It was recently highlighted in the media that 60% of Britons are confused by data roaming. To be honest, it’s no wonder why! Mobile data use in the UK can be confusing at the best of times but when you add the frightening costs of data roaming into the equation it becomes even more important that you know your KB’s from your MB’s.

Thanks to our obsession with our iPhones, Android devices, iPads and remote working the demand for mobile data is exploding. In fact in 2011, mobile data traffic more than doubled

But what is mobile data? And how much will you need? In our 2 Part Guide we will outline exactly what you can do with your data, how you can keep it under control and how much data you’ll be likely to consume.

Let’s start with the jargon KB, MB and GB?

There are 1,000 kilobytes (KB) in 1 megabyte (MB) and 1,000 megabytes in 1 gigabyte (GB). Simple.

OK, so now we know the units but how much data do we really need? Fortunately it doesn’t matter if you are connecting via your smartphone or laptop data usage is the same. However the usage requirements can differ drastically and as expected this has a knock-on effect on the amount of data you will require.

How much data do you need whilst abroad?

This question is really answered by; how important is the data to you? If the majority of your access is for leisure we’d recommend that you wait until you have a WiFi connection rather than wasting your precious mobile MB’s. Generally we’ve found that people want mobile data access for one of 3 reasons:

• Need to check emails (10-20 per day) - Nothing more nothing less. Will not be accessing or sending large files in excess of 1MB. In this instance you can certainly get by with 50-200 MB per month.
• Want to use my smartphone as per normal - If this is the case you need to budget between 200-500 MB per month and avoid watching too many videos!
• Essential work related - To make sure everything operates as in the UK, we would recommend that you use an unlimited or heavy usage data package in excess of 1 GB. However if you will be accessing video content, gaming or downloading excessively then you will need an unlimited package.

Now you know how much data you are likely to use abroad you need to consider the costs of roaming with your UK Network operator.

Within the EU

Mistakenly people tend to think they are OK to roam in Europe because of the recently imposed cap of €50 however with rates of £3.00/MB you can quickly reach this amount.

Consequently €50 is not the deal it seems when it only equates to a 16MB or one Youtube clip!

Outside of the EU

This is when it starts to get really dangerous! A quick trip over the EU border or a long-haul flight to the USA and you can start to look at costs of £7.00+/MB! As in the EU O2 have introduced a worldwide cap on data roaming at £40 and once you reach 50MB you’ll be cut off.

According to Which?, if you’re on the UK network 3 and you go to the US, you can expect to pay more than £3,000 for 1GB usage – which would cost £7.50 in the UK!

In Part 2 out on Sunday we will discuss the best steps you can take to reduce your mobile data roaming costs. In fact we can help you save over 80% when abroad with a few little tricks of the trade.

For further information about how to avoid data roaming charges please visit: www.dataroam.co.uk