How much GPRS do these programs use?

[Guest mattscholey]

Hi,

At the moment I'm busy looking into GPRS packages, to try and get a better deal, which would (rather than making me spend less) allow me to use it more. Yes - i'm not prepared to pay the prices Orange are giving me.

In order for me to do a lot of sums to work out if taking out another contract could save me money, I need to know how many MB's I would use. How much data do the following activities use:

1) Internet Radio (24k and 32k)

2) Microsoft Portrait

3) Web browsing (for your typical PC page ie. not pages designed for smartphones like modaco mobile)

4) Automatic email synchronisation (how much data is transfered each time its checks my email)

Thanks in advance for your responses - this will be very helpful.

Matt

[Guest azamsaghir]

My advice to you would be to get hold of a GPRS Counter program and walk before running.

I received my first bill from Orange last week. A shocking £150!! My GPRS usage was 60MB.

Whilst it is exciting and very tempting to browse the internet, download emails, listen to Internet radio etc...The fun ends with the bill.

Be careful mate java script:emoticon(':shock:')

Rgds

Azam

[Guest mattscholey]

Thanks. A GPRS counter would be great but I don't want to spend £15 on one. I was wondering if anyone knew any figures for how many MB's are transfered a minute on a 24k stream, or what they have found to be the average size of a webpage.

Matt

[Guest azamsaghir]

The official quote from Orange is as follows:

'One megabyte is approximately equal to 1200 WAP pages, 20 Web pages or 100 emails without attachments.'

Rgds

Azam

[Guest danm_cool]

Thanks.  A GPRS counter would be great but I don't want to spend £15 on one.  I was wondering if anyone knew any figures for how many MB's are transfered a minute on a 24k stream, or what they have found to be the average size of a webpage.

Matt

When watching a 24k stream you download about 2-3 kb/s of data.

So, a minute means 3kb x 60sec = 180kb/min

An hour cost 180kb x 60min = ;) :?:

Check with you calculator :D

A+

DM

[Guest mattscholey]

Thanks - just what I wanted. Any similar information for Microsoft Portrait (a video chat program), or how much GPRS is used when you check your email (assuming no emails are there).

Thanks

Matt

[Guest beersoft]

your email transcript looks a little like this for pop3

+OK POP3 [mailserverid] server ready

user [username]

+OK User name accepted, password please

pass [password]

+OK Mailbox open, 0 messages

list

+OK Mailbox scan listing follows

.

stat

+OK 0 0

a total of 201 bytes there, your mileage may vary depending on mail server names. username and passwords

and with my bad maths you get 5216 checks per meg

i dont speak imap so i cant tell you what that would be, more i would think.

later

Owen

a man with far too much time on his hands

[Guest HelloDave]

Install a copy of IMeter - free GPRS counter :)

[Guest beersoft]

and the link is??

later

Owen

"Welcome to post number 100"

[Guest PsychoDave]

Hey Congrats Beersoft :)

I-Meter

Works pretty well too. :(

Peace

[Guest fraser]

According to iMeter, my last three IMAP mail syncs took:

32677

34752

24005

octets, whatever that means. And I'm a pretty expericenced IT guy, and I'm still confused. Since when was octet used as a size measurement? Is it a bad translation? It usually refers to a group of three bytes (as they can produce 8 unique values), so I don't see how that's relevant here.

[Guest beersoft]

octets are 8 bits long

you imap took 32k, 34k, and 24k

later

Owen

"no tv and no beer make homer something something"

[Guest azamsaghir]

Around 35K usage a day will amount to 1MB usage in a month which at current standard Orange GPRS rates would increase your monthly bill by £3.

I have signed the Modaco petition which with a bit of luck will lead to a flat rate for GPRS. Currently it is a rip off and renders the Orange SPV E100 useless.

Azam