Andrew Lim
It's thought that Andrew was born with built-in Bluetooth. When he talks, radios make that strange buzzing sound usually associated with network interference and there are rumours that he has an alphanumeric keypad implanted in his back.
Monday 5 November 2007, 12:47pm
O2 makes 'unlimited' truly unlimited
A while back I compared O2's iPhone tariff with other operator's tariffs and pointed out that while O2 said it was offering 'unlimited' Internet access, it actually meant 200MB. Fortunately, it seems that O2 realised the error of its ways and has decided to make 'unlimited' truly unlimited, which should please my co-worker Ian Morris very much.
Here's the statement from Sally Cowdry, marketing director at O2 UK:
"When we announced our new iPhone tariffs back in September we broke new ground for O2, introducing unlimited use of mobile data services and The Cloud's public Wi-Fi network. The iPhone offers the best Internet on mobile experience in the market and we want customers to enjoy this without limit or worries about being charged a penny more.
To avoid abuse of this offering, a fair use policy was set in place at an amount that's miles beyond expected average use. This policy was intended to prevent commercial exploitation or using the iPhone as a modem, both of which would put everyone else's experience at risk.
We now appreciate that having set limits as part of the fair use policy conflicted with our objective of encouraging Internet usage on the iPhone. People don't speak in megabites and customer feedback has been that if we say unlimited, it should be unlimited.
We have listened to our customers and will be lifting these limits so that our original intention -- for you to use your iPhone to your heart's content -- is what it's all about with no confusion or distraction."
Interestingly, the American network operator Verizon Wireless was recently taken to court for its use of the word 'unlimited' and had to compensate customers who misunderstood that there were actually restrictions on their services.
We sincerely hope that the UK courts follow suit and make sure that the term 'unlimited' means unlimited when referring to the mobile Internet. It seems bizarre that networks are allowed to use this term even though they impose a fair use policy. In my mind, it completely contradicts the definition of the word.
Comments on this post
Did you realise, she only states the iphone all through the statement and not other mobiles. The Iphon package was always going to be unlimited, i should know i work for o2. The other "unilimited" package O2 Web, which applies to other mobiles phones besides the iphone i still capped at 200mb. I sell all the time instore feeling guilty. I suggest you give her a call back ask her if the TRULY unlimited packege applies to other loyal o2 mobile who pay £7.50 extra a phone for "unlimited" mobile internet. 3 atleast offers a over gig for £5. I have even reached 2gig at one month without any extra charges
Posted by Will I Am on Mon 5 November, 2007 9:53 PM
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To be fair the the mobile operators, the adsl broadband ISP's started this whole unlimited with these limits thing. I'm not sure what is actually unlimited, and why the advertising standards or ofcom fail to do anything about it?
Posted by Chris on Fri 16 November, 2007 2:30 PM
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02 moved in line with other network operators (Sept 07) by excluding 0800, 0845, 0870 etc from talk plan minutes. In my view, this was unfair. These minutes are not 'free'. We pay for them as part of our tariff. i used to PAY for 1000 minutes & my bill doubled as a result. Companies (including 02) use none geographical numbers as a way of generating more income. So, the next time a company boasts "we only use UK based call centres..." note the number you're calling - you will pay premium rates for this! The Sept' policy change came to me by surprise as a bigger bill. 02 told me that they informed customers by text. In contrast, I received 2 letters from 02 (complete with glossy brochures) within a month of each other. These were simply to market new products! If you want to avoid the 'none geographical numbers' I suggest that you google 'saynoto0870!'
Posted by tez on Sun 4 May, 2008 4:46 PM
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