[missmouse]

Ive been wondering why operators charge internet usage by the MB & not by the time connected? No one can give me a simple answer! I understand say a video clip takes up more MB than a page of text but surely the cost to the operator is the same if the phone remains connected the same time? i mean its still really just a phone call!  eg, if I made a voice call & did not speak to the other person I would be charged the same as if I had talked non stop to them? Which is fair enough!

 because I have no way to know how much I will be charged for connecting to any particular website, I never use the web browser! ( Ive also in the past had nasty surpises with charges when I have connected to the net by mistake - & for only a few minutes!!)

[cjlim]

No one has given you a simple answer because there isn't one. It is down to the accountants at the networks deciding how they can best fleece their customers.

Just so you know, there are networks out there who charge by the hour rather than MB. Example VF Portugal have a €10 for 10hrs tariff with unlimited MB. Which suits the user better depends on how you use your data. Those who use it for social media will probably prefer paying by the MB and those who download large files such as music will probably prefer paying by time.  

[psychomania]

Mobile internet used to be charged based on time but this was found to be a totally unfair method of charging. It punishes those that may only use very small amount of data. Many years ago it was changed in most countries so that it was charged by the amount used as this is the only fair way for everyone.

If you are concerned about internet charges you should purchase a data bundle from your carrier so that you only ever pay one fixed fee.

But as you say this isn't a Nokia issue, you can find articles and information about this by searching google and wikipedia.

[missmouse]

thanks for your replies. I am still at a loss as to how some can consider paying by the time connected as unfair! What is unfair about it? This is how most of industry works, - you pay for someones time. Surely if you know an hour connected to internet will cost you €1, €5, or  €10 then you also know if you decide to download large video files & it takes 50 x longer than a simple page of text you will have to pay for the extra time? What is so unfair?

 I think I can agree this is all down to fleecing the customer! 

 ( hence the reason I would only ever connect via WiFi!)

 A "bundle" is all very well but you still dont know what that will allow you to do ( perhaps roughly yes) as there is no counter telling you how many MB you have left!

[psychomania]

Look at it this way: Why should I pay for the time it takes me to read a page when the page is already downloaded?

This really isn't a discussion for this forum, its a discussion from many years ago when time based charging was practically abolished.

If your network has a forum you'd be better off discussing it with them on there.

[farby]

@missmouse - BTW there is already a thread started by you and marked as solved on the same subject.. and as mentioned there there are 3rd Party applications available to trigger an Alarm which can be customised when you reach the download limits in terms of MBs..You need to check the compatibility with your device as you haven't mentioned..