data usage from smartphone for strava app.
 

Couldn't find anything here or online addressing this. I think I'm going to get a smartphone chiefly for the strava app. I seldom use a cellphone and just have a prepay that I've been using for years.

I figure to go with a prepay smartphone from verizon which runs $60 month for 2gb data and $70 for 4gb data. Can anyone that uses a smartphone give me some idea of how much bandwidth is used on a a ride (say a couple hours).

Just like to know how much bandwidth I'll need, estimate of course.
Thanks
Chris

I don't have a scientific estimate, but it's not much. I typically use a ~250 megs a month (almost always in wifi location) and I strava'd for a month with about 230 miles worth of rides and I think I used 350 that month.

exc Ben, that's exactly what I needed to know, so the 2gb will be plenty for me.

Just sync you ride when you get home through wifi. You dont need data turned on while riding. You just need gps turn on. I used to do this but i have garmin now.

Yeah I use an old smart phone with no service at all for endomodo/strava. It just uploads everything when I get home. I still rock a dumb phone for making actual calls.

Would an iPod Touch work for Strava?

I dont' think they have GPS.

As for data usage - it's very, very low. Don't worry about it.

You would be hard pressed to use 2 gigs. I run pandora all day at work, map my ride when I ride and internez. I still only burn about 1 gig if I'm lucky, Usually just a half gig

I was worried about this at first when I started Stravaing, but it doesn't seem to make a dent in the 2GB I share with the Mrs. If you're getting 2GB on your own, you'll be fine.

At 60/month, you can have the garmin edge 200 in a little over two months, then just upload your routes on the computer.

Edit - you can use any old gps for this too, it takes a bit to offload the gpx file, then upload to strava, but you might find a used gps for cheaper and just us that.

I was recording my daily commutes, and the data usage was high enough that I was going over my minimal data plan. Choice was bigger data plan, or Garmin. I love my Garmin.

I considered going with garmin, but would;ve needed two units or at least two mounts and hardware for my two bikes. Additionally, I've been using a pre-pay flip phone for years (way behind the times). was paying 15 amonth for that, so actually it's $45 a month (I opted for the 2gb plan, worse case I can upgrade to 4gb for $10 more).

Ultimately, for me it's a lot easier to just use the phone instead of garmin.

My Garmin came with two mounts and extra hardware. You can buy spare hardware, but at about $15 for two spare mounts it's over priced. It probably costs under a buck to make. (1 1/4" diameter x 1/2" thick injection molded one piece plastic part and two O-rings)

BUT, I've been wanting to get a smartphone, and this was the best way to justify it to my wife and me! :) Besides I bought a garmin zumo for my touring motorcycle at$850 so I feel like I've given garmin enough money for the present time ;)

OK, I get it. Sheeez. The things we do to keep the boss happy, like making her think she's the boss.

An update! Did my first ride today with the strava app. So easy and works like a champ!

http://www.strava.com/activities/95464380

I realize the calories is only estimated, as to cadence, I've a cateye on each bike and I keep my cadence in the 80 to 95 range for the most part.

Also, I checked data usage, and it looks like the 1.5 hr ride used 540mb for the strava app. So 2 gb will be plenty for me.

It's mostly GPS data (not part of your data plan), and then a few kb upload to the server after you finish the ride. Not much stress on a data plan.

EDIT: My two hour ride on Strava last week took up 637kb and I uploaded twice for that ride. You shouldn't be using anything during the actual ride until you go and upload.

There is something wrong with this. I have a 1gb plan... Strava doesn't make a dent in it.

Brian, actually, I think you're right. Looking at my data usage, most of that was from downloading the strava app into my phone yesterday.

That's more likely, though still a little odd seeing as my app on my iphone is only 50mb in size. But if you have android, maybe this is different.

my bad, I just looked at usage again, Strava was 543 KB. What do I know about technology! :)

You can get a blue tooth HRM that works with the smart phone. Using a HRM makes the calorie estimate a lot closer. Polar makes one, but I like the one made by Zephyr.

thanks for the tips!