With the huge surge in sales of SmartPhones, enabling people to access email and the internet on the move, the mobile networks responded by offering large, and in some cases unlimited, mobile data tariffs.

However, as more and more people used the services it has become clear to the networks that continuing this policy could lead to a problem accomodating all of the data traffic. So now unlimited data tariffs are disappearing and the monthly allowance limits are shrinking.

For many people the possibility of a large bill at the end of the month is stopping them using their SmartPhones to their full potential, keeping them off the internet except on rare occasions.

If the networks genuinely wanted to help their customers this would be quite easy. For instance, they could notify customers when they are approaching their allowance limit. A customer with a 500mb limit would receive an sms when their usage reached 450mb. The limit to trigger a notification could even be set by the user themselves (particularly with online account access).

Even better if you could check your data usage at any time, then you would know exactly where you stand, you can work out roughly how much each online action contributes and it would also eliminate the problems for the networks of angry customers ringing in following receipt of large bills.

However, the networks are less interested in helping, more interested in profits, and the rates they charge for out-of-bundle data are extortionate. It would also help their customers if these rates came down, so going a bit over your allowance cost a few pounds instead of tens, hundreds or even thousands of pounds!

What can you do with 500mb of mobile data? A 500mb limit should cover casual browsing and email usage (without numerous large attachments). However it won't go far watching videos on You Tube or streaming other media.

If you are new to mobile data and worried about potential costs you could make a note of your first month's usage, using it sparingly, and then see how much actual usage you have incurred when you receive your bill. From this you can increase your usage incrementally as you need to whilst remaining safely within your data package.

Posted in: Business Mobiles , Business Phones , Mobile Data , SmartPhones

Google's Android operating system for mobile phones is on the rise with consumers. Sales of mobile handsets running this OS have grown by 350 per cent in the last three months. But are business mobile users interested in moving over to Android?

With so many SmartPhones about, people are getting to grips with the fact that their phone is running a particular operating system, whether that be Windows Mobile, Symbian or Android. They are now choosing their new phones based upon operating system and giving the new kid on the block a chance to wow them.

The increase in market share for Android from 3 percent to 13 percent this year is based partly upon this, and partly upon so many new handsets choosing to run the OS out of the box.

However, consumers usually only have 1 phone and use it as a standalone device. Businesses with multiple phones, and particulary those with email servers, need to make sure that the OS their phones are running is compatible with their existing IT hardware.

Many IT workers, used to synching Windows devices, would still prefer to use Windows Mobile based phones to make their life easier. However other OSs will work trouble free and it is only a matter of time before Android starts to gain a foothold in the business market.

We are yet to see any great demand for Android-based phones in the business mobile arena but there is no doubt we will be supplying more of them in the future. Once people cotton on to how good the Android OS can be, particularly as it is revised more often than other operating systems, then a surge in demand from canny businesses is expected.

Posted in: Business Mobiles , Business Phones