How much cellular data does filing an IFR flight plan use?

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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Not sure if this is the appropriate forum, I will move if requested.

I activated my 4G ipad mini 2 with T-Mobile. Supposedly, activation includes 200MB/ 30 days for life. Occasionally, I expect to not have a wifi link to enable me to file with FF (in fact this has already happened once but I proceeded VFR). Is 200MB enough? Can I do a 'trial' filing? Does anyone else do this. If this works, I am thinking that this would be occasionally very handy to have.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Not sure if this is the appropriate forum, I will move if requested.

I activated my 4G ipad mini 2 with T-Mobile. Supposedly, activation includes 200MB/ 30 days for life. Occasionally, I expect to not have a wifi link to enable me to file with FF (in fact this has already happened once but I proceeded VFR). Is 200MB enough? Can I do a 'trial' filing? Does anyone else do this. If this works, I am thinking that this would be occasionally very handy to have.
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It really shouldn't be much, well less than a 1mb. Just be careful not to accidentally use it surfing the web; 200mb can go quickly downloading webpages with images and such.
 
I would guess it would be in the kilobyte range vs. MB, but I don't use FF and i'm not sure what kind of overhead it has. More like sending a text message than data transfer. ?????
 
Usually you can check data usage day to day on their website (maybe?). I have Verizon and you can see your data usage. Run an experiment by filing a flight plan and seeing what is used the next day. Probably negligible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Shouldn't be much as posted above. We've been ripping through data as a family so I've been checking use. What really uses data is video.

Do you have a phone that has wifi hotspot capability if you get close to the limit?
 
Also don't update maps or nextrad, FBO prices etc unless you need it.
 
The flight plan itself is just a bit of text so is very small (well less than 1 MB) so 200 should be plenty. If it starts downloading images and such then that will be much more. One tip is to make sure that you turn off cellular data for all other apps. Some apps are real data hungry and will start downloading even if you don't "do" anything.

Settings > Cellular > then turn off data for everything but the app(s) you really want.

More than one person has been burned by an app downloaded crap they didn't want or didn't even know was happening.
 
rocketflyer84 said:
The flight plan itself is just a bit of text so is very small (well less than 1 MB) so 200 should be plenty. If it starts downloading images and such then that will be much more. One tip is to make sure that you turn off cellular data for all other apps. Some apps are real data hungry and will start downloading even if you don't "do" anything.

Settings > Cellular > then turn off data for everything but the app(s) you really want.

More than one person has been burned by an app downloaded crap they didn't want or didn't even know was happening.
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That's a real good tip when you're working with just 200mb/mo.
 
Brad Z said:
That's a real good tip when you're working with just 200mb/mo.
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Agreed, great advice. One caveat: ForeFlight, by itself, will gobble up huge amounts of data, if you let it. In particular, if you have the radar or satellite overlays on, they're pretty big. Or basically any of the animated weather charts. Or if you start pulling chart updates. Filings and briefs are tiny (they were designed in the days of the teletype).

At least the "Pack" feature tells you how much data it takes. I tend to find each "Pack" runs about 1-2MB. So, if you're careful, even flying every day, 200MB should be enough for the on-the-go needs.
 
Another thing you can do is keep cellular data turned off and use only wifi to download charts, updates, etc. You can easily turn it back on if needed to file and get your briefing.

Also, at the very bottom of the "cellular" settings page, turn off the "wifi assist". If it is on, it will jump over to cellular if wifi signal is low.
 
I've played around with this, and depending on what you use, a standard brief & filing takes anywhere 25-50MBs. That's using L-M's graphics heavy website followed up with Garmin Pilot's radar depiction.

I've tried using CPCs iPad app, and it's so slow and unstable for me I've found it unusable.

DTC's app, before they got pulled, was absolutely AWESOME for low-bandwidth use. It was very, very simple, all text (unless you requested maps or graphics), and super, super easy to whip through a brief and filing. Heck, you could do it with one hand on an iPhone. I really miss it.

Richman
 
I agree, the actual flight plan takes only a KB or two to transfer. However, there is some confirmation and handshaking afterwards.
Find an app that will do ONLY filing to minimize your data usage.
You can also file from the FltPlan webpage but be sure to kill all ads and pictures, otherwise you will use up your 200MB in one filing. :)

CrApple allows you to see data usage in the Settings. You can check what the number is before and after you file. But you have to do it via your cellular data so you will be consuming some. :( Android tells you how much data you pull over WiFi as well. :) But than again, it's Android, not crApple. :)
 
I have the free 200mb per month. I don't know about filing flight plans, but I can usually do 2 round trips (4 hours total) using FF per month and not go over. That's putting in a route and have the map up and radar moving.

Tip: Download/update Foreflight maps/charts at home using WIFI. I made the mistake of trying to update them on the ramp and it sucked up all my free limit and I had to buy the 500mb per day for $5. That's the cool thing is if you go over, you can easily add a 500mb/day for $5 or weekly packages too. And you can check how much of the 200 remains also.
 
Arob16 said:
Usually you can check data usage day to day on their website (maybe?). I have Verizon and you can see your data usage. Run an experiment by filing a flight plan and seeing what is used the next day. Probably negligible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

So, is it ok to file a trial flight plan, knowing that you are not actually intending to complete the flight? I would like to give this a try, but it maybe a little while before my next trip.
 
You can always file,and let it time out if your not going to fly it.
 
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