In this day and age I'm amazed by the low number of people that use their cell phones to connect to the Internet for email, www access, cheap IM etc

I'm amazed by the number of people that don't use their cell phones to connect to the Internet for email, www access, cheap Instant Messaging (eg. MXIT, Skype, NimBuzz), etc.
Here's a quick guide on how to set up your cell phone for data. Either follow it step by step, or call your network provider - they will send you an SMS that will automatically configure your cell phone for data use:
111 for Vodacom, else 808 for MTN: or 140 for CellC {these calls are free if dialled from your cell phone to your network provider}

Thanks to MXIT for this set-up information: http://www.mxit.co.za/web/downloads.htm
I've modified a few things from their site:
"
PHONE SUPPORT
Some phones are not GPRS/3G compatible. Don't stress, yours is most probably supported.

CONNECTIVITY
Setting up GPRS/3G
Get connected via your service provider's service menu; just follow the simple instructions below:
(It helps to know your mobile's manufacturer and model. Oh and remember, you only have 2 minutes to complete these steps, don't know why)
Vodacom:
1. On your mobile, dial *111#
2. Select option 5 (phone settings) from the menu that follows. (Answer -> 5 -> send)
3. Select option 1 to choose your mobile make and model from a list, or options 2 to have Vodacom identify the phone for you.
4. In both cases, simply follow the steps provided to get the WAP settings sent to your phone.
5. Connection settings will be sent to your phone; save these settings.
6. If any of the above mentioned steps fail, simply retry.
7. Still having trouble? Call Vodacom's call centre on 111 from your Vodacom cellphone or 082 111 from another phone. Alternatively visit a Vodacom outlet near you.
(GPRS/3G can only be activated by the person in whose name the contract was taken out, so some of you might have to get mom or dad's help on this one. Good luck!)

Cell C
1. On your mobile, dial *147#
2. Connection settings will be sent to your phone; save these settings. If a password is requested enter 0000
3. If any of the above mentioned steps fail, simply retry.
Still having trouble? Call Cell C's call centre on 140 or visit a Cell C outlet near you.
(GPRS/3G can only be activated by the person in whose name the contract was taken out, so some of you might have to get mom or dad's help on this one. Good luck!)

MTN
1. On your mobile, dial *123#
2. Select option 1 (phone setup) from the menu that follows. (Answer -> 1 -> send)
3. Select option 3 (WAP).
4. Connection settings will be sent to your phone; save these settings.
5. If any of the above mentioned steps fail, simply retry.
Still having trouble? Call MTN's call centre; dial 808 (contract) or 173 (pay as you go) from your mobile phone. Alternatively, visit an MTN outlet near you. (GPRS/3G can only be activated by the person in whose name the contract was taken out, so some of you might have to get mom or dad's help on this one. Good luck!)

Virgin Mobile
1. When you first insert your Virgin Mobile SIM into your mobile you'll receive an SMS asking you if you would like to accept Virgin Settings.
2. If you reply YES, your settings for MMS and WAP can be automatically downloaded and installed on your mobile.
Do the following to manually request MMS and WAP settings:
1. Go to the 'Virgin Mobile' menu which you will find on either the main menu or applications menu of your mobile.
2. Select 'Virgin Settings' and reply YES when asked if you'd like to download them.
Still having trouble? Call Virgin Mobile's call centre on 123 or visit a Virgin Mobile outlet near you. (GPRS/3G can only be activated by the person in whose name the contract was taken out, so some of you might have to get mom or dad's help on this one. Good luck!)
"


