Unlimited Confusion

Three's new INQ1 phone is pretty clever - I'll be reviewing it in next month's issue of Shopper (255). It supports tethering (using your phone as a modem) out of the box - when you plug it into your PC via USB, it pops up with an application with a big green "Connect" button.

Along with the INQ1, Three promotes a Texter deal that costs £15 a month and offers unlimited texts and Internet. I thought this was a pretty good package, and assumed at first that the "unlimited Internet" part of the deal would cover data usage when using the INQ1 as a modem. However, reading the small print, I noticed the following:

"unlimited internet and Facebook access is Internet Max add-on (1GB) - phone browsing only, your data usage does not include using your phone as a modem"

So how much would I be charged if I mistakenly assumed that tethering was part of the deal? The small print doesn't say. Neither does the 40-page PDF that I downloaded, that includes all of Three's pricing plans. It required a call to customer service to find out the cost: £2 per MB. That's a hefty charge for not reading the small print.

Now, we all should know by now that offers of "unlimited" Internet usage are misleading. "Unlimited" usage deals are in all cases covered by a "fair usage" policy, and what constitutes "fair usage" varies widely from operator to operator. Last time I looked, Orange had a "fair usage" allowance of only 256MB per month, whereas T-Mobile is rather more generous, allowing 3GB. In Three's case, "unlimited" means 1GB per month.

There is an option to add a mobile broadband package to the INQ1's "Pay Monthly" deal - the cheapest is 1GB for an extra £7.50 per month. If you go over this 1GB allowance, you'll only be charged a measly 10p per MB. So, let’s recap: if you don’t read the small print and assume “unlimited Internet” applies to using your phone as a modem: £2 per MB. If you go over the limit on your £7.50 per month, 1GB mobile broadband package: £0.10 per MB.

Admittedly, accessing the Internet is a different experience via a mobile phone than it is via a PC. The likelihood is that data usage will be much lower on the phone than on the PC, as mobile pages are cut-down and use fewer images. But surely, if users are made aware of the “fair usage” limits, it should be up to them to decide how they use the Internet?

I spoke to Three and they assured me that “at the point of sale we will always advise customers planning on using the phone as a dongle to buy one of our Broadband Add-ons”. (This is assuming a customer will a) ask for advice and b) buy the INQ1 in a shop, rather than online.) “We do everything we can do safeguard against our customers getting bill shock [sic] and as such we make sure we let them know via text message when they're nearing their fair usage allowance.”

Surely "bill shock" could be avoided altogether by simply charging the same amount for excess data usage on all price plans in the first place? Personally, I'd like to see a network operator that respects the English language, and doesn't try to redefine the word "unlimited".