500mb data allowance on smart phone...enough?

[NinkyNonker]

Hi All,

I'm awaiting delivery of my new smartphone (HTC Desire HD) and have it on a £25 p/m deal from Orange which includes 500mb data.

All I'm planning on using it for when out and about is:

• Calling/texting
• Emailing via Hotmail
• Maybe MSN Msgr or Skype Chat
• Facebook browsing/uploading pics
• Maybe taking video clips and uploading them on the odd occassion.

I have Wifi at home so would obviously use that when at home and would always look when out and about, but does 500 mb sound ok for light-ish use? I might be being optimistic.

Does anyone know if this phone will go to wifi as default or do I have to keep an eye on it? Any decent apps anyone can recommend to monitor data useage/find wifi hotspots etc would be appreciated too.

Many thanks!

I use my Nokia quite a bit for internet, yet only seem to use 75 to 100 MB a month in data.
Video use will use up data far quicker than e-mail... so 500MB sounds fine for general usage.
With luck your billing system will report how much data you use, so after a few months you can add-on extra data allowance if necessary.

No idea about what features the phone has.

Plenty. The one thing you must never never do is use the phone to listen to the radio online. A built in FM receiver is fine, streaming it from the internet will massively go over your allowance. I speak from bitter experience.

Using the phone as a radio for maybe three or four hours a day over the course of a long weekend sent my data usage up to nearly 2GB. Luckily I was on unlimited at the time or I'd have paid heavily for that. Everything you have listed above will easily be covered.

I have a 500mb contract and have never come close to it. I also use WiFi at home. I wouldn't upload video when out of the house though, but I do use gps navigation about once a week, sometimes for fairly lengthy journeys.

the woman in the vodaphone shop told me that 97% of their customers don't go over 200mb, if that helps at all?

Some useful figures concerning usage there. Always good to have 'real life' figures and not estimates from websites / magazines.

Unfortunately for the other 3% (who go over 200 MB) the 500 MB might be a low limit. It is going to take some time before the bulk of networks rethink and charge more reasonable amounts (like 50p per GB, which is what I am paying Three... 15 GB/month for 7.50)

i have only recently got my htc desire, so will await my first bill with some trepidation.
as a matter of interest, however, can anyone explain rss feeds, downloading podcasts etc? i am hoping to download stuff using the wireless so that it's there when i am out and about, is that right? am using google listen.

I have been fine with mine and using it much the same as you . Download the 3g watchdog app as it will keep track of how much you use.

Cool, thanks all. I was torn between the HTC Desire and Desire HD, I went for the HD in the end as I figured if i was going to have it for 2 yrs I might as well start out with the more up-to-date one. But I didn't want to spend more than £25 p/m so couldn't get more than 500mb. By the sounds of it I should be ok, I don't have to commute on the train or whathaveyou so won't be needing Youtube as a distraction! Will look at the radio thing, this one has a receiver so should be ok.

Depends, AitchTwoOh on what you use to download podcasts (which can run to quite a lot of MB in size).

I can only suggest you disable downloads whenever you are not using the wi-fi. Oh, and watch out in case you move from one room to another and somehow get screened from the home wi-fi router...

One system, called Sonos (top end music system, allowing multiple rooms each to play different music from internet/music server), which builds its own wi-fi network (as the remote control can change what plays in any room), needed a small repeater to serve a lady's dressing room where she had a full height fitted mirror (the silver backing was forming a screen and stopping the signals).

You can just imagine downloading off the wi-fi, making a call to someone, walking into the kitchen and finding the remainder of the download comes via your data allowance. It may be better to download podcasts on a PC and put a micro-SD card into the phone with the downloaded items on that.

However, as far as I know, while the mobile can take 32 GB microSD cards, you may need a special USB adaptor. A 2 GB micro-SD is not likely to be a problem (the higher capacity cards are marked 'SDHC'). Finally, you will need an adaptor allowing a microSD card to be put into an SD reader, as the microSD cards are really tiny!

tbh i actively switch my 3g on when i'm out if i want to use it, i am pretty terrified of accidentally going over. i'm a data wimp.