How to choose a data plan What is a cell phone data plan? If you are breathing in the 21st century, then you definitely own a cellular device that is connected to a network and you have a data plan. Therefore, it’s time you know what they are, how they work and how to use it. Data plans are what you buy to get access to the internet and browse on the world wide web. Just like you pay for minutes in a phone call, you pay for data to use the internet. Data plans cover almost everything you do on the internet, using any device. What is data? Data is anything you read, watch or download from the internet. It could be pictures, videos, links, posts, games, anything. Anything and everything that has a unit of measurement (bit, byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte) all come under the data and affects your data plan in some way or the other. All cell phone data plans are measured and priced on the data you have used. Using excess data than planned, often leads to one paying the extra premium amount. How much data do you need? Knowing how much data you consume helps you understand what kind of data plan you are going to need.