The availability of one or more resources consumable in operating a mobile terminal and in downloading a file or collection of files to the terminal is reviewed before the file or collection of files is downloaded to the mobile terminal. An estimate is made of the amount of the resource(s) that would be consumed in the download. The download proceeds only if the available resource(s) are sufficient The estimate of the amount of the resource that will be consumed in the download may be based on a prior download of a header of the file(s) to be downloaded. Alternatively, the estimate may be based on the transmission rate of incoming data in combination with one or more of signal strength, bit error rate and the distance between the mobile terminal and a base station from which the file is to be transmitted to the mobile terminal.