How long does five 5GB of hotspot last? That’s something many internet users — new or old — should know!
After all, it’s worth looking into if you have a small data plan and want to host one soon.
So, let’s look into this topic and find out what you can do with 5GB of data!
Table of Contents
- Five GB Isn’t A Lot Of Data
- Activities That Use Up Your Hotspot
- The Hotspot May Become Impacted
- How Long Before The 5GB Runs Out?
- It Can Last Longer, But How?
- Summary
Five GB Isn’t A Lot Of Data
In the modern world, you’ll quickly realize that you won’t get much with five gigabytes.
It can cover some basics like e-mail, web surfing, playing music, and watching videos.
But those can rapidly consume your data, depending on how often you use it. Also, higher-quality videos
or photos eat up even more data compared to those with lower resolutions.
Activities That Use Up Your Hotspot
These online activities will make a dent in your hotspot. While some use a little data, others require a bit to a lot more. So keep that in mind when you host it.
Hotspot shared over a smartphone.
Allowing Others To Access It
Multiple people connected to the hotspot will consume data much quicker. In this scenario, each device gets an equal amount of data to use.
But their activities ultimately affect the hotspot. It’s best to monitor this so you don’t run out of data at the end of the day.
Internet Browsing
Reading the news online uses very little data.
Surfing the web, using social media, and checking/sending e-mails won’t take up too much data, especially on a 5GB hotspot.
And you can expect it to last for days if you and others plan to partake in those activities.
Watching Videos
Streaming an online video.
No matter how you look at it, video streaming will take up data on YouTube, Netflix, and other platforms. That goes for standard and high-definition videos, with the latter demanding more space. So, the 5GB hotspot may only last a few hours.
Listening To Music
Streaming music.
There’s plenty to go around when it comes to music. Since it doesn’t need so much data to play, you can expect your music-listening experience to last the longest. You’ll get days’ worth of tunes to enjoy at your leisure.
Work
Accessing your 5GB hotspot for school or work eats up more data than general browsing.
That’s because you’re downloading/uploading files, video calling for meetings, and using the school platform.
This also means you could quickly run out of space with all those activities.
Playing Games
Online gameplay will also affect your hotspot. It will typically use 40 to 150 MB/hour.
That also means you can play different games without running out of data too quickly.
You’ll need to monitor its usage if there are additional features in the game to stay under the 5GB threshold.
The Hotspot May Become Impacted
In addition to your daily online activities, other aspects may affect your hotspot. You’ll want to keep an eye on them to ensure that everything is running smoothly. That way, there’s plenty of data to go around.
Weak WiFi signal.
| Activity | Hourly data usage |
| Browsing | 60 mb/hour |
| YouTube | 4K – 2.7GB/hour1080p – 1.56GB/hour |
| Netflix | HD – 3GB/hour SD – 1GB/hour |
| Video calls | FaceTime – 180MB/hourSkype – 270MB/hour |
| Spotify | 320 kbps – 144MB/hour160 kbps – 72MB/hour96 kbps – 43.2MB/hour24 kbps – 10.8MB/hour |
| Social media | 60 MB/hour |
For example, if your phone doesn’t have a strong signal with the network, it can use more data.
That has to do with how much resources/power it consumes to keep you connected to the hotspot.
You can fight this off by moving or adjusting your phone until the signal strength gets better.
Another thing to look into is the device/app background data — a hidden culprit.
This comes in the form of syncing, notifications, and downloading/installing updates. You can open the device settings to turn those off or limit background data.
How Long Before The 5GB Runs Out?
This all depends on what you’re doing online. Each activity uses a certain amount of data that influences how long it lasts.
Hourly Usage
The table shows how long it takes for an activity to use up 5GB of data.
| Activity | How long it will take to use 5GB |
| General browsing | 83 hours |
| General Browsing | 4K – 1 hour, 48 minutes 1080p – 3 hours, 12 minutes |
| Netflix | HD – 1 hour. 36 minutes SD – 5 hours |
| Video calling | FaceTime – 27 hours Skype – 18 hours |
| Video streaming on YouTube | 320 kbps – 34 hours 160 kbps – 69 hours 96 kbps – 115 hours 24 kbps – 462 hours |
| Social media | Sending messages – 32 hours Scrolling – 55 hours |
Data
Meanwhile, these activities use up data every hour. This helps you figure out if you can do certain things on the hotspot before there’s no more data.
It Can Last Longer, But How?
Did you know you can cut down on data usage to extend the hotspot life? These methods are a sure-fire way to get that done.
For starters, you should do your best to monitor how much data is left. That way, you can make any changes to keep everything balanced.
Your smartphone may feature a handy tool in the settings app that estimates data usage.
Watching standard-quality videos online goes a long way in making the hotspot last longer. Downloading small files instead of large ones also helps.
That’s because they won’t use as much data when enjoying those activities. Furthermore, switching to your WiFi can help ease the pain of running out of hotspot data.
So you could try this as a last resort instead.
Summary
Go ahead and fire up your 5GB hotspot! It may not seem like much, but it’ll still get you through the week.
You’ll also need to remember that some activities are more data-intensive than others, and they may shorten the hotspot life.
