they will have the right to clear information when a service they use while roaming might cause inadvertent extra charges. The regulation will enter into force on July 1st 2022.
Prior to 2017, when roaming charges were abolished in the EU, travelers across Europe would often get hit with excessive phone bills upon returning home, with network operators charging exorbitant fees for calls, text, and data used abroad. Years of campaigning saw that the practice was stopped.
Given that the United Kingdom has formally exited the European Union, UK residents won’t be able to enjoy the benefits of free roaming when they use their phones abroad. Originally, EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone – the largest mobile operators in the UK – stated they had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges after Brexit, but all have since announced changes, some under a “fair use” clause.
It may be no surprise that not everyone that lives in the USA has access to high speed Internet. Some only have the option of cellular broadband service, which of course requires good cellular reception. Those of you who fall into this category will be interested to know that the President and the FCC are finally working in your favor! Congress could soon pass an infrastructure bill that allocates $65 billion to improving broadband access. This is just one step in their compliance with 2020’s Broadband DATA Act, which required them to update its data and maps.
Of course, there must be service made available by the cellular providers. At this time there are still large areas where there is very little to no cellular coverage. It’s also quite difficult to determine the performance of the cellular service in any location. To help with this problem, the FCC unveiled a new interactive map to show where the nation’s four largest cellular carriers are providing voice and data services – including all the gaps.
Currently, the map only is limited to outdoor access, but an “at-home” map is still in progress.
See more on this topic, including the map at the FCC site.
