# Cell data usage from navigation and streaming audio apps



## Tesla Newbie (Aug 2, 2017)

Can you guys help me understand the impact on cell data usage of audio streaming apps such as SiriusXM and navigation apps such as Waze? We’re planning a long trip (1500 miles there and back) and enjoy listening to news/politics stations on the SiriusXM app through the Bluetooth connection to the car, and using Waze to be aware of speed traps, traffic tie ups, etc, and am curious whether doing risks exceeding our cellphone data usage limits. I doubt the answer will change our plans either way, so this is more in the nature of wanting to learn the answer to something I’ve never fully understood. Thanks in advance.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

Tesla Newbie said:


> Can you guys help me understand the impact on cell data usage of audio streaming apps such as SiriusXM and navigation apps such as Waze? We're planning a long trip (1500 miles there and back) and enjoy listening to news/politics stations on the SiriusXM app through the Bluetooth connection to the car, and using Waze to be aware of speed traps, traffic tie ups, etc, and am curious whether doing risks exceeding our cellphone data usage limits. I doubt the answer will change our plans either way, so this is more in the nature of wanting to learn the answer to something I've never fully understood. Thanks in advance.


how does your cell service show you your usage? if they show you down to the hour, you could drive for a set time while using the SiriusXM app and Waze and see what that shows on your account. then multiply that usage by the length you expect your 1500 mile trip will take.


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## Tesla Newbie (Aug 2, 2017)

Yeah, that’s just what we plan to do, although it’s not the cell service that provides the info. The iPhone tells us what we need to know. Under Settings / Cellular we can see under the heading “cellular data” how much data each app has used at the start of the trip and then compare that to the numbers a few hours later. The point of the post was just to get a feel for whether it makes sense to even consider doing this (knowing full well that a good portion of the car-buying public uses google maps on their phone because they don’t have on-board navigation, so it can’t be that bad a data hog.)


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## Tesla Newbie (Aug 2, 2017)

Thanks @jmaddr for your suggestion which showed up in my inbox but doesn't seem to be on this page. You reminded me that I could do what I described in my last post now as a test and anticipate how much data the apps will use. Thanks for that. I'm going to give it a try the next time we're on the road for something other than a short trip around town.


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## SAronian (Apr 4, 2019)

Both are small data users:
Streaming Sirius XM at 128 Kbits/per second would use about 55 Megabytes per hour or 1 Gigabyte every 18 hours
Waze only uses about 1 Megabyte every 4 hours.


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## Tesla Newbie (Aug 2, 2017)

That’s what I hoped to hear! Thanks for the reply.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

I don't know which cell provider you have now, but T-Mobile will let you stream all of those streaming services for free:

https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/free-music-streaming

Which is why I do. Nearly all the time.


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## Tesla Newbie (Aug 2, 2017)

Thanks. Free is my favorite price, but I'm tethered to AT&T. Why? I don't know. Some things just are because they always were.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Tesla Newbie said:


> Thanks. Free is my favorite price, but I'm tethered to AT&T. Why? I don't know. Some things just are because they always were.


I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile many years ago. AT&T has better coverage, but T-Mobile has closed that gap a lot in the last 5 years.

The price is hard to beat. I have a 7-line family plan for $170/mo. Unlimited everything.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

garsh said:


> The price is hard to beat. I have a 7-line family plan for $170/mo. Unlimited everything.


I have zero loyalty with cell phone companies. I check every year to see if anyone else can give me a better deal. So far, AT&T's best shot was 20% more per month, but they'd give me $10 off DirecTV if I subscribe to that, too. Come on, AT&T, seriously?


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

SAronian said:


> Both are small data users:
> Streaming Sirius XM at 128 Kbits/per second would use about 55 Megabytes per hour or 1 Gigabyte every 18 hours
> Waze only uses about 1 Megabyte every 4 hours.


Very true except for Waze there's a big asterisk -- that assumes you have the map pre-downloaded for your area. If it's not preloaded, you can get a nasty bump as it pulls in hundreds of megs over long trips.
https://mashtips.com/get-google-map-and-waze-offline/


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