“You probably don’t need as much data as you think.”

I just got my twelfth Sprint bill, which means it’s been a whole year since I purchased my smart phone. I did a ton of research before I made the jump and I made my selection accordingly. My phone is the Galaxy S version of the Samsung Epic 4G with service from Sprint.

I chose the phone over other options for one reason. My fingers are pretty large – I have a hard time forming legitimate words with the on-screen keyboards on most smart phones and the Galaxy S has a slide out keyboard with large buttons. It was an easy choice since there’s not much competition on this feature. I did favor the HTC Evo over the Epic 4g but just had to have the keyboard.

The choice for Sprint service, however, was not as easy. I studied data plans and service providers for many hours before I decided to use them. My decision was based primarily on their “Unlimited Data” advertisement. The plan costs a bit more than the competition, but I had a good feeling that I was going to use some serious data, and I was right. I use A LOT of data.

At least I thought.

I am almost continuously streaming data into and out of my phone. I listen to streaming music, watch YouTube, browse websites, get hundreds of emails constantly, and use my WordPress photo uploading app which sends every photo I take to my website. Those photos are about 2MB each and I take a lot of them. Lastly, I use my phone to tether Internet to my laptop almost every day.

So I figured out the “unlimited data” “scam” as I was actually browsing the bill for the first time in a year. I’ve only actually used just over 1GB of data all month. I cannot even rationalize how someone could possibly bust a 2GB plan with the competition, except for one reason. The competition’s Internet connection is FASTER. Sprint’s 3g/4g is pretty slow compared to the competition.

There’s another year left on my contract. After it’s done, I’ll be switching back to the competition with a 2GB data plan. It’ll cost me a bit less and have a faster connection. My advice to you if you’re in the market for a new plan is this: You probably don’t need as much data as you think you do.