Now that your phone is set up, let's look at some examples of how to use data on your cell phone:
*) I use my cell phone to receive and send email - I use Gmail's cell phone app (http://www.google.com/mobile/mail/index.html) to fetch my home and work emails (create a Gmail account and then change the settings to fetch email from other email accounts).
*) I use my cell phone to connect to the Internet: I recommend Opera Mini (http://www.operamini.com/download/)
*) I use my cell phone to connect to the Internet from home: I connect my laptop to my phone (using BlueTooth or the cable (see here for more: http://handytechtips.blogspot.com/2008/03/forget-about-bluetooth-use-blooming.html). 150MB is sufficient for my email and graphics-less web browsing I have purchased a 150MB bundle (R119 incl VAT per month) and so my "per MB" cost is 79c (there's no monthly ISP fee and it's much faster (I connect over 3G) than dialup). I was paying R79 for TelkomInternet and then paid for duration of calls. I did investigate the Telkom Closer plans but it couldn’t beat the wireless MyMeg150 bundle at R119.
*) I use Instant messaging on my cell phone to keep in contact with my Skype® and GoogleTalk® (as well as MSN® Messenger, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM) contacts: this beats sending SMSs at 80c (or more) each… each instant message costs less than 1c (yes, that's one cent). I have installed Fring (www.fring.com) on my Nokia N70 and my wife uses NimBuzz (www.nimbuzz.com) (her Nokia 6230 doesn't support Fring). I also use MXIT (www.mxit.co.za)
*) I check the weather for various locations using my cell phone: install "Mobile Weather" from http://www.ubahnstation.net/weather/
*) I use Reporo (http://www.reporo.com/rw/register.jsp) to check news headlines

Now that your phone is set up, let's look at the costs:
Setting up your cell phone for internet access is easy - and it costs from 39c per MB up to R2.00 per MB (out of bundle)
You pay for the data sent and received not for the time that you're connected!

Data connectivity is sometimes referred to by the type of connection e.g. GPRS, Edge, 3G or HSDPA. They are send and receive data but at varying speeds (GPRS is slowest, HSDPA is fastest). If there's no high speed connection available, then your phone will step back and use the next slowest connection.
Note: the faster the connection, the faster your pages update (no more frustrating wasted time waiting for the web page to update or the email to load), but the faster your Rands are spent!


Note: graphics use up your bandwidth fast! If you don't really need to see the images on the pages you visit then turn off loading images on your Web Browser (I recommend FireFox (with ImgLikeOpera addon)
See here for more info: http://handytechtips.blogspot.com/2008/03/moving-from-opera-to-firefox.html) or Opera on your PC and Opera Mini on your cell phone). If you need to see an image then right click on it and select the option to "Show image:. This will save you lots of Rands!



The costs:
First of all - remember that you pay for the data sent and received not for the time that you're connected!
1MB is read "1 MegaByte" and is 1 million bytes
1KB is read "1 KiloByte" and is 1 thousand bytes
To calculate the cost: for 200KB at your out-of-bundle rate of R2 per MB: divide the 200,000 data by 1,000,000 and then multiply by R2
I.e. (200,000/1,000,000)*2=R0.40

Typically, a session to retrieve say 10 emails (no attachments) is around 200 KiloBytes and will cost 40c (that's 4c per email)
{Vodacom costs: http://www.vodacom.co.za/services/mobile_data/vodacom_what_cost.jsp}
{MTN costs: http://www.mtn.co.za/?pid=248769, and note that there's a monthly subscription fee}
{CellC costs: http://www.cellc.co.za/content/services/smartdatagprs.asp and note that there's a monthly subscription fee}

Note too that for these bundles, there's a "use it or lose it" policy ie. If the bundled bandwidth is not used up each month then it's lost :(

Note: all costs quoted are for Vodacom unless otherwise stated
The quoted 39c per MB are for the Vodacom "MyMeg One GB" data bundle
All costs are for cell phones operating in South Africa - using your cell phone while roaming in other countries is much more expensive (eg. Vodacom: R17.50 per MB: http://www.vodacom.co.za/services/travel/data_option1.jsp) - rather purchase a local SIM card at your destination and set it up for data.


Note: While your cell phone has a data connection active then your cell phone uses more power - so your battery's power will drain faster.