How Much Data Do You Actually Need for a Holiday?
The 15GB plan looks reassuring. You probably don't need it.
I tracked my data usage across a two-week trip through Japan and Thailand last year. Here's what I actually used: 4.1GB. That included Maps navigation daily, WhatsApp calls home every other evening, Instagram stories, and one evening of YouTube on a slow train. No Netflix, no heavy video calls.
Most casual travellers land somewhere between 1.5GB and 5GB per week. Here's why.
What actually uses data
Google Maps: About 5-10MB per hour of active navigation. Light. And if you download offline maps beforehand, navigation itself uses zero data - it only calls home for live traffic updates.
WhatsApp messages: Negligible. Text messages are a few kilobytes each. Voice messages are tiny. Even a 30-minute voice call uses under 15MB.
Instagram and social: This depends entirely on how much you scroll. Casual checking - posting a few photos, viewing stories - is maybe 100-200MB per day. Heavy scrolling with videos autoplay can burn through 1GB in an afternoon.
Email: Nearly nothing unless you're downloading large attachments.
Video calls (WhatsApp, FaceTime): About 300MB per hour at standard quality. A 20-minute call home is around 100MB. Not huge, but they add up if you're calling daily.
Streaming video (Netflix, YouTube): This is the data killer. Netflix at standard quality uses about 1GB per hour. YouTube at 1080p is similar. One episode of something is 700MB-1GB. If you're streaming nightly in your hotel, your data needs jump significantly.
So what plan should you get?
For a week-long trip, mostly casual use: 3GB is fine. Honestly, I'd say the 3GB plan is adequate for probably 70% of holiday travellers who aren't streaming video. 5GB gives comfortable headroom.
Two weeks of similar usage: 5-7GB. The 10GB plans are good if you'll be doing video calls daily or posting a lot of content.
If you're streaming video in the hotel every night: add 5-7GB on top of whatever you'd normally use. Skip the unlimited plan unless you're genuinely going to use it - they're usually more expensive and the speed often gets throttled after a certain amount anyway.
Tips for using less
Download offline maps for everywhere you're going before you leave home. Turn off auto-updates in the App Store and Play Store. Set WhatsApp media downloads to Wi-Fi only. Use hotel/café Wi-Fi for anything data-heavy and treat your mobile data as a backup. These habits alone can halve your data usage.
The connectivity tips guide has more detail on managing data efficiently abroad.