Hoping somebody can give me some help/advice here. I've only ever used mobiles for emergencies and for texting. I never make calls normally. Hardly ever receive them. I'm in need of a new one and had an offer through the post from my ISP for a good quality new mobile (one of these internet ones with an actual keyboard) free for just an extra fiver per month on my broadband account. That will include 50 texts and 50 minutes of calls per month and also WiFi with a monthly usage of 10 MB.

I don't really have a great wish to use the internet on my mobile, BUT it would be handy when we are out and about travelling to shows, at least for emergencies. However 10 MB sounds extremely little to me, and I don't want to be caught out having to pay extra charges. (Have been seeing Watchdog on telly where people have had mobile bills for several thousands because of this.) Can anyone tell me how much I'd normally use up to say check e-mails on a mobile? How do I know how much I'm using?? Any info most gratefully received.

I have i-mail on my mobile, which means I have a separate e-mail address that is useful for contact with friends by e-mail, and for using as a registration e-mail for ordering on-line, but I don't use it to browse the net as such, and don't use it to access my home e-mail.

not sure if this is what you mean, but it is very useful, tho limited

I got that offer I've been shopping around for the best deals right now anyway so I'd caution you on two things with it. One, I'm on option 3 but only pay 20 a month so it would be an extra £10 for me. Check which option you have and how much you pay - it might be less than the standard 25 they list in which case it would cost more than 5 extra. Second, and this was the big one for me, I'm not sure that offer includes GPRS for internet access. The way I read the (very small amount!) of information given you had to either be at home or near a WiFi hotspot to get internet access. The phone itself looks like it has GPRS if I found the right model but GPRS access isn't listed in the offer. I'd check with the person on the phone whether this is true or not. I doubt many venues for shows will have WiFi hotspots within range so that would defeat the purporse for you. Having said that if you do already pay 25 for an extra fiver it's kind of a nice phone.

As for monitoring usage there are apps you can get for free. I use GPRS monitor on my PDA/phone. You can input how much your fee usage is and the software will warn you if you go over and by how much so you don't get any nasty surprises. As for how mucy you need it depends on how graphic rich the sites you visit are or if you get attachments in your messages but I'll give you an example. I wanted to do some price comparisons in Costco so looked up how much a mixer was at Argos. That used about 400Kb. A plain text email message with one or two paragraphs is about 7-10Kb.

Thanks both! yes Lori that's the one! Bit surprised at how rubbish the camera is! Just 1.3 megapixels.

Yes I'm pretty cretain I do pay £25 a month at the moment and I do have option 3. The way I read the smallprint was that as WiFi access is included, albeit just 10 MB a month, GPRS would not be charged for -but I could be wrong...... It's not so much access AT shows I'm interested in, but when we are travelling to and from.