iMessage & Siri: Choose your iPhone 4S Data Plan Wisely
Those upgrading or buying a new iPhone 4S should re-consider the data plans they are buying and ultimately the carrier they choose or else possibly face some ugly overage charges. If you send many txts with iMessage or plan to use Siri, the new voice assistant, make sure your carrier’s data plan (Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint) has room for the data used by these apps in addition to your normal data usage patterns with previous devices.
The new iMessage iOS5 app uses the cellular data connection for transmitting text and media messages to other Apple devices. It does not use traditional SMS and MMS, which means that text plan you’re paying for is unused for iMessage. We don’t have estimates on data used per message yet - text messages are likely very small but photo or video messages could be a factor even if compressed (checking on this). Consider the quantity of messages as a multiplier and as big a factor.
Siri is one of the big features of the iPhone 4S and is receiving raves so far. Siri also uses the data connection to transmit your questions, and Siri’s responses, to and from Apple’s servers. Every time you ask, “Do I need an umbrella tomorrow”, that question and answer uses data against your plan.
We are seeking values on the average data usage of these two new apps for the iPhone 4S. In any case, when buying the iPhone 4S and accompanying data plan it may be wise to think about bumping up to the next tier. Average US smartphone data usage is climbing rapidly. Beyond these two apps, iMessage and Siri, all of the new and great features in iOS 5 will require more data usage as well.
For a comparison of the three carriers, if you use 2GB or more of data usage per month, the obvious choice from a cost perspective becomes the carrier with an unlimited data plan (Sprint). The last thing you want to be on the hook for are those costly overage charges.
