Data Pack vs Monthly Plan: Which Is Better Value?

Written as a formula, the comparison takes just two steps: unit consumption × hours of use gives the monthly total; price ÷ data gives the effective rate. Put the six tiers through those two steps and the answer falls out. Every estimate below shows its working, so you can swap in your own hours and run it again.

Two pricing structures: monthly reset and a one-off purchase

Start with how the two options are built. A monthly plan is billed by the month, and the allowance resets on the activation date each cycle; whatever you don't use that month doesn't roll over. A data pack is paid for once: data is deducted as you use it until the pack runs out, with no time limit. The difference isn't the price level but the shape of the allowance in time — one has a rhythm, the other doesn't.

The tiers and prices are below; every calculation that follows uses this table as its baseline.

The practical consequence of that structural difference: if your usage is much the same every month, a monthly reset is no problem. If your usage clusters into a few periods a year, the allowance a monthly plan resets in the quiet months goes to waste, while a data pack's balance never lapses. Neither option limits the number of devices — Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and Linux can all connect.

How much data does video use per hour?

Video is the biggest single draw on your data, so let's pin down the unit figures first. Bitrates differ between platforms, and the same platform will raise or lower quality automatically depending on your connection; the figures below are typical ranges.

The estimates below use the midpoints: 1080p video at 2GB per hour, 4K at 6GB per hour. These are planning figures, not exact values — real consumption moves with bitrate. Plug in your own hours and the result will land in the same range.

Monthly usage for three profiles

Multiply unit consumption by hours of use and you get the monthly total. The results for the three typical profiles are below, with the working shown in the three subsections that follow.

Light browsing: about 20GB / month

An hour a day of web, social media and messaging, music on most of the time, and a little video at weekends.

• Web and social media: 30 hours × 0.05GB ≈ 1.5GB
• Music: 30 hours × 0.1GB ≈ 3GB
• 1080p video: about 8 hours a month × 2GB ≈ 16GB

That's about 20GB a month — under a third of the 60GB tier, leaving plenty of headroom.

Heavy viewing: about 170GB / month

Two hours of 1080p a day is the main item, topped up with a few hours of 4K at weekends.

• 1080p: 60 hours × 2GB = 120GB
• 4K: 8 hours × 6GB = 48GB
• Web, music, system updates and other odds and ends: about 5GB

That's about 173GB a month, rounded to 170GB. Nearly three times the 60GB tier, and comfortably inside the 250GB tier.

Office: about 41GB / month

Eight hours online on weekdays: one hour of video calls, the rest documents, email and code sync.

• Video calls: 22 hours × 1GB = 22GB
• Documents, email and code repositories: 22 days × 0.5GB = 11GB
• Web searches and background sync: about 8GB

That's about 41GB a month, inside the 60GB tier — but with less than a third left over, so keep an eye on how fast it climbs mid-month.

Comparing monthly usage against the two price lists

To compare all six tiers side by side, they first have to be converted to the same unit: price divided by data, to two decimal places.

The conclusion is blunt: per unit of data, every monthly tier undercuts the data packs — by roughly three to four times. What you're paying extra for in a data pack isn't the data itself but two things: no expiry and a single one-off purchase.

Look at the totals another way. The ¥158 / 300GB data pack costs the same as 16 months of the 60GB monthly plan — and those 16 months would give you 960GB. If you actually use 20GB a month, the 300GB pack lasts 15 months, while 15 months of the monthly plan comes to ¥148.5, still cheaper.

So when does a data pack make sense? The answer isn't in the unit price but in the cost of managing it. If you only need it for a few stretches of the year, or just want a route sitting there as a backup, the monthly rhythm works against you: the allowance lapses with each reset, whereas a data pack sits there until you use it, deducting only what you consume, with nothing to remember each month.

Decision rules: three you can act on

Here's the calculation above boiled down to three rules — just work through them in order.

• ✅ You'll use it every month and your total tops 20GB: go monthly, starting at the 60GB tier. Above 60GB, move up to 250GB; above 250GB, move up to 500GB. The effective rate falls as the tier rises, so stepping up never costs you more per GB.
• ✅ You'll only use it for a few stretches of the year, or you just want a backup route: go with a data pack, from ¥158 / 300GB. The balance never expires and you're only charged for what you use.
• ✅ You have no idea what your usage looks like: start with the 60GB monthly plan, track your actual consumption over one full cycle, then decide whether to move up a tier or switch to a data pack. The cost of finding out is ¥9.9.
• ❌ Treating a data pack as a cheaper monthly plan: on effective rate, every pack tier costs more than the monthly equivalent.
• ❌ Buying the biggest tier just for a lower unit price: ¥658 / 3000GB does work out cheaper per GB than the 300GB pack, but 3000GB takes long-term, heavy use to burn through — overshooting means your money sits locked in unused data.

Three places it's easy to get the math wrong

Mistaking your peak month for your average

Burning 200GB in a month of travel or binge-watching doesn't mean you need the 250GB tier every month. Work it out over a year: two 200GB months plus ten 20GB months is 600GB a year, an average of 50GB a month — the 60GB tier is enough. Choose your tier by the monthly average, not the peak.

Ignoring how the monthly reset works

A monthly plan's allowance resets on the activation date, and anything unused that month doesn't carry over. If your usage clusters into a few days at the start or end of the month, check that the single-month peak won't hit the tier ceiling. Long jobs that span a reset — a few days of downloading footage, say — get split into two and counted separately.

Forgetting about background usage

An account can be used on unlimited devices at once — computers, tablets, iOS and Android devices can all be online together. More devices cost nothing extra, but being online together burns through data faster: autoplay, system updates and cloud drive sync all count. When you estimate your monthly usage, leaving headroom for these background items gets you closer to the real figure than counting only what you do on purpose.

The verdict: monthly plans win on unit price, data packs win on time

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