# How Much Data Uber Uses - LTE/3g Not Required



## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

My cell plan's data reset at the beginning of this week, and since then I have driven 2 days for Uber. I looked at the data usage of the Uber driver app and of Google Maps over the last 2 days. Spoiler alert - geeky analysis ahead; quite interesting if you're wondering about data use though.

I have been online 15:58 hours so far this week, so call it 16 hours for shits and giggles. The Uber driver app used 112Mb of data.

112 megabytes = 114,688 kilobytes
114,688 kilobytes = 917,504 kilobits
16 hours = 57,600 seconds
Putting this all together, 917,504 / 57,600 = 15.9 kbps (kilobits per second) average data rate.

2g data supports up to 128 kbps, so Uber used just 12.4% of the maximum 2g bandwidth on an average throughput basis. Of course, data is not constantly being streamed but rather is transmitted in bursts.

I used Google Maps during these 16 hours. The data used by Maps during this time was 94.4Mb. This works out to an average data use of 13.4 kbps. Maps' data usage is also concentrated in bursts.

Using both Uber partner and Google Maps together resulted in an average data rate of 29.3 kbps, well within the 128 kbps maximum of 2g. The phone used LTE data during the last two days, but I have also used 2g when high speed data ran out, and both Uber and Maps did run on 2g without any issue.

Extrapolating the above, if I work 8 hours a day, six days a week, my data usage from Uber and Maps would be 2.6 Gb per month. Which is in line what Uber says the app can use. Quite a lot of data, but it's also spread out over many hours.


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## UberFred (Jun 13, 2016)

Would you use less data if you downloaded your google maps over wifi before you started driving?


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## dolllarchaser (Oct 12, 2015)

UberFred said:


> Would you use less data if you downloaded your google maps over wifi before you started driving?


Yes but I don't think you'd have the benefit of traffic and any associated rerouting services.


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## Bill Collector (Dec 17, 2015)

If you don't require live traffic, Netguard app is a way to go.. There is a thread.. Just search for that app name.


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## BeantownSid (Jul 20, 2017)

>> 15.9 kbps (kilobits per second) average data rate
>> *LTE/3g Not Required*

As you yourself noted, there is a lot of "bursty" or incremental amounts of data transmitted, and hence latency of the cellular link matters  Therefore 4G LTE is actually useful because it offers much better latency values compared to 3G/2G/1xRTT/EVDO .
Download speeds (bitrate) doesn't matter much like it used to back when we downloaded MP3s to our desktops 

Sid


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