Unlimited
This post is a rant.
Being a tech savvy geek with Asperger’s it’s no surprise that I’ve owned a smartphone for some time. Indeed, the first one I owned was a Sony P800, which was waaaay back in 2002. In those days you used a smartphone as an organiser, and not a great deal more, because this was in the days before data tariffs for mobile phones.
It’s 2010, and I can get my email on my current smartphone. I can browse the web too, and hook things up so my laptop can access the Internet via the phone if I’m out and about without access to WiFI. 3G data makes all this possible, and as is the defacto in the UK, I have a mobile phone plan with Unlimited Data on it for an additional payment of something like £5 a month.
Wow! Unlimited data eh? Doesn’t that sound wonderful. It certainly does to me.
The problem is that it’s a blatant lie! It’s not just my mobile provider that use the lie, all five of the networks here in the UK do it. The headline may say Unlimited Data, but the small print has some weasly words that say something like fair usage limits apply. My current provider make it quite difficult to find out exactly what these fair limits are, and they seem not be alone on this.
I think my limit per month is 750MB. It might be 1GB. It certainly isn’t a higher figure than this. That isn’t a lot of data, really, it’s approximately the contents of a full CD-ROM. I’ve hit the limit a couple of times over the last year.
When you do hit the limit, you instantly get a threatening SMS from the provider, warning you that you may get cut off if you use any more data at all before a given date at some point next month. Try and check your email the next day, and almost the second you fire up the application you get another equally threatening SMS message.
It’s the lack of logic of it all that infuriates me. How the hell do they get away with advertising their data plan as being unlimited when it clearly isn’t?
I know all the providers do it, but really, that doesn’t make it any better, does it?
No related posts.
3 Responses to “Unlimited”
Leave a Reply
eileencogan on February 12th, 2010 eileencogan(Quote)
No, it doesn’t and it’s infuriating, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be nice if business was fair and things cost what they are worth instead of what the market will bear? Playing the game might be the rule of thumb but just because everyone else does it, doesn’t mean it isn’t corrupt.
Rachel on February 15th, 2010 Rachel(Quote)
James, this is just the kind of thing that drives me absolutely bonkers. Unlimited means unlimited, as in “no limits,” as in that’s what the “un” prefix is doing before “limited.” I think I was in the third grade when we learned about prefixes and how they work. Do people not understand their native language anymore?
Anyway, how can fair usage limits apply? It sounds more like *unfair* usage limits apply.
I have to say it. I do. I just do: Do words mean ANYTHING to ANYONE ANYMORE? Or are they just placeholders for “give me your money and lots of it”?
Arghh…
Stephlton on April 1st, 2010 Stephlton(Quote)
I live in the U.S. and they do the same thing here. They ALSO charge you an outrgeous amount for said unlimited package which is why my smart phone was taken far, far away once my mother recieved the bill….beyond infuriating.