I’m surprised to see the way ISPs and telcos still describe their products so misleadingly, even after the trouble that Talk-talk got into with the ASA about offering free broadband “Forever”. Orange are currently running a campaign that uses the word unlimited broadband in the same breath as “talk” and “texts”. If you go to the website you’ll find that talk is in fact very limited – either limited to just landline calls or just off-peak, on-network mobile calls.
It’s not a good idea to draw people in with false promises. Why do it? It upsets your potential customers just as they are coming in the door for the first time, and makes you look untrustworthy. A few months ago I signed up to a Three mobile contract with their “mobileWeb” add-on. It turns out, they actually meant “mobileWalledGarden”, i.e. you could only access a small set of specially selected sites. I took the handset back and axed the contract. No more Three for me, for now.
I have to say. T-Mobile.. Web and Walk. Proper unlimited and a fairly generous talk plan. (can I have that for free now I’ve plugged them online?)
T mobile is not so unlimited either – here are some highlights from the web & walk Ts & Cs
“…not to be used for other activities such as (but not limited to):
– modem access for computers, internet based video/audio streaming services,
– peer to peer file sharing,
– internet based video download and
– internet based telephony.
If such use is detected, notice may be given, … protection controls may be applied which will result in a reduced speed of transmission.….T-Mobile defines fair use as total UK data use … of up to 2GB per month. T-Mobile may contact customers who exceed this volume… Use of Voice over Internet Protocol and Messaging over Internet Protocol is prohibited … If use of either … s is detected T-Mobile may terminate all contracts with the customer…”
I would defintely say there are some limitations here. I guess by definition then you can’t say unlimited? because that means no limits? doesn’t it? eh?
Yep. Pretty shitty. To be fair, I’ve used it for most of those things and never been scolded. It would be interesting to know if anyone has ever been accused of breaking the T+C’s. It could be either a) they are just keeping it in reserve as a weapon against extreme abuses or b) the lawyers made them put it in and they would back down in the face of any bad publicity.
Similar things happened in the early days of free dial-up and cheap broadband and very few people actually felt the T+C’s bite. As soon as there is any competition in the mobile web market then anyone seen to be draconian well get bad press.
Then again maybe I’m being too optimistic…