It’s summertime and holiday season is upon us! It’s time to stock up on suncream, invest in another questionable “holiday hat” and brace your nearest and dearest for the sight of your pale, hairy legs in shorts. It’s also time for the usual run of news articles decrying shocking roaming charges. You may remember this woman who paid £2,600 to download the Best of Neil Diamond while holidaying in South Africa, or perhaps you’ve seen uSwitch’s warnings about the £5000 bills which could await footy fans who have made the pilgrimage to Brazil to catch the World Cup action…
Why does data matter?
Either way, summer is now also the time to start thinking about how much mobile data you use, and where you use it. Granted, it’s not what Cliff Richard would have sung about in his classic “We’re all going on a summer holiday…” but in our 21st century world full of Instagrammed tapas in Barcelona and Facebook selfies on top of Table Mountain, keeping an eye on your overseas data usage is now more important than ever. The problem is: Overseas data costs. The EU may be starting to get serious about things within their borders (roaming charges are set to be abolished completely in December 2015) but elsewhere you can build up big bills for even the tiniest tweets – especially if you’re using a high street provider.
How to cut the cost
While household names like Orange, EE, O2 and Vodaphone charge up to £8 per MB (depending on your destination), smaller data-only providers are much more money-savvy. Instead of paying pounds for data, you’ll pay pence and, in the case of services like good old Mobi-Data’s (my personal pick of the litter), you’ll find yourself with 100MB of international data absolutely free (costing a much more respectable 15p per MB after the 100MB limit). It’s pretty simple to use this kind of service, simply sign up, get your SIM and stick it in. Yet, even with the most cost-effective package, it’s just plain good practice to stay on top of your data usage – and it couldn’t be simpler.
Why monitor your data?
There’s no excuse not to download a decent data monitoring app. A good one will warn you when you’re nearing your limit (helping you to avoid any nasty extra charges your provider may slap down if you exceed your cap) and they’ll give you a good idea of how much data you munch through each month – very helpful when you’re hunting for a new plan.