Tether with iPhone (data usage)

[fooey]

Hey all. I got question about data usage while tethering with iPhone (or any mobile for that matter). I'm planning to get iPhone 3Gs from Fido and sign up for the 6 GB deal.

I was wondering if I were to stream t.v. shows or videos about 3 hours per day, would that easily go over the 6 GB limit? I would say about 3 hours x 5 weekdays x 4 weeks = 60 hours of streaming videos online.

[matdwyer]

One hour of video encoded at 300 kbit/s (this is a typical broadband video for 2005 and it's usually encoded in a 320×240 pixels window size) will be:

(3,600 s * 300,000 bit/s) / (8*1024*1024) give around 128 MB of storage

So theoretically that would mean if you were on 3 hours per day that you'd use 384MB/Day or 7 680/MB Month, so you'd need about 7.5 gigs if you were looking to do that exact volume.

Now thats all theoretical, so I guess it would really depend on the compression and source of your videos - i.e. megavideo? Youtube? Youtube HD?

The short answer is the 6GB plan isn't really made for that much video streaming, and you'll likely go over if you do that volume.

[Gee]

Don't forget, you will need some data for email, web surfing etc.

[fooey]

Darn. Guess I'd be better off going with Rogers portable internet service for $30/ 30 GB monthly instead.