Saturday 24 August 2013

Unlimited? Really?

un·lim·it·ed  

/ˌənˈlimitid/
Adjective
  1. Not limited or restricted in terms of number, quantity, or extent.
  2. (of a company) Not limited.

Synonyms
boundless - unbounded - limitless - infinite


One of my biggest annoyance is the number of phone and broadband companies who offer (in usually BIG type) UNLIMITED* services , the in small type somewhere on the page or brochure often in type that is unreadable to me (I am old and decrepit)  a *subject to fair usage policy which may imply that that they will limit or stop your plan if you exceed that amount.

The problem is that texts and voice time minutes are now almost not bothering about and can be made truly unlimited , but if your text or minutes limits are say 5000 why not say that?   Companies should not be redefining language - that is a euphemism for lying.

I am not going to mention any companies by name , though everyone knows who I work for , and am pleased that at least they are showing plans with defined data amounts that are in your face when you buy it. I admire honesty.

One thing I've recently learned is that 15 minutes browsing on Facetime will use 20MB of data , that's a short time on one app , I could to three or four times that amount on my way to and from work . You can see how that mounts up. People often just see their plans in terms of minutes and texts, not realising that they are actually using data.

Lots of friends including people going abroad (where data can cost £8 a Mb ! 15 minutes of Facetime £160 !! - Downloading a film you'll pay for the rest of your life :) ). Fiona just uses Facetime and The Guardian yet is racking up 1.5 GB a month - in certain countries that would cost  £12000 if my maths is correct.

So next time you see someone offering UNLIMITED* subject to fair usage policy , check it out or ask the person in the shop what it means and get them to put their signature on it.

I think Eddie Izzard's rant on iTune's Terms and Conditions is very pertinent here.


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