Can anyone who uses card readers at craft fairs ect. tell me how much data it uses and when? Does the card reader use the internet the whole time it is on (ie, the length of the fair) or just when a transaction is being processed? And do different card readers use different amounts of data? I don’t have a smart phone so I’m going to have to get a sim specially (and use my Dad’s cast off smart phone) and I need to know how much data I‘m going to need (I’m only going to use it for card transactions, not as a phone).
There is the option of using my brother’s phone as a wifi hotspot but I don’t want to have that as the first option as it means I’ll have to take the phone off him for a day!
I use the izettle reader and it only connects to the internet while the payment is being processed. I keep the app open on my phone, but it’s not using any data while it’s not processing. I honestly have no idea how much data it uses to process each payment, but it can’t be much.
Make sure the smart phone you’ll be using is compatible with the app - I had to upgrade recently as my old android phone was no longer compatible with the new app version.
I have an izettle as well and it uses 1 MB approx per transaction (I have a data allowance so checked), I don’t know about any of the other makes.
As Christine said check that the phone can run the app - iZettle certainly have a comprehensive list of which phones they have tested their app on.
Thanks for the replies! I think I’ll get a pay as you go sim and see how that goes data wise (1p per MB shouldn’t break the bank if it is 1MB per transaction!). The next job I have to do is find out if the phone I have (Samsung Galaxy Fame running Jelly Bean) is up to date enough or get another second hand phone that is/can be updated to run the app of which ever card reader I choose (at the moment that is looking like Sum Up). iZettle’s list unfortunately doesn’t have my phone on, though other Galaxy’s are on there with the same OS so I might chance it.
