Iphone users use 640MB/month

As reported yesterday, T-mobile NL saw a great increase in mobile data usage from the introduction of the iPhone 3G. The monthly usage of mobile increased from 12Terabyte to 80Terabyte a month How stunning a number that is, I only realized last night in bed. The average iPhone user uses 640MB per month. T-mobile also said it was 30-40 times more than the average mobile data user at 16-22MB per month. 

Telenet in Belgium has a Basicnet (fixed line internet) version that has a 1GB limit. I would suspect 20% of mobile users would hit that cap straight away. 

640MB isn't that expensive for T-Mobile NL. Even if they had no peerings, then it would still amount to less then 3 cents a month at €5/mbit/s/month (100GB) in Amsterdam. In Australia the costs would be 60 cents/user/month. (which also shows how much money is currently made on all you can eat data plans at €9.95, which are a top up on normal subscriptions)

However if this kind of usage continues to spread to users of other mobile devices then I do suspect mobile backhaul would be in serious need of an upgrade. On the other hand a standard DSL should be able to carry the traffic