It’s a source of considerable frustration to many mobile phone companies that most people use their phones merely to talk to people.

Over the past few years phones have advanced to such a point that they are almost miniature computers and connection speeds have come on in leaps and bounds.

The industry has built technology to make internet access easy from your handset and is now actively encouraging people to use it.

A lot of hype and marketing nonsense has discouraged people who would like to access the internet when it suits them.

In this feature we’ll cut through the flannel and show how to use your current phone to access many of the sites you use regularly without needing to be tied to a PC and suggest some sites that come into their own on a mobile.

If you want access to faster mobile web services, we’ll explain what you need and how to get value for your money. You really can have the internet in the palm of your hand and using it need not be painful or expensive if you choose wisely.

Welcome to the mobile web
Mobile data is nothing new – chatting on a phone involves the device converting the sound of your voice into data and sending it out. But specific data services such as mobile internet have come into popular use only in the past decade.

At first slow connection speeds and the limited power of phones made data services necessarily crude. But with the coming of faster networks and better handsets with clear, bright screens, the full mobile internet has flourished.

The most common data application used in phones is SMS. But this was originally an engineering function left on the phone and is primitive.

While it’s been adapted to send pictures (as MMS), the latest phones are much more capable. They can access any website, run email and instant messenger software as well as download music, video and games, and even pick up broadcast TV and digital radio services.

The mobile internet can be really useful. Over the course of an average day someone might check to see that their train was on time and get a weather update before leaving home.

On the train into work they could check their Gmail account or go over the latest headlines that have been automatically sent to the phone from news organisations using RSS.

During work the phone can pick up office or personal emails as they are sent and, if your employer doesn’t allow personal internet use, be used to check out holiday deals.

After arranging to meet up with friends after work a quick look at a local map and a route planner is helpful, as is a review of the restaurant itself.

During the trip back home the news and sporting highlights in text and video form could be downloaded and watched or instead they could check to see if any friends were on instant messenger and have a chat.

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