4 ms·

Years ago, I saw lots of "unlimited" cell phone plan commercials in London, every single one being subject to "fair use". How come it's that common in the UK? I

Years ago, I saw lots of "unlimited" cell phone plan commercials in London, every single one being subject to "fair use". How come it's that common in the UK? I think there are close to none "fair use" plans in e.g. Germany. Why the local differences?

axod 17y ago
I think "unlimited" is just a word that gets people to buy something. It's not economical to actually offer something with unlimited anything. Even if you buy a dedicated server with "unlimited" transfer, it'll be limited by the connection speed - eg 10mbps uplink "unlimited bandwidth" works out at less than 5TB total transfer per month. Same with the magic word "free". You'll often see that used such as "free mobile phone (small print: when you sign up to a contract at £19/month)" etc. Are there true unlimited plans in Germany that aren't subject to any limits then?
- dsplittgerber 17y ago
  For internet at home, I think so. Just checked the legalese for the #1 provider (Deutsche Telekom) here, found no wording relating to "fair use". Internet at home is extremely competitive here, though. Lots of different delivery methods (tv cable, telephone cable etc), unlimited internet + landline calls for ~30 EUR/month or less. For mobile internet, it's a whole different story, obviously. There are all kinds of caps. I think 'unlimited' should mean unlimited. But I agree, introducing caps sadly makes business sense for some companies.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- seles 17y ago
  This is what at&t/apple does with their 'unlimited' iphone subscription. It might be unlimited but they try their best to stop you from using any actual bandwidth (tethering etc.) Google has had to take a lot shit lately from non free speech and non free market ideologies.
sadiq 17y ago
It's largely down to the Advertising Standards Agency refusing to do anything about the term "unlimited". The problem is now that the term is completely meaningless. We found an Unlimited mobile data plan a few months back that had a 250mb a month 'fair usage' allowance. Total rubbish. The next thing to watch for is "fibre optic broadband". The ASA don't see any problem with Virgin Media (a cable company) advertising their service as "fibre optic", despite the fact that the last leg is actually coax. I've already had a couple of non-technical friends wonder what all the fuss is about "fibre optic", since they think they already have it.

axod 17y ago

I think "unlimited" is just a word that gets people to buy something. It's not economical to actually offer something with unlimited anything. Even if you buy a dedicated server with "unlimited" transfer, it'll be limited by the connection speed - eg 10mbps uplink "unlimited bandwidth" works out at less than 5TB total transfer per month. Same with the magic word "free". You'll often see that used such as "free mobile phone (small print: when you sign up to a contract at £19/month)" etc. Are there true unlimited plans in Germany that aren't subject to any limits then?

dsplittgerber 17y ago
For internet at home, I think so. Just checked the legalese for the #1 provider (Deutsche Telekom) here, found no wording relating to "fair use". Internet at home is extremely competitive here, though. Lots of different delivery methods (tv cable, telephone cable etc), unlimited internet + landline calls for ~30 EUR/month or less. For mobile internet, it's a whole different story, obviously. There are all kinds of caps. I think 'unlimited' should mean unlimited. But I agree, introducing caps sadly makes business sense for some companies.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
seles 17y ago
This is what at&t/apple does with their 'unlimited' iphone subscription. It might be unlimited but they try their best to stop you from using any actual bandwidth (tethering etc.) Google has had to take a lot shit lately from non free speech and non free market ideologies.

sadiq 17y ago

It's largely down to the Advertising Standards Agency refusing to do anything about the term "unlimited". The problem is now that the term is completely meaningless. We found an Unlimited mobile data plan a few months back that had a 250mb a month 'fair usage' allowance. Total rubbish. The next thing to watch for is "fibre optic broadband". The ASA don't see any problem with Virgin Media (a cable company) advertising their service as "fibre optic", despite the fact that the last leg is actually coax. I've already had a couple of non-technical friends wonder what all the fuss is about "fibre optic", since they think they already have it.