How much GB do I need?

Hi Urania,

You've hit upon one of the troubles people have when working out what broadband plan to sign up for. How can you tell whether you need 10GBs or 500GBs? It's not something that most of us think about in our browsing habits. "Oh, yes, today I used 3GBs, gosh, better slim down!" (Although the increasing usage of smartphones as tools to access the internet – and their much more limited data quotas – might just teach the everyday user a little more about your own data usage and how much you need.)

From the sounds of it, though, Urania, you're a pretty light user. To put it into perspective: downloading a full length, high definition move is rarely more than 1GB – usually it's around 750MBs. A standard three minute song is usually only around 3MBs if it's compressed.

Most people need less GBs than they think they do. If you download a couple of movies a month, you might think that you need an unlimited plan – but in reality, you might be fine with a 50GB plan.

My advice is to start lower than you think you'll need. Most providers don't charge for you to upgrade, but they will charge if you downgrade. It's cheaper to start low, as the only provider these days who will charge you if you go over your download quota for the month is Dodo. Instead, they will slow down your internet for the rest of the month, and you'll get the hint, and either use less the next month or upgrade to the next tier of plan offered by your provider.

For a light plan, I'd recommend TPG. TPG offers a 20GB ADSL2+ and Home Phone Bundle for $39.99 per month. This plan is split into 10GB peak (9am-1am) and 10GB off-peak (1am-9am), and should be more than enough for basic browsing and downloading a few songs. You can call us for more information or to sign up with TPG on 1300 106 571.

Some other providers who offer good plans for the light user are:

Dodo: 1300 136 793
MyNetFone: 1300 106 571

MyNetFone are interesting as they offer Naked ADSL, which is broadband without the home phone attached. This isn't actually cheaper than getting a bundle plan, as you are still using the copper line that brings internet to your house and so the provider are still paying for line rental from Telstra, but it comes with other advantages, like being unable to ring up a huge phone bill and a slight improvement in line quality.

Additionally, you could get a VoIP service through MyNetFone – phone conducted over the internet. VoIP generally has much cheaper calling rates than a standard landline connection, and MyNetFone offers some great VoIP plans that are easy to add onto your ADSL connection.

I hope this helps! If you have any further questions please feel free to call us on 1300 106 571.

Mikaella.