Cellular data usage in Mauritius

29 August 2015 by S. Moonesamy

Mobile internet access

An Internet Service Provider in Mauritius is currently advertising a Prepay package for mobile internet access. The package is valid for a month and the price is Rs 149.

Excess data usage

There is a charge for Rs 2.50 per MB when the cellular data usage exceeds one GB.

Cellular data usage

Cellular data usage depends on the applications which are running on the mobile phone and what the user is doing. For example, streaming a video will consume a large amount of data. It is recommended not to stream videos on a one GB Prepay package to avoid excessive charges.

Background Apps

Apps running in the background can automatically refresh information. The downside is that the information refresh will consume cellular data. It is recommended to disable Background Apps Refresh.

Email

An email without large file attachments will consume less than 100 KB of data. A user should be able to send and receive 10 emails a data without going over the one GB data usage limit. It is cheaper to send an email instead of sending a SMS.

Viber

Viber is an application for making free calls over the internet. Viber consumes approximately 500 KB per minute. It may be possible to make ten minutes of calls a day without going over the one GB data limit

Web browsing

It is better to reduce web browsing until the user can estimate how much cellular data will be consumed on average. A visit to www.google.mu consumed 1267 KB.

Searching for a local company and accessing its web site consumed 5963 KB. Searching for an exchange rate consumed 1452 KB. Reading an article on a news web site consumed 11139 KB. Looking up directions using Google Maps consumed 12297 KB. Watching a movie trailer on www.youtube.com consumed 14427 KB. Watching a music video consumed 19125 KB.

Avoid exceeding the cellular data limit

The cellular data limit of one GB could easily be exceeded if the user waits until the end of the day to determine how much cellular data has been used. In order to avoid that it is recommended to review the cellular data usage regularly throughout the day and estimate which tasks are consuming a lot of cellular data.