Sold short on Gigabytes
booie
Posts: 379 Forum Member
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Iv just changed from Tesco mobile to o2 both with a 2gb data allownace. When i was with Tesco mobile this 2gb gave me 2048mb. But on o2 its exactly 2000mb. 48mb short of what 2gb actually is.
Does anyone know if the other networks give you what a full gb is or do they too sell you short?
Does anyone know if the other networks give you what a full gb is or do they too sell you short?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte
According to their terms and conditions they define 1 GB as 1024 MB.
used 18.08 mb
1.98 gb left
so im assuming thier giving me a straight 2000mb not 2048mb
i know its only 48mb but still
On what basis have you assumed that?
You've used so little data so far that your remaining allowance would be 1.98 GB either way.
Given, as I previously said, that they define 1 GB as 1024 MB in their terns and conditions I reckon you could well be mistaken, and you have got 2048 MB allowance.
My thoughts.
No its not an issue. im merely pointing something out.
Just wanted to know if other networks do the same?
Even Google uses the 1024 figure though.
You should consider yourself lucky that you've been able to use 18MB of data on the O2 network, impossible for some.
How have you worked that out?
If they are giving me 2048mb like you say they are and iv only used 18mb then my allowancw would still be showing 2+gb because i havent used 48mb yet only 18mb.
As for this thread, seems the OP is being pedantic about binary vs. decimal "GB" while not being able to tell the difference between a millibyte and a megabyte.
No, because they are showing the allowance in GB, not MB. Your allowance is 2 GB. Why would it show as more than 2 GB?
The only issue here is over how many MB that is. This is what you said in your first post.
If your 2 GB allowance is 2048 MB: (2048 - 18.08) / 1024 = 1.98234375 GB remaining
If your 2 GB allowance is 2000 MB: (2000 - 18.08) / 1000 = 1.98192 GB remaining
No, I think the OP is just confused. I'm confident that if they actually contacted O2 they would be told they are getting 2048 MB.
Umm, nonsense.
If, as you claim, 2GB is 2048MB then if you used 18MB you would have 2030MB left. Which is 1.98GB*.
How on earth do you think you can subtract 0.02GB from 2.00GB and have MORE THAN 2GB left?!
* Actually GiB, but assuming the OP's interpretation of GB=1024MB.
1000 vs 1024 is a debate for another time and place, but while you might argue 1024 is more generally accepted in the computer world, you can't say "2GB is NOT 2,000MB" when, technically speaking, it is. As for the short-changing customers comment, there so far is no evidence whatsoever that O2 are using anything other than 1GB=1024MB based on the flimsy example given by the OP.
I have the same view of BT. How they get away with actually selling their base broadband package with the 10Gb allowance beggars belief!
Why does the conspiracy theory always get the benefit of the doubt over sheer incompetence (which is much more common). It's obvious that if there is a discrepancy, then it's just a misunderstanding at the network end. What company is going to risk the adverse publicity (when found out) for such a trivial difference.
It's very simple really, you either stream media or you don't. As it happens I have no interest in music, and I never watch video on a tiny screen, preferring to watch on a real TV, so it's very rare that I use more than about 1Gb of my 3Gb EE allowance.
Or the user has misunderstood, as in this case.