Checking Your AT&T Data Usage

With AT&T’s announcement that new iPhone data plans will be capped starting on June 7, customers are wondering how much wireless data they’re using. Figuring out just how much data bandwidth you eat up each month is easy with a trip to the AT&T Web site.

To see how much data you send and receive through AT&T’s wireless network, do this:

  • Point your Web browser to the AT&T Web site, and log into your account.
  • Choose Bill & Payments.
  • Now Click Create a Billing Report. It’s under the Billing Reports heading.
  • Choose Data Usage Trend from the Report pop-up menu. You can also set a date range to see your data usage for different time periods.

AT&T’s monthly data usage chart

The report generates an easy-to-read bar graph showing just how much data you have uploaded and downloaded each month. The chart shows only data that traveled through your 3G or EDGE data connection, and excludes and data transfered over Wi-Fi network connections.

In my case, I used 146MB in February, 140MB in March and 174MB in April — all heavy travel months for me, and times when I’m more likely to rely on 3G data instead of Wi-Fi for Internet access. That’s good news for me, because it means I can most likely get by with AT&T’s less expensive 200MB per month data plan.

If you want to check your monthly data usage on the go, AT&T’s free myWireless Mobile app can handle the task. It also shows how many text messages you’ve used, how close you are to your voice minutes cap, and lets you pay your monthly bill, too.

Checking your current month data usage with myWireless Mobile

Since AT&T will launch its 200MB and 2GB capped data plans for new iPhone and iPad subscriptions this month, it’s a good idea to check out just how much data you’re using — especially if you plan on buying a new iPhone once they’re released.

Current iPhone contracts won’t change, so feel free to use as much data as you want for now. Just be ready to start counting your megabytes once you start a new contract.