Do you use data just by having phone on?

starrybee

Hi

I am going to Spain in a couple of days, and want to keep my internet turned on permanently so that I don't get my emails too clogged up, and am trying to work out the cheapest way to do it.

Vodafone charge 69p a mb from what I can tell, so my question is - does it use up mb's just having the internet turned on? Or is it only if I were to actually open and read email that I start using it up? If that makes sense?

My only other alternative is to pay £3 a day to use my current price plan which I don't really want to do if I can help it...would much rather pay the 69p a day if I can get away with it!

buscape

It can do, depends on the phone. Which phone do you have?

gman41

Make sure your apps will not update automatically! This was a real problem for me as you do not have to ok this, and yes your phone will always talk to the network (very little traffic for this!)
G.

Guys_Dad

There is an almighty catch-22 that exists at present as far as EU roaming goes.

By default, there is an EU cap that is applied - £44 I believe and after that your internet is cut off. That would give you (£44.00 / £0.69 Mb) before cut off.

Or you could add the sort of £3 per day bundle you refer to - but then there is no cap and unless you keep your eye on the use using a suitable app, then you could face a big bill when you come home.

giraffe69

Maybe a better approach is to turn the internet off but re-instate it for a short while as and when you want to check emails. Also worth checking as said above as t whether you can turn off automatic updating particularly if you have lots of apps.

starrybee

buscape wrote: »

It can do, depends on the phone. Which phone do you have?

It's a blackberry.

And I think I have auto-update turned off anyway

Timalay

Why not buy a cheap 2nd hand sim free smartphone, and buy a sim out there.

List of providers here.

starrybee

Timalay wrote: »

Why not buy a cheap 2nd hand sim free smartphone, and buy a sim out there.

List of providers here.

I'm only going for a week :rotfl:

It's not a huge deal either way I was just wondering whether it was possible to survive on 1-2mb a day if you weren't really using it for much...(ie I know I won't be using more than this intentionally, I just wanted to know if the phone would be using it by itself!)

spondon30

Another option would be to switch mobile data off, which is simple on a blackberry and then use free wifi connections. If your hotel does not have free wifi then visit a bar that does every couple of days to update your phone, read emails, browse the web etc. Not sure if you can bbm with wifi though.

Timalay

starrybee wrote: »

I'm only going for a week :rotfl:

It's not a huge deal either way I was just wondering whether it was possible to survive on 1-2mb a day if you weren't really using it for much...(ie I know I won't be using more than this intentionally, I just wanted to know if the phone would be using it by itself!)

I'm just suggesting it as a possibility. I didn't say contract, I was more thinking pay-as-you-go.

buscape

I'd turn mobile data off unless your checking emails or something.