Orange Fails To Impress With 750MB Data Limit
6:25 am, November 2nd, 2009, Giles Turnbull
O2 has had exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in the UK for a couple of years, but now its rivals are lining up to start selling it too. The big question is: will any of them offer a better deal?
So far, the answer seems to be “No”.
Orange has published its tariffs and they include this entry in the table:
So, what does “unlimited*” actually mean? It means: “Fair Usage policy of 750MB/month applies.” Oh.
This use of the word “unlimited” to mean “actually limited to an arbitrary figure that we decide and tell you about in footnotes” is not new in the UK. Lots of internet service providers have been offering similar “unlimited” bandwidth for years now. Woe betide your bank account if you stray further than the limit that actually applies to your unlimited account.
What’s more, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, a body with responsibility for checking that advertisers don’t try and con the public, said in a ruling earlier this year that an ad for a Blackberry deal with “unlimited” data which was actually limited to 250MB/month was not in breach of its codes. (Although it did say that the ad should have included the limit as a disclaimer, which it failed to do in the first instance.) (Thanks to Phil Gyford for pointing that out.)
As much as O2 might have annoyed customers over the last two years, it hasn’t imposed a data limit. It does have an excessive usage policy, which looks like this:
… but it doesn’t actually pin down “unlimited” to a particular number. Speaking personally, I’ve found this truly unlimited data plan has been one of the greatest assets of owning an iPhone to date.
Posted by Giles Turnbull in News, iPhone | Comment on this article
The same in Italy, the world “unlimited” is used by carrier TIM but the limit is 5 GB with this high price monthly subscription (180 euros)
http://www.tim.it/consumer/o69808/tariffa.do
No carrier (TIM, Vodafone, 3) in Italy has a real “unlimited” Internet browsing.
Fabio, on November 2nd, 2009 at 6:34 am
Does Orange have The Cloud also? That’s a big deal for UK iPhone users – There are a decent amount of hotspots for usage. I’d imagine % coverage of 3G might rival this, but we’ll see. Initial figures don’t seem to show too big a rivalry. Diehard Orange carrier users get to have the iPhone, but it won’t likely shift too many to Orange.
Tom, on November 2nd, 2009 at 6:59 am
750MB? That’s even worse than O2 Ireland, where you get 1GB/month
longsilver, on November 2nd, 2009 at 7:14 am
In Germany, “unlimited” means you have either 300MB, 1GB or 5GB, depending on what you’re paying. If you use more, they’re throttling down to 64 kbit/s, which is no fun at all.
accolon, on November 2nd, 2009 at 7:54 am
O2 has the Cloud and BT openzone hotspots for use on it’s unlimited plan which I have found to be very good. The one thing on the BT openzone ones is that it only works if it’s an actual BT hotspot. If it’s say a Swisscom one you can’t then select BT openzone and log in for free with your iPhone.
Unlmited has no real meaning anymore for Telco’s, but to publish it “Unlimited*” and then have to add “*750mb” is just wrong.
Michael, on November 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 am
What a HUGE disappointment the Orange prices are. In fact it’s worse than that – the Orange tariffs are effectively identical to O2’s UK pricing. There is no competitive element at all, there is no better deal for customers – it’s a fix.
Having said that, the Orange deal is actually worse because of the usage limits. Many potential iPhone buyers (including O2 customers like myself) have been waiting for the ‘Orange Effect’ and here it is – a complete waste of everybody’s time.
The iPhone is a beautiful and seductive thing and I’d like one – but now both UK providers are charging their customers the best part of GBP1000 before you even switch the thing on! No thanks – and shame on you Orange.
Airpower, on November 2nd, 2009 at 10:40 am
Doesn’t the wording of that excessive usage policy (2nd bullet point) expressly forbid both the iPlayer and Skype, even over WiFi? I know in reality they may look the other way, but I don’t like the idea they can just point at the contract any time they like.
Tim, on November 2nd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Has anyone tried paying their bills with checks for an Unlimited* amount of pounds? At the bottom of the check you can include in fine print: “*Fair Usage policy of 5 quid/month applies.”
Scott, on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 am