What is the difference between data roaming and mobile data?

Do you own a smartphone and are wondering how to access the internet when you travel abroad or when you cannot get access to Wi-Fi? Well, among a few connectivity options you can explore are either data roaming or mobile data.

There are more than three billion smartphone users across the world, with these statistics expected to rise as the years go by. Similarly, each of these individuals need access to the internet, whether over Wi-Fi or any other connection. With that, a few options that have been developed to help you browse the internet when you are away from the Wi-Fi are mobile data or data roaming. But what really is the difference between the two?

There is not exactly a huge difference between mobile data and data roaming except for the mere fact that data roaming allows your smartphone to access internet services using another network while mobile data allows you to access internet services using the same network.

In this article, we will look at what exactly data roaming and mobile data and explain how they work to ensure that you are able to access internet services.

What is Data Roaming?

Data roaming is a connectivity option that enables your smartphone to seamlessly connect to the internet when you are not in your home network. It comes in handy when you are travelling abroad and are away from your home network coverage range. For your smartphone to roam and successfully access the internet, you would need to turn on both the Mobile Data Roaming option and the Mobile Data option. These two options give you total control over when, how and where you use mobile data.

In as much as data roaming seems a great way to access the internet abroad, it may be a very costly option to work with. Technically, almost all telecommunications companies levy additional charges on all their customers to access any internet services outside their home network so keeping the data roaming feature off has the potential to save you from paying a great amount of money.

When you are travelling abroad, it may be a better option for you to keep the data roaming feature turned off at all times or leave your SIM card at home and use it when you are back. This is quite beneficial because it helps you avoid certain situations where your telecommunication company begins to charge your internet usage even when you have not intentionally accessed the internet. All in all, you may want to consider alternative connectivity options such as using international calling cards when travelling overseas.

What is Mobile Data?

Mobile data simply allows your smartphone to seamlessly connect to the internet when you are unable to access the Wi-Fi. Basically, it is a service offered to you through your cellular service provider that makes it possible for you to use the internet at any time wherever you go as long as you are within the established service range. Mobile data allows you to share multiple media files across the internet on different platforms, send emails and even browse the internet. So, when you are away from the Wi-Fi and would like to upload terrific views of your location on Instagram, then mobile data may just do it for you.

To access the internet using the mobile data feature, you would need to manually turn it on from the network settings on your smartphone. Most smartphone companies have integrated a connectivity setting that allows you to seamlessly turn on and off the Mobile data when you really need to use it. Once your mobile data is turned on, your phone should automatically connect to the internet and all your apps and browsers should be able to access the internet with ease.

However much so, there are certain bandwidth activities that you may want to avoid when using mobile data on your phone such as streaming HD videos on apps such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, streaming music videos on YouTube or downloading apps on the App store or play store, depending on whichever phone you own, because they tend to quickly consume the data you have. It gets even worse if you are not subscribed to any unlimited data plans.

When you switch off the mobile data feature on your smartphone, internet access to any cellular network is entirely closed no matter which one your mobile phone is connected to.

So, what are the differences between data roaming and mobile data?

As mentioned earlier, mobile data and data roaming are simply connectivity options that allow you to access the internet when you are unable to access a Wi-Fi connection. The only difference between them is seen in the networks that they tend to use. Data roaming allows your smartphone to access the internet using a different network while mobile data allows your smartphone to access the internet using the same network.

A Summary Table

Final Thoughts

As mentioned earlier, data roaming can be quite expensive. In as much as the advancement of technology has somehow reduced the costs associated with roaming, you may want to completely avoid them. If you plan to use data roaming when travelling overseas, you need to constantly monitor your data usage or notify your service provider to send a data usage warning so that you don’t find yourself exceeding your data limit. Also, always try to look for Wi-Fi to use wherever possible so that you can save your data. You can also choose to purchase mobile hotspots or a local SIM card to keep you in check.

FAQs

1. Does data roaming drain battery?

Most times it does.

2. Will I get charged roaming when using Wi-Fi?

You will get charged wen the Wi-Fi signal weakens or disconnects and your smartphone begins to use data.