Data plan and radio app

[dobe]

I'm about to buy my 1st smart phone which will be the iphone4. I'm concerned about AT&T's new data plans. I will occasionally use radio apps to stream some local radio sports talk shows.

Does streaming radio through an app use much data? It would not be through wifi since my gym is not a hot spot?

It seems like I would need the 2gb plan. I'm talking about 8-10 hours a week of listening to am radio using an app. Thanks for any feed back.

 

[iGaz]

Around 500mb would get you 8 hours at 128kps which is fairly good quality. It's what most radio apps I use stream at on a strong 3G signal. It depends on how strong your signal and the app your using as to how high the bit rate (quality) is...

 

[dobe]

Around 500mb would get you 8 hours at 128kps which is fairly good quality. It's what most radio apps I use stream at on a strong 3G signal. It depends on how strong your signal and the app your using as to how high the bit rate (quality) is...

Wow! So I would use 2gb per month -- on the radio app alone -- which is the limit of the highest AT&T data plan. That may discourage me from AT&T and thus the iphone.

That's must mean that most people, with the newer data plan, don't stream much from the internet on their iphones? Thanks

 

[iGaz]

Alot of people would use wifi for streaming that amount of data. Remember you have an iPod built into your phone so you could have radio one day iPod the next. Cutting your data in half.

Remember 128kps a second is about the max you will be streaming radio at. Half the time, when I dont have a full 3G signal, that can drop to 98 or even 64kps. The quaility is surprisingly not that bad but it would significantly cut you data down...

 

[Smitty]

I stream Pandora and Tune in Radio to my car stereo everyday. I have a 25-30 minute commute to work everyday. I usually stream on my way home though. So with that usage and web browsing and such I use about a gig and a half a month. I really do have a heavy usage and haven't gone over the 2 gig limit yet. I listen to sports talk as well. When I get the chance at work . = )