Can someone please explain to me very simply how data works on a phone please?

[CharminglyOdd]

DP gave me an HTC wildfire (?) yesterday. I have never wanted a smartphone as I've never had any real disposable income and, although I have played on his, have no idea how data allowances work/how much 100MB means in real terms. I really class them as a luxury.

I feel like I'm being ungrateful but am panicking about how much this might end up costing me - he did laugh (and look a bit hurt) when I tried my SIM in it last night and, when the weather popped up as the background, freaked out that it was using the Internet to do this and I was going to be charged £££. I include this as an illustration of how dense I am about these things - apparently there's no way it would charge me for that?

Anyway, I currently have an O2 rolling pay monthly deal for £15 and it includes free O2-O2 calls. It's the minimum I can pay to get the free O2-O2, which is what I want as all my family and many friends are with them.

My question is: how much data do I need to check my emails every day and probably use it for navigation when driving/look up the occasional thing whilst out please? I wouldn't use it for MN as I have my laptop for that. How does data work please? I really have no clue and I don't want to hurt DP by freaking out about the cost (he works, I don't, I am job hunting but paying for my current phone is sending me into my overdraft, just to put it in some perspective). TBH I have no customer loyalty to O2 as they have rubbish customer service so I am looking also at GiffGaff but, without knowing how data works, I have no clue what to expect to pay.

Final question: does the provider give you warnings when you go near the limit? How do you check how much data you have used?

Thanks to anyone who can help :)

Don't panic! It's not as scary as it seems :) I'll try to explain, if it doesn't make sense please say and I'll have another go.

Data is used every time your phone connects to the internet. The idea of a smartphone is that this connection is always open. Smartphones connect in two ways - via wifi (your network at home) and via 3G, or 'mobile internet'. Only the times where it connects via 3G count towards the data allowance.

What that means is that you need to connect your phone to your home wifi. Whenever you are at home and thus in range of your wifi, the phone will use that to connect. When you're outside, or if you turn the wifi router off, your phone will automatically switch to use 3G.

You should get a deal with some included data. How much you will need depends on how much you think you will use it away from home, and what you think you will do. Things like the phone checking the weather, reading your email, going on facebook, checking the news, or just browsing a website don't take that much data. If you want to look at Youtube videos or listen to music being streamed over the internet, that is different, those things take far more data and you will need a bigger allowance.

To give you an idea, I have a smartphone with a 500MB a month allowance. When I'm at home, it's hooked up to the wifi so it doesn't use the data. I work from home, so I'm not out as much as some people. However, I do tend to use my phone a lot when out for email/browsing the internet on the bus/sending pointless facebook messages when I'm stuck in a queue. I have never even come close to the 500MB - I think the closest I ever came was when I spent a week in London last year with no wifi and constantly needing the phone for tourist information and to stop me getting lost!

If you're worried about going over your allowance and being hit with a big bill, you can install an app to keep track of how much 3G data you're using. I use one called 3G Watchdog and it's very good and easy to use.

Hope that helps!

And looking at Giffgaff (whom I've heard very good things about but have no personal experience with), they do a £10 deal with unlimited internet, unlimited texts and 250 included minutes. If that's enough minutes for you, taking into account you'd be losing your free O2 to O2 and those would have to come out of the minute allowance instead, I'd just go for that - unlimited internet means you could stop worrying about it entirely :)

Giffgaff are very good and very cheap,have a look heregiffgaff.com/index/offer,if your phone will take an o2 sim card,then it will work with a giffgaff one(they are owned by o2)

Thank you all very much :) I am much more reassured. When smartphones first came out I remember friends paying £40/month, which is the figure I still have stuck in my head.

I will get the 3G Watchdog app, thank you Naoko. DP is with Giffgaff and they seem to be very good, he never loses signal and has never exceeded his allowance (he uses it for business and also uses a lot of Internet on it).

I spoke to my DSis, who is always using her Internet, and she has never exceeded her 100MB limit. I don't stream music or videos and can't imagine doing so. Now I've calmed down a bit I'm quite excited!

Glad you found it helpful, and that you're excited now :) You should be, the Wildfire is a nice little phone. I wasn't sure if I'd actually use it when I got my smartphone but it's been pretty much glued to me since day 1 so I guess that answers that question.... I do pay rather more than you but that's mostly because I'm tied into a contract that gave me the handset free and is thus a more expensive contract to compensate.