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Since there is no such thing as unlimited anything in this universe, it would be unreasonable to assume that "unlimited" is anything but an exaggeration. Then

by kijin 13y ago

Since there is no such thing as unlimited anything in this universe, it would be unreasonable to assume that "unlimited" is anything but an exaggeration. Then we enter the same territory as any other case where technically incorrect claims are used in the media. Like GB vs. GiB, or "hacker" vs. "cracker", or "hashing" vs. "encryption", you name it. When we nerds complain about people who fail to make such distinctions, it makes no difference whatsoever and they'll just look at us funny. Because vagueness and exaggeration are integral features of natural language and it is we who are being anal retentive about it. In common parlance, "unlimited" is just a shorthand for "we're going to give you a large amount that we believe will be more than enough for the vast majority of our users, and we're not going to set up a specific limit, but we reserve the right to put up a limit if you do something that anyone with common sense should realize is an abuse of our policies". This works just fine in a world where people actually use common sense. You instinctively know that backing up your 200TB iSCSI array would be an abuse of Backblaze's policy, just as you know that grabbing a hundred napkins at the local McDonald's every morning and using it for all your personal hygiene needs throughout the day would be an abuse of McD's napkins-are-free policy. As long as everyone only uses as many napkins they need to wipe the ketchup off their fingers, McD's can continue to offer free "unlimited" napkins. Typically, the actual quality of service and quantity of available resources does not depend on whether or not the service advertises "unlimited" something. Rather, it depends on the quality and integrity of the people who provide the service. A typical EIG-owned web host with an "unlimited" plan will kick you out if you use 100GB of bandwidth. YouTube, on the other hand, will happily let your homemade full HD music video consume 10PB of bandwidth.

ghshephard 13y ago
You've come to the crux of the matter - but I think this is a battle we can win. I was recently in BC, Canada, and I was purchasing a SIM for data use, and was told that it was, "Unlimited for 3 days". When I asked them "How much is unlimited" - I expected to have to dance back and forth a bit before getting an answer, but the sales rep instantly said, "4 gigabytes." I then noticed on the brochure that I got from them, that the plan clearly was listed as, "Unlimited data over three days up to 4 gigabytes" I guess that could be considered winning half the battle. Even better, though, is Singapore - where there is no concept of "Unlimited" with Singtel - word never appears anywhere. You purchase data packages with very clearly listed time and data amounts. And, if say, you want to use 100 GB - then you go purchase 14 GB for S$25, 4 times. Couldn't be more straightforward.

by kijin 13y ago

ghshephard 13y ago

You've come to the crux of the matter - but I think this is a battle we can win. I was recently in BC, Canada, and I was purchasing a SIM for data use, and was told that it was, "Unlimited for 3 days". When I asked them "How much is unlimited" - I expected to have to dance back and forth a bit before getting an answer, but the sales rep instantly said, "4 gigabytes." I then noticed on the brochure that I got from them, that the plan clearly was listed as, "Unlimited data over three days up to 4 gigabytes" I guess that could be considered winning half the battle. Even better, though, is Singapore - where there is no concept of "Unlimited" with Singtel - word never appears anywhere. You purchase data packages with very clearly listed time and data amounts. And, if say, you want to use 100 GB - then you go purchase 14 GB for S$25, 4 times. Couldn't be more straightforward.