Football fans heading to South Africa for the World Cup have been warned by a watchdog group to keep an eye on the cost of their mobile internet use while there.

Consumer Focus says that mobile operators levy huge charges for web browsing on their phones, with prices ranging from £1.25 to £8 per Mb.

That means that uploading 10 photos to Facebook via a mobile phone could cost up to £80, it warns.

Call charges for people travelling outside the European Union are between 80p and £1.50 per minute, and texts cost from 25p to 50p. This compares to a maximum call cost of 37p per minute and 9p per text for people travelling in Europe.

At £1.70 per minute Virgin Mobile pre-pay offers consumers the worst rates for making calls, with T-mobile the most expensive network to use to receive calls from the UK at £1.50 per minute.

Orange and Tesco have the highest data charges, with costs for customers on both networks of up to £80 to upload ten 1MB photos. They are closely followed by T-mobile where the same usage would cost £75.

According to Consumer Focus, Vodafone’s free Passport scheme offers consumers the best call rates and texts. Customers pay a 75p connection fee and then their normal UK rates, while texts cost 11p. 3 UK offers the cheapest data roaming fees of £1.25 per MB.

Nick Hutton, telecommunications expert for Consumer Focus, said: “The watchdog is calling on mobile phone firms to cut their mobile-phone roaming costs and set prices at a similar level to those in the EU.”

Here are Consumer Focus’s top five tips for using your mobile phone abroad:

- Check your rates before you go and ask what add-ons or bundles your mobile phone company offers on calls, texts and data as this could make you considerable savings - Remember that while abroad you won’t be able to use your inclusive minutes, texts and data allowance (except inclusive minutes under Vodafone’s passport service) and will pay to receive as well as to make calls which could add up

- Photos and videos can be expensive to upload on mobiles while abroad so consider other options such as uploading using a computer at an internet cafe or hotel instead

- Consider getting a local SIM card for use in South Africa if you will be making calls to numbers within the country

- If your phone is lost or stolen while abroad report it to your mobile provider as soon as possible as you will be liable for any calls made. Make a note of the emergency contact number for your network and keep this separate from your mobile.