If you were lucky enough to receive a smart phone, iPad or other device with internet access for Christmas, you may now want to use your new gadget when off-Island. It’s great to have access to emails and websites while travelling whether it’s for checking flight times, booking hotel accommodation or hire cars. Using currency converter sites and checking weather reports are also useful when on holiday or travelling on business. But when using your new phone for such purposes it’s important to remember that travelling off-Island will mean that charges for calls, texts and data are higher. For Pay As You Go mobile customers it’s easy to keep track of how much you are spending by dialling *#143# for your account balance. For pay monthly mobile customers there is Manx Telecom’s new Text Alert service which informs customers of how much data they are using when off-Island. A Text Alert will be sent the first time a customer uses mobile data while roaming in any calendar month. When they have used 5 Mega Bytes (MB) of mobile data while roaming in the same month they will receive another Text Alert and further alerts will be sent at 10 Mega Bytes (and multiples thereof). Each time the Text Alert will say how much data has been used. Counters will be reset every calendar month. Another way of controlling mobile data costs is to find free Wi-Fi hotspots which are located in airports, coffee shops, bars, restaurants, libraries and many offices. These provide a good way of minimising data roaming costs but it is important to check your phone isn’t connecting to a mobile network when you think you are using Wi-Fi. If you don’t want to use mobile data, switch off the ‘data when roaming’ function on your mobile phone. It’s important to remember that this function only works when you are outside the UK. When you are in the UK you will need to switch off email accounts and any data services which may automatically update such as Facebook and Twitter. If in doubt, or if you do not wish to incur any mobile data roaming charges, you must remove the Access Point Name (APN) from your mobile device. If you do not know how to do this, refer to your phones’ user guide or manufacturers’ website, or contact your network supplier. To reduce the cost of making calls while roaming it’s worth thinking about whether a call is actually necessary as it may be possible just to send a text message instead. However, a conversation via texting could soon ramp-up your costs. It’s also worth remembering that when roaming, depending on your location, you may be charged to receive an incoming call. To avoid these charges, divert your mobile to voicemail so you can choose when and where to retrieve your voice messages. For more details about how to manage your roaming costs Manx Telecom has produced a leaflet entitled ‘Roaming Information’ which will be available at the Manx Telecom shops in Victoria Street and Strand Street in Douglas or via their website www.manxtelecom.com/alerts If you have received a new mobile phone as a Christmas gift, you may not want to keep your old phone as a spare or pass it on to family or friends. Whatever you do, please don’t throw it away, take it to one of Manx Telecom’s shops in Douglas to be recycled. In both the Victoria Street and Strand Street shops you will find a phone recycling box for your old mobile. By handing in your old mobile you will be helping the environment directly by allowing it to be recycled, and you will be raising funds for environmental projects in the Isle of Man. A donation is received for each phone that is recycled and this year funds from the scheme went to a project to create a Community Woodland at Conrhenny Plantation. - ENDS -