I know a few people who still have unlimited data, and I’m jealous. Really. In the last couple of months, I’ve managed to pull down a lot more data than I ever have before, and I’m really starting to feel it. Which is strange, since when I had unlimited data “back in the day,” I didn’t go over a certain amount of data each month. Right now? Now, it’s completely different.

Really, really different.

As of the time of this writing, I’ve used more data than I normally would have in a month. Specifically, with 21 days left in my billing cycle, I have used 1.8GB of data. For me, even someone who manages to check up with Twitter, other social networking tools, and plenty of online-only apps, that much data in that short of time is pretty intense.

Usually, by the end of the month, when my ticker hits that same number, I’ve got about 2 days left in the billing cycle. That would make sense. And since I had 5GB of data per month allocated to me, it wasn’t a big deal at all. Now, though. 21 days is a long time!

So, I tried to figure out how on Earth I could have amassed that much data in a short amount of time. If I don’t figure it out, I’m afraid that there’s nothing I can do to fix the situation. And that obviously won’t do, because the overages, and the sheer amount of overages I could achieve this month alone, are just too bad to even consider. So, I’ve had to reevaluate my usage patterns, and really focus on what was bringing all that data to my phone.

Here’s what I found out: it wasn’t me. I was convinced that I wasn’t really doing anything different, day to day, but the data calculator was trying to fight me on that perception. But, thankfully, I found out it wasn’t me, and it’s just the hardware of the phone. That’s right, the blasted thing. The iPhone 5 wasn’t staying connected to the WiFi network I was using every single day.

That’s one thing I can honestly say I do to a fault. When a piece of technology works in one way, and it does so without much of an issue more often than not, I don’t pay much attention to it when it doesn’t work. Yes, it’s a bad habit, but one I find hard to break. Which is why when I was supposedly connected to the WiFi network, and I wasn’t, I was still downloading bigger files, or syncing my music over to my phone.

I think I should probably stop multi-tasking so much.

But, this whole situation just made me realize that I wish this was last year, and I wouldn’t have cared one way or another. But now, this month, I’m seriously wondering how the end of the month is going to turn out. I’ve got 10GB of data per month allowed to me, and hopefully now that I’ve figured out the root cause, I won’t have to worry about it. It could have been very different, though.

I miss unlimited data. I can say that, without hesitation, now more than ever. Yes, I think next month will be back to normal and I’ll be back to using the same amount of data I normally would, but with 21 days left to go before my bill cycles over, I’m still pretty nervous. Anything could happen in 21 days!

I guess I’ll have to stick around WiFi zones from here on out.

So tell me, Dear Reader. Do you miss unlimited data? Or, are you one of the people out there who still has access to the unlimited pool? Do you take advantage of it? Or do you still taper your usage to around 2GB a month? Let me know!