100 Mb data allowance is too low on my BT Blackberry phone

[dm_75]

I am very pleased with my Blackberry Curve phone supplied by BT.

The problem is, as a BT Business One Plan customer I am only getting 100Mb of data allowance per month.

If I go over this amount I get charged £2 per Mb - potentially a huge bill at the end of the month!

Many  rival mobile providers are now offering Unlimited Data for an extra £5 a month.

I rang BT to ask if they offered a similar deal and was told they could offer me another  100Mb of data for an extra £5. 

One of the main advantages of owning a Blackberry is the range of web apps available through the Blackberry App World and with a 100Mb limit, the Blackberry is not able to make full use of this.

Having said this I realise I am paying just over £20 a month on my contract. I'm not too worried about having a low quota of minutes, because the phone was purchased mainly for receiving diverted calls from the office.

I just wish I could get more data than another 100Mb for an extra fee each month.

Also is it possible to keep track of the data you have used on the Blackberry?

And is it possible to tell whether you are accessing the Internet using your GPRS or your Wifi?

What is the amount of data I can transfer using Wifi?

Regards

Chris

Message Edited by dm_75 on 16-07-2009 08:13 AM

[bradcapo1]

Thanks so much for sharing the post.

<Link Removed by Forum Moderator Fiona>

Message Edited by Fiona on 23-07-2009 09:09 AM

[ironscot]

Hi Chris

I don't know of any way of tracking data usage.

If you're on WiFi (which you should use whenever you get the chance) the WiFi symbol will be shown in white and when that's there I'm fairly sure it will use that in preference for apps that can work with it (i.e. not GoogleMaps etc) such as email and the Browser.

WiFi data is unlimited.

It would be interesting (I'm about to move into pedantic mode here...) if you were charged for more than 100Mb (Mega bits) as the contract allows 100 MB (Mega Bytes) which is 800 Mb. BT incorrectly interchange the 2 terms all over the place...

P

[dm_75]

Hi Ironscot

Thanks for your reply.

I found this app in the Blackberry App World, MiniMoni which works quite well at tracking data usage and is free.

 http://www.ehnert.net/MiniMoni/

If anyone knows of anything better, please let me know.

I also noticed the WIFI symbol.  I presume that takes priority over GPRS?

You're quite right about the Mb and MB.  I always mix them up!

Looking forward to the next generation of 4G phones that are currently in development in Japan.

We usually get this (or similar technology) a few years after Japan do - maybe around 2012-2014? 🙂

Message Edited by dm_75 on 26-07-2009 11:23 AM

[ironscot]

Hi Chris

I'll give your data usage tracker a go, thanks.

I assume WiFi takes precedence over GPRS...you could always switch data off to be sure.

P

[ScottBT]

Hi dm_75,

Good question on the data allowance.

Without knowing the details of your contract, I can't really advise you but to say that we are constantly updating our mobile data portfolio. I would recommend calling BT back on the contact number associated with your account to see if there have been any additions or if they know when any are due.

Sounds like a great application for measuring your data usage and it's correct that whilst connected using Wi-Fi you have the same data allowance associated with you broadband contract.

Wi-Fi will take priority when you are in an area with coverage and this is indicated by a Wi-Fi logo at the top of the screen.

Sorry I can't be of any more help.

Scott

[dm_75]

Hi Scott

Thanks for the reply.  

I haven't gotten Minimoni working fully with my Blackberry Curve 8900, as according to this forum thread, it doesn't work properly with the new Operating System 4.5 that the Curve uses.

"API calls used by MiniMoni were changed by RIM in 4.5 and higher. Instead of getting the number of bytes they now provide the number of "blocks". These blocks have a length of 1024 bytes I suppose, but I have no proof for that. The main problem however is that you never know to which degree these blocks are filled."

So just to clarify I'm only using up my 100 MB monthly data allowance on my Blackberry contract when I'm connected via GPRS?

I will periodically check with BT about the state of play regarding data.  Thanks!

[ironscot]

Hi Chris

I installed  MiniMoni on my 8900 and it's running, however it looks like it may not be very accurate - having read your post. Data exchanged over WiFi is not counted as part of your 100MB per month as that's why you can take your BB abroad with data switched off and use only WiFi, thereby not incurring any charges. Like you, I've often wondered what I use per month especially if I crank up GoogleMaps..basically I use WiFi whenever I can..at home and I would at work too if I thought I needed to save my data allowance.

Hopefully by raising this BT will eventually provide some in-month indication of our data usage...

P

[ScottBT]

Hi dm_75,

Sorry to hear that the data counter is not as accurate with the newer OS, hopefully the developer will be able to solve this in the near future. As some people in the Blackberry forum suggested, it might be worth using to give you a rough idea and therefore err on the side of caution.

I can confirm that with regards to your Blackberry, the only data that will affect your usage allowance will be that over GPRS/3G, and not Wi-Fi. As Ironscot said, using Wi-Fi when abroad is a great way of accessing the internet free of charge.

Regards

Scott

[dm_75]

Yes, one of the strengths of the Blackberry is the way you can quickly disable the different functions on the phone, such as GPRS Data, GPRS calls and Wifi etc.

Message Edited by dm_75 on 07-08-2009 10:58 AM