Ian Morris
Ian Morris loves televisions so much he's been banned from wedding chapels in Las Vegas for trying to marry them. When he's not romancing technology, he can be found watching American TV. Ian likes roast potatoes, but he doesn't like digital rights management.
Next: Sky wants to withdraw its free channels from Freeview
Previous: Ban plasma TVs and standby, say Tories
Thursday 20 September 2007, 12:27pm
Does anyone actually know what unlimited means?
Unlimited is defined by some dictionaries using the following words: not limited; unrestricted; boundless; infinite. What these dictionary writers are getting at is that something unlimited cannot have any limits. The clue is in the word. So why are we surrounded by companies who don't seem capable of walking to their nearest dictionary and looking up a word?
To pluck one example out of the clear blue sky (ahem), the iPhone launched this week in the UK. One of the selling points is the 'unlimited' data plan you get with it -- but it isn't unlimited at all. What your £35 a month buys you is a monthly limit of 200MB. Okay, you could possibly argue 200MB is a generous limit, but unlimited doesn't mean generous. I'd say that 200MB, being a limit, is the opposite of unlimited.
The same fundamental ignorance about what unlimited means exists with some Internet service provides too. There are a number of them who call their service unlimited, then proceed to limit the service using a 'fair usage policy', or FUP. A FUP means, while you can technically download whatever you want, after you hit an often unspecified limit, your ISP will make it harder for you to carry on, either by slowing your connection down, or just cutting you off totally.
I'd like to rant about this more, but my unlimited* column inches are rapidly running out, so I'll end by saying that if you want to use the word unlimited, at least look it up first.
*Fair usage policy applies, first 300 words are free, every word after that costs £1 in donations to the office cake and beer fund. Terms and conditions apply, see press for details, does not affect your statutory rights.
Next: Sky wants to withdraw its free channels from Freeview
Previous: Ban plasma TVs and standby, say Tories
Comments on this post
I'm wit a fairly unknown Internet provider, offering broadband 'unlimited 2Mb up and down'. The only reason I reside with this company, is because living n the village I do live in there's no other way to get broadband, so it's this or dial-up. They call it '2mb up and down', they call is 'unlimited', but its not. It ranges from 1-2mb down, and 300-800 up. And once I started to download big files quite frequently I got cut off. No warning, just cut off. So I rang them up and they THEN explained it was unfair on the other customers, with is pathetic. Its like false advertising, they shouldn't say they offer one thing, when in fact it really isn't. But I can't really fight it, them or dial up.. no option but them.
Posted by Charlie on Sat 27 October, 2007 11:00 PM
Offensive? Inappropriate? Report this comment
Thats rediculous, I downloaded up to 12GB in one day on my laptop, and one of the main reasons I want an iPhone is so that I can use it as a wireless access point for my laptop while I'm away from home.
Posted by Anonymous on Wed 21 May, 2008 6:23 PM
Offensive? Inappropriate? Report this comment
Go on 3, i have a phone with them but my £5 internet contract NEVER seems to work so i get unlimited internet. Even the three store said not to say anything cos chances are something went wrong and no one will stop it or even know if i downloaded 50gig per month.
Posted by myles on Sun 15 March, 2009 10:08 PM
Offensive? Inappropriate? Report this comment
Articles by Ian Morris
BBC: We may do 1080p on Freeview HD
Crave We've been trying to find out which format BBC HD would use on Freeview for some time now -- we were surprised to learn the service could use 1080p
Philips Cinema 21:9 (56PFL9954H/12)
Review If you're a movie lover with deep pockets, the Philips Cinema 21:9 is unlikely to disappoint, offering a truly immersive way to enjoy films shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio in the comfort of your couch. Its great picture quality and fantastic audio are also complemented by a lovely design and plenty of features
Runco LED projectors Q-750i and Q-750d: Almost certainly excellent, but costly
Crave We love video projectors for watching movies, but the problem is those lamps, which don't generally last very long and cost loads to replace. Now Runco thinks it has a solution, albeit a pricey one
BBC HD on Freeview: Rolling out across UK in 2010
Crave The BBC today announces which regions will get HD services on Freeview. Manchester and most of London will be the first, going live on 2 December
Boxee announces Boxee Box for the ultimate media experience
Crave We've always loved Boxee, but what it's lacked is some dedicated hardware to make it simple for us to have in our home cinema -- that's changed with the announcement of the Boxee Box
Head of BBC HD says 'reducing bit rate has no impact on picture quality'
Crave In an extraordinary interview with Points of View, the head of BBC HD says there's no evidence that reducing the bit rate has a negative impact on picture quality. Sadly, science disagrees
Smart phone OS showdown: iPhone vs Android vs Palm Pre
Photo Hardware's one thing, but the most important part of a smart phone is the operating system running the show, so we compared what powers the iPhone, the HTC Hero and the Palm Pre
BBC banned from using DRM on Freeview HD
Crave The BBC proposed a form of DRM on its HD service some time ago, and was roundly criticised for the move. Now it appears Ofcom isn't up for any copy protection either
