WAP or GPRS?

hunkiemunkey

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Hello,

Can anybody help me on this topic.

I have just got a Samsung E700 (excellent phone) on 02 Online 100, and I am really confused about the GPRS/WAP thing.

The tariff gives me 500 WAP minutes free and 0.5MB GPRS free.

I use the internet on my phone mainly for browsing ringtoens and look at 02 active stuff.

Should I set my phone to use GPRS or GSM settings? I've read that GPRS only charges you for what you download - so if I just browse the mobile web will it cost me nothing?

Please help me on this

Owen
 
thats true what u just said, also GPRS is about 3 to 4 times faster then WAP
 
Probably better using GPRS, usually works out cheaper than dial-up and its free until the end of February.
 
Hi

Where did you get the O2 online plan and E700? I've looked on their website and you can't get that phone with that price plan...

Thanks
 
GSM stands for Global System for Mobile communications. GSM WAP means you are accessing the Mobile Internet via an ordinary mobile phone line. You are charged for the length of the call according to the tariff you are on.
Wireless Application Protocol is slower than General Packet Radio Service. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is an 'always on', high-speed data service that operates alongside O2 UK's existing GSM network. It means you are charged per Megabyte (MB) of data, i.e. the amount of data you download irrespective of how long you are online.

Regards

DAVE
 
WAP is accessing the internet via WAP servers. So you typically read pages that are cut down versions of web pages or text only pages - really designed for the older phones with text only or limited graphic displays.
So, pages should load quickly thus charges are per minute.

GPRS is for 'proper' web pages. Data speeds are faster so pages load quicker, thats why the charges are per mb and not per minute.

But, you could also access WAP pages over GPRS - in which case GPRS charges apply, but as actual data is less that normal www pages, then this should be quite economical.

500 WAP minutes is quite long - but as transfers are relatively slow and WAP pages may be limited in content, then it may soon get eaten up.

0.5mb of data from a www page is not a great deal when you start downloading images and files etc. So this can go quickly too.
 
Whenever you go to a new WAP page you are downloading information so just surfing also uses your 0.5 MB allowance on the priceplan. On GPRS you're not charged for the amount of time you spend surfing, just the amount of data you use. The other WAP settings are called CSD (HSCSD on orange) where you are charged around 10p per min while browsing or downloading.
 
Average page without any icons is about 3-8 Kb, with icons about 12- 18 Kb. Contract charges are usually 0.75p per kb so average WAP page costs you 2.25 -6p, with icons 9 - 13.5p.
 

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