Internet connections: Mb/s; Gigabytes; 4g and 5g, oh my.

[Andy in Germany]

I'm trying to organise my internet connection and because my new apartment is in a very small village, choices are limited. The two used by current tenants are:

o2:

16 Mb/s. Monthly: 34,99€/Month (Min 2 years)
Connection price: 1x 49,99€
Router: 4,99€/month

Total = 39,98€/month x24 = 959.52€ + 49,99 € = 1009,51€ over 2 years

Vodafone Gigacube
4G: 100gb/Month = 34,99€ / Month (Min 2 years)
4G Gigacube = 1x 9,99€
Connection = 1 x 49,99€
Gigacube delivery = 1 x 6,99€

Total = 34,99€/Month x24 = 839,76€ + 49,99€ + 9,99€ + 6,99€ =906,73€ over 2 years


On the face of it, the Vodafone deal is the better of the two, but the question is should I go for 100gb/month or 200gb/month?


4G: 200gb/Month = 44,99€ / Month (Min 2 years)
4G Gigacube = 1x 9,99€
Connection = 1 x 49,99€
Gigacube delivery = 1 x 6,99€

Total = 44,99€/Month x24 = 1079,76€ + 49,99€ + 9,99€ + 6,99€ = 1146,73€ over 2 years

As far as I and Youngest Son can work out, the speed of the Gigacube is about 50 mb/s, which is the same as my current connection and that's quite enough for me.

I'd be on my own and I don't stream, watch sports or play games. I watch Youtube or download podcasts and Audiobooks, write blogs, post on here and other forums (with pictures), so the question is: would 100gb be sufficient or do I need 200gb?

As I'm currently paying about 49,99/month they all come within budget.

 

[sleuthey]

You will only know how many Gigabytespersecond you get when it's up n running. I would not fancy committing to 2 years of 4g.

In the UK you can get a 4g WiFi router for between £50 and £100 and pay monthly SIM cards. I have a SIM only deal with EE and pay £10 per month with no contract.

Would recommend you tried something like this with all the different networks available to you before committing to a contract.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Would recommend you tried something like this with all the different networks available to you before committing to a contract.

As far as I know the options are those above. There may be others, but that's what current tenants use so it's what I'm inclined to go for: I had massive problems last time I "shopped around" which left me with no connection for over a month.

There's a 5G version from Vodafone, but it costs a great deal more.

What's the problem with 4G over the next two years?

 

[Andy in Germany]

I've also noticed Aldi offers a 5G connection for 18,99€/month but that's only 30 GB.

I'd be a lot happier if I understood what that meant in terms of usage; is 30GB a lot for a normal person? Next to nothing?

 

[wiggydiggy]

Who are you with at the moment? Do they offer any tools to view you usage on your current deal?

Whichever option you choose I know 200gb would not be enough for me, though I work from home, stream, game etc Basically I need unlimited or its no good.

 

[steverob]

Do you have a Windows PC? If so, you can go in to Settings > Network & Internet and there'll be a button called Data Usage which will show you how much you've used over the last 30 days. That'll give you a good guide as to what you actually need.

 

[marzjennings]

I've also noticed Aldi offers a 5G connection for 18,99€/month but that's only 30 GB.

I'd be a lot happier if I understood what that meant in terms of usage; is 30GB a lot for a normal person? Next to nothing?

30G is nothing if you stream any TV (netflix ~ 1 gb/hr at low resolution), play any PC games, watch any youtube content (1 gb/hr), have an online back service for your laptop, like to share photos with friends and family, work from home, or have a habit of doom scrolling every now and then. It's fine if you only need it for text only emails with no attachments.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Do you have a Windows PC? If so, you can go in to Settings > Network & Internet and there'll be a button called Data Usage which will show you how much you've used over the last 30 days. That'll give you a good guide as to what you actually need.

Shows up as 8-9GB. If anything, I've been using more this month than usual, so that means even the 30gb option from Aldi could make sense.

 

[Andy in Germany]

30G is nothing if you stream any TV (netflix ~ 1 gb/hr at low resolution), play any PC games, watch any youtube content (1 gb/hr), have an online back service for your laptop, like to share photos with friends and family, work from home, or have a habit of doom scrolling every now and then. It's fine if you only need it for text only emails with no attachments.

Hmm. I don't stream, or play games, and after checking the advice above my computer is showing about 8,5GB usage last month, with YouTube and the aforementioned posting here and on other forums/Blogs.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Who are you with at the moment? Do they offer any tools to view you usage on your current deal?

Currently with Telekom, but they offer no connection to the new apartment. o2 Offer the 16kb/s connection above, but it costs more than their 50kb/s connection.

 

[Alex321]

I've also noticed Aldi offers a 5G connection for 18,99€/month but that's only 30 GB.

I'd be a lot happier if I understood what that meant in terms of usage; is 30GB a lot for a normal person? Next to nothing?

We do use quite a lot. We have used a total of about 50Gb over the last 2.5 days.

But our TV is all via two Roku devices, so we do quite a lot of streaming.

It looks like 230Gb over the last 30 days on this PC - but that includes a lot of streaming of La Vuelta, plus quite aa bit of Youtube and some other video sites.

It depends to an extent how much Youtube you watch. The rest of what you list will only be a few GB per month between them.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

Hmm. I don't stream, or play games, and after checking the advice above my computer is showing about 8,5GB usage last month, with YouTube and the aforementioned posting here and on other forums/Blogs.

That’s pretty low usage compared to the average. Is your computer the only device you use to connect to the internet or are there other devices you need to account for?

I have just checked stats on my router. I was away for the weekend and only got back at 3pm. In the 5 hours since I have used 3.5Gb.

 

[marzjennings]

Hmm. I don't stream, or play games, and after checking the advice above my computer is showing about 8,5GB usage last month, with YouTube and the aforementioned posting here and on other forums/Blogs.

You might be ok with 30gb then. I know when I work from I can easily burn through 10gb a day. Definitely look into any overage charges they include in the contract. Last time I had a capped account the overage charges for exceeding my data cap could cost as much as my monthly flat fee.

I find this data caps complete BS, they seem to only exist to create arbitrary service levels with data limits, tiered pricing, and allow for severe overage charges.

 

[classic33]

Speed isn't a priority for you with no streaming or online gaming then.
With that bit in mind, I'd be wondering about the reliability of the connection. Does either work better in the location you need it than the other. 5G is supposed to offer the faster speed, but isn't guaranteed in all locations. I've line of sight of the nearest 5G mast(400 yards), but it's dropping to 4G too often to be relied upon.

 

[Andy in Germany]

That’s pretty low usage compared to the average. Is your computer the only device you use to connect to the internet or are there other devices you need to account for?

I have just checked stats on my router. I was away for the weekend and only got back at 3pm. In the 5 hours since I have used 3.5Gb.

I talk with the family on my phone every evening, and I'll connect that to my Wlan connection when at my apartment but I don't use it for much apart from that and downloading audio podcasts. Even if we assume I use my phone as much as my PC (which I don't) I'd still be looking at a max of 20gb