Mobile internet

Posted on 14 Aug 2007 at 14:58

Another problem is that it's almost impossible to know in advance just how much you'll consume because the phone companies are exceedingly generous in their estimates of what you can download within your contract's limits. According to Vodafone, 120MB equates to four hours' watching YouTube each month, or up to 160 mobile internet pages, or access and management of emails ten times a day.

This is far more than the BBC figure suggests is feasible, but Vodafone and its rivals say they use compression and strip out unwanted images to reduce the footprint. Only the phone companies really know how efficient compression actually is. Choosing a tariff in such circumstances is a leap of faith.

Aside from the data caps, there's a whole raft of restrictions in place on what users can do with the download quota they've paid for. Orange's new £5 "unmetered" data tariff, for example, bans VoIP, file sharing and instant messaging. 3's otherwise impressive packages also leave a sour taste, because the basic package bans instant messaging, and only the premium package, X-Series Gold, allows VoIP. Using your phone as a modem is also outlawed.

"The packages don't include all the internet, and many of them block access to the more disruptive technologies, such as Skype, because they don't want to cannibalise their own voice revenues," says Thomas Husson, senior analyst for European Mobile at Jupiter Research.

Solution: Check terms and conditions very carefully. 3 and T-Mobile offer 1GB per month caps, which should satisfy anyone surfing on a handset. If you're after VoIP, T-Mobile's web'n'walk Max service is the best option. Orange bans web calls, while, for all its talk of a flat rate, Vodafone protects its earnings by charging £2 per megabyte for VoIP or instant-messaging services.

How much am I using?

At home you pay a flat fee to a broadband provider, but when you leave home you have to work out the cost of data. It isn't easy to find out how much you're downloading - it's an alien idea and it can work out very expensive.

"Mobile internet is very different to home broadband," says The Cloud's Geddes. "People don't understand how much they use, because at home they've never considered the file size of a web page or song. If you were downloading a 30-minute podcast once a week for a month on 3G at £3 per megabyte, you could end up paying more than £100 a month. Customers just don't understand this method."

To find out if you're approaching your cap, or how much data you've downloaded, you need to use a meter, which will either be buried in your phone's menus or in the provider's software. "There are some services to let you know how much you're downloading, but they're not all proactive - you have to know where to look for it since it isn't really promoted," says Husson.

Solution: Check your phone's manual for details of data meters. Most will allow you to reset the counter, so you need to check when your billing period begins to ensure you don't exceed any cap. Operators can also keep tabs on data downloads: Vodafone, for example, says anyone signing up for online billing can check their usage online, albeit eating up more of your allocation.

Mobile data roaming

Data downloading in the UK may be pricey, but head overseas and you'll need to sort out a second mortgage before firing up the mobile browser. Data roaming prices are often difficult to find but, once uncovered, you'll soon realise why many people turn off their data roaming and email service at the airport. Orange is priced at £8 per megabyte from destinations such as France, Germany and Australia. Vodafone recently changed it overseas billing from £10 a megabyte to £8.50 a day with a 50MB-a-day limit, while business travellers can pay £95 a month.