# Do You NEED Hi-Speed Data?



## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

Last night AT&T told me I had used all of my hi-speed data, that now I only had "regular" speed. I have an entire week before a new billing cycle restores my service.

Today was a constant struggle. I'd be offered a trip, then lose it to "connectivity" issues. End result: half my usual business.

So I have to ask: Was today a fluke, or is hi-speed internet essential to run our programs?


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

I had to switch from at&t for that reason. I would always have connection issues with the app. I never have a problem with sprint network working with the apps.

Do you have unlimited data? I know at&t caps it.


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## Cableguynoe (Feb 14, 2017)

Upgrade to a plan with more data for the rest of the month.


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## Awesomeness101 (Jul 19, 2017)

I have Verizon, unlimited high speed


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## ShinyAndChrome (Aug 18, 2017)

Stop watching YouTube. Uber actually uses very little data.


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## chamomiami (Jan 23, 2015)

unless you have 1gb a month something is wrong, i have a family plan with att 10gb shared between 3 lines and we are always good on data by the end of the month (two of us doing uber) 

check your phone and find whats is using data that you maybe dont know


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## Grahamcracker (Nov 2, 2016)

Karen Stein said:


> Today was a constant struggle. I'd be offered a trip, then lose it to "connectivity" issues. End result: half my usual business.
> 
> So I have to ask: Was today a fluke, or is hi-speed internet essential to run our programs?


I believe you answered your own question


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## TeslaSD (Jun 26, 2017)

I'm on a 2GB plan and sometimes for the last couple days of the month I'm limited to 2G speeds. It actually works fine for Uber as long as nothing else is running in the background.

Lyft has a MUCH harder time with the limited bandwidth, it often can't get online. Their app probably isnt optimized as well for the slower connections...


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## PrestonT (Feb 15, 2017)

I have a 12GB plan, and never ran close to the bottom of the bucket until I stopped Ubering and started DoorDashing. I still have never reached my allowance, but it's uncomfortable in the last few days.


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## Spotscat (May 8, 2017)

Karen Stein said:


> So I have to ask: Was today a fluke, or is hi-speed internet essential to run our programs?


We get a 20% discount from AT&T because we drive for Uber (they pity us) - perhaps you should upgrade your plan.


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

AT&T sucks


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## ShinyAndChrome (Aug 18, 2017)

I just went through the past 5-6 weeks and I'm currently right on track for $1000 gross earnings at uber per 1.5 GB data/$1000. That's between both uber and uber driver apps which I always run at the same time. Between Lyft and lyft driver plus waze I'm tracking at essentially the same amount of data. This assumes iphone tracks it properly.

Far and away my biggest use of data is youtube, which I use for music often.

So loosely speaking doing two 5-6 hour shifts twice/week would burn up about 1 GB data total for me.


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## CanadianUberMan (Jul 23, 2017)

You should have LTE network atleast. I tried Wind mobile because of the price tag being so cheap, but there was times when I receive a request and it keeps pinging when I tap accept and the ride ends up not being accepted. There were also times when if you go far east or far west outside of the cellular towers you are unable to end trip, resulting in you having to drive to a place where there is data available, meaning you waste gas, time, and possible requests. It's worth the extra money to just get a good cell phone plan, I pay 65 a month almost for 4 gigs of LTE data with Virgin Mobile. No complaints.

p.s. go to settings > cellular 
look for use celluar data for:
it should give you a run down on the apps and what you use data for. You can click on the bar to prevent future data waste on a specific app like snapchat, or facebook.


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

That's expensive- Go to sprint

I have Unlimited for cheaper


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## CanadianUberMan (Jul 23, 2017)

WettDreams said:


> That's expensive- Go to sprint
> 
> I have Unlimited for cheaper


hmmm... i'll look into it thanks, is it LTE?


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

Yes


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## CanadianUberMan (Jul 23, 2017)

WettDreams said:


> Yes


i just called sprint. it's not available in Canada :/


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

Ouch! Sorry my man. What all do you guys have?


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## bestpals (Aug 22, 2015)

3gb AT&T and I use to last all month, every month.


