A 6GB data plan will allow you to browse the internet for around 72 hours, to stream 1,200 songs or to watch 12 hours of standard-definition video.
Nowadays, the key difference between mobile phone price plans is how many gigabytes of data it comes with.
If you're looking for a mobile phone plan with 6GB of data, prices currently start from £10/month in the UK. With your 6GB of data, you'll be able to browse the internet for approximately 72 hours per month, to stream 1,200 songs online or to watch 12 hours of online video in standard definition.
In this article, we'll discuss what you can do with 6GB of data and how long you can expect your 6GB allowance to last for. We'll also discuss 6GB data plans, where you can find one in the UK and how much you can expect to pay.
Contents
How Much Is 6GB Data?
In the UK, a number of mobile networks currently offer 6GB data plans. There's a choice of 2 mobile networks if you're looking for a Pay Monthly SIM card, and a further choice of 4 networks if you're looking for a more flexible Pay As You Go bundle.
Pay Monthly SIM Cards
If you're looking for the lowest possible prices, you can get a Pay Monthly SIM card with 6GB of data from £10.00/month. The following table shows a list of currently available deals:
| Network | Minutes | Texts | Data | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 6GB | £10.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 6GB | £10.00 1 month |
Contract lengths will vary when taking a Pay Monthly contract. You'll normally need to undergo a credit check when taking out a Pay Monthly contract.
Pay As You Go SIM Cards
If you're looking for a bit of extra flexibility, a Pay As You Go bundle allows you to have this with 6GB of data from £10.00/month. There's no commitment to renewing your bundle every month. You can also increase or decrease your data allowance at the end of each month if you find you're on a plan with the wrong amount of data.
The following table shows Pay As You Go bundles with 6GB of data per month:
| Network | Minutes | Texts | Data | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited | Unlimited | 6GB | £10.00 |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 6GB | £15.00 |
 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 6GB | £15.00 |
 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 6GB | £15.00 |
Alternatives
Instead of choosing a 6GB data plan, it may sometimes make sense to choose a plan with more data. This is especially the case when special offers and promotion are available: you might be able to get a larger allowance of data for the same or for a very similar price:
| Amount of Data | Pay Monthly | Pay As You Go |
|---|---|---|
| 250MB Data | £4.00 £6 cheaper | £5.00 £5 cheaper |
| 500MB Data | £5.00 £5 cheaper | £5.00 £5 cheaper |
| 1GB Data | £5.00 £5 cheaper | £7.50 £2.5 cheaper |
| 2GB Data | £6.00 £4 cheaper | £7.00 £3 cheaper |
| 3GB Data | £6.00 £4 cheaper | £10.00 |
| 4GB Data | £8.00 £2 cheaper | £10.00 |
| 6GB Data | £10.00 | £10.00 |
| 8GB Data | £8.00 £2 cheaper | £10.00 |
| 12GB Data | £10.00 | £20.00 £10 more |
| 20GB Data | £15.00 £5 more | £15.00 £5 more |
| 40GB Data | £20.00 £10 more | £20.00 £10 more |
| 100GB Data | £20.00 £10 more | - |
| Unlimited Data | £18.00 £8 more | £25.00 £15 more |
Some price plans include a data rollover feature giving you a second opportunity to use your data allowance. Alternatively, an unlimited data plan could also be worth thinking about if you'd like a worry-free plan where you never need to think about how much data you're using.
How Long Does 6GB Of Data Last?
When figuring out how much data you need, it's important to think about your own individual usage requirements.
If you choose a plan with too much data, you could be overpaying for lots of data that you don't actually use. On the other hand, choosing a plan with too little data could mean being cut-off from the internet in the middle of the month.
The following table gives you an approximate guide to what you can do with 6GB of data:
| Activity | 6GB data is equal to... |
|---|---|
| Accessing web pages | 3,600 web pages (approx 72 hours browsing) |
| Basic e-mail/instant message | 2,100,000 messages |
| Rich e-mail/IM (with attachments) | 12,000 messages |
| Downloading or streaming music | 1,200 songs |
| Downloading or streaming video (SD) | 12 hours |
| Downloading or streaming video (HD) | 3 hours |
| Skype voice call | 180 hours |
| Skype video call | 24 hours |
| Listening to online radio | 96 hours |
| Downloading or updating apps | 150 apps |
We've made a number of assumptions in coming to these numbers. You can read about these in more detail here.
As of 2019, the average UK consumer uses around 3GB of mobile data each month. This has been growing rapidly in the past few years (e.g. it was only 1.9GB in 2017 and 0.2GB in 2012). This means a 6GB data allowance should comfortably cover the average UK consumer's monthly data usage.
For more information, see our guide on how to find out your current data usage.
More Information
Our full guide to mobile download limits has more information including on how to find out how much data you need.
Once you've decided how much data you need, we've summarised the best Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go SIM cards across a variety of price points in the UK.
M said:
Hi Ken.
Thanks so much for the info.
Do these same figures apply when you tether your laptop from your phone?
I’m about to get a 100gb 12 month contract, as I’m going to be living in my van for a while.
I’ll be doing design work from my laptop in the day, uploading large files and emailing clients, then probably watching Netflix in the evening for an hour or so.
Is more GB used when tethering? Should I go for unlimited data?
Thank you!
Ken replied:
Hi M,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, the same figures apply when you’re tethering from a laptop. However, it’s possible that some additional data is consumed e.g. because your videos stream in higher-quality due to the larger screen size. Software updates on your laptop could also cause some additional usage.
With regards to choosing between 100GB and unlimited data, it’s really difficult to say! Certainly, if the price difference is fairly small, it’s worth going for unlimited data to give you the total piece of mind & so you never need to worry about it again. Currently, you can get unlimited data for £18/month – I’m not sure how this compares to the cost of your 100GB deal.
Ken
Mrs k Sarwar said:
H i would just like to thank you for the information I have just read about the GB yours has been the first detailed information that wasn’t full of gobbledygook I found you so easy to understand so straight forward so thank you
Briana said:
Learning so much reading the previous comments/replies. I have an employee who has a Verizon Jetpack Mifi 8800L and has currently used 101GB according to our bill. Is this excessive considering his work is being out in the field for short periods of time? The person has an Apple iPhone Xs Max 512GB. They track water wells but those have routers and transmit data to and from. We are a small entity and I don’t see how they can run this much data. 7-4pm shift, M-F with some weekend duties but we do not pay overtime and they get time off for overages. Your Data table is very eye opening. Is all that type of usage included in 100GB or is “or” implied for one or the other usage type?
Thanks Ken!
Ken replied:
Hi Briana,
101GB of data usage certainly isn’t unheard of, especially if the device is being used for things like streaming video from the internet (TV, movies, etc). The table here should allow you to estimate total data usage based on number of different activities.
Ken