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## CanadianUberMan (Jul 23, 2017)

WettDreams said:


> Ouch! Sorry my man. What all do you guys have?


freedom mobile is the cheapest if you don't care about connectivity issues and drop calls. then probably Virgin Mobile, or Koodo are the best better, cheaper, networks. We have Bell and Rogers of course.


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

I used about 6gb a month

I think virgin is a sister company to sprint


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## CanadianUberMan (Jul 23, 2017)

WettDreams said:


> I used about 6gb a month
> 
> I think virgin is a sister company to sprint


well Bell owns Virgin, i dunno about Sprint.


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## Karen Stein (Nov 5, 2016)

A special thanks for the useful replies 

I've had one day if awful problems, one day where I was kept busy, and a day where the morning was fine and the afternoon was a mess.

Yes, Lyft is acting the worse. I've also had problems loading Google maps. Waze is even more data intensive.

Another carrier? Might be the answer. I do know I'll watch my data use much closer.

I does look like your data speed matters.


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## Mikedamirault (Jun 22, 2016)

Switch to DirecTV (if you have TV service), DirecTV is now part of the AT&T family and qualifies you for unlimited data on AT&T Mobile

I am on Verizon sadly and unlimited is too expensive for the plan I’m on, we are always going over our data limit and being throttled, which does seem to hinder some apps I rely on for Rideshare

I have noticed that for the most part, the driver app doesn’t use that much data and seems to work fine with the throttled bandwidth, though other apps that I use for flight scheduling and information do slow down considerably, almost to the point of becoming unusable


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## Kodyhead (May 26, 2015)

Awesomeness101 said:


> I have Verizon, unlimited high speed


Also after Hurricane Irma, and multiple other disasters where it seemed Verizon was the only service that worked in the area consistently.

Also my opinion is that ATT is one of the worst companies in terms of quality and has been a major mistake every time I tried them. Maybe if you wanted to Iphone, you had to go ATT but they are just awful as far as service. The home internet is disgraceful compared to Comcast as well. Not saying Comcast doesn't have issues, but their cable internet blows away ATT


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## Mikedamirault (Jun 22, 2016)

CanadianUberMan said:


> well Bell owns Virgin, i dunno about Sprint.


I believe Virgin uses Bell networks in Canada and Sprint networks in the US

Virgin is an odd company as it's a British based worldwide company headquartered in New York in the US


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## Tofolux (Sep 22, 2017)

Im sorry but AT&T is the worst!


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## Fargle (May 28, 2017)

Tofolux said:


> Im sorry but AT&T is the worst!


Good riddance! I ditched them a couple of weeks ago.


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## beezlewaxin (Feb 10, 2015)

I agree I used a throttled Cricket connection 3 out of 4 weeks each month for about 6 months. It sucks but it works for Lyft and Uber. Can't do anything else as its too slow while throttled and you prior to being throttled you dont want to waste any highspeed on YouTube or other apps unrelated to driving.

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Mikedamirault said:


> I have noticed that for the most part, the driver app doesn't use that much data and seems to work fine with the throttled bandwidth, though other apps that I use for flight scheduling and information do slow down considerably, almost to the point of becoming unusable


I agree completely with this poster as I had the same experience. Uber and Lyft work fine. Waze usually takes two attempts to load. Google Hangouts Dialer VOIP even works for voice calls over Wifi when wifi hotspot is throttled. Anything else is hit or miss.

Apps like GasBuddy are not optimized *at all* for slow connections. I'm sure their developers all have unlimited Verizon phones and have never used a throttled connection in their entire lives.

Many other apps however work fine and their developers deserve some lyft kudos and uber badges and compliments.


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## Skepticaldriver (Mar 5, 2017)

There is actually a huge problem if u use sprint. 

Basically. You cant call and use data at the same time. Period

That means no apps. Sure. There are work arounds. 

But. Even the new iphone 8 on sprint cannot do it. And u end up having to use google voice to use your smartphones data for apps while u talk. 

Old phones from a few years ago or earlier dont have tgat problem because tgey have multiple antennas , one for each service, but the new phones only have one and sprint volte isnt active yet. 

The only new sprint phone that you can call and use data on simultaneously is the samsung s8 and s8 plus because of a network patch allowing calling plus. No other phone has it. 

Im actually returning this iphone 8 that im on because i love sprints data but this isnt 1994, honey get off of the computer so i can make a call.


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