O2 have decided to move away from selling 'unlimited' mobile broadband data on their new Smartphone contracts that are launching on 24th June with the new iPhone 4, instead favouring set limits giving users bundled options of up to 1GB of data.
"We know that customers are looking for clarity in pricing as too many offers have clauses and catches which are not easy to understand. With the wide range of Internet based services now available on mobile devices we're providing customers with generous clear data bundles that give customers freedom. This enables us to provide a better overall experience for the vast majority of customers and to better manage demand."
Ronan Dunne, (CEO) O2
Unlimited UK Wi-Fi through The Cloud and BT Openzone hotspots is still included along with unlimited text messages. O2 are however running a promotional offer until the 1st of October 2010 which grants unlimited data usage on all smartphone tariffs subject to excessive usage policy. From then on, additional data can be purchased as a bolt on, if required, for £5 for each 500MB. Existing customers on current 'unlimited' data contracts will see no change to their terms where an excessive usage policy is also applied.
| New O2 smartphone tariffs from June 24th 2010 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Minutes | 100 | 300 | 600 | 900 | 1200 | Unlimited |
| UK Data | 500MB | 500MB | 500MB | 750MB | 750MB | Unlimited |
| UK Texts | Unlimited | |||||
| UK Wi-Fi | Unlimited | |||||
| 24 Month Cost | £25 | £30 | £35 | £40 | £45 | £60 |
| 18 Month Cost | £30 | £35 | £40 | £45 | £50 | £65 |
With O2's recently launched campaign to "nobble broadband niggles" and their over(mis)use of the term 'unlimited' it's good to see clarity drawn to new tariffs being launched with clear limits on what data can be used. This could be to the detriment of some users though who may find their previously high usage curtailed. O2 think this will only affect 3% of users though as 97% of O2 smartphone customers use less than 500MB a month. Considering these users will be on a 18 or 24 month contract, this may not continue to be the case as people get further into their contracts at more rich content becomes available for mobile users.
ah, data data everywhere but not a drop to drink... the mobile companies are starting to struggle now, time to get some fibre to the masts? NGA is calling. Iphones are opening up a new world of citizen journalists, audio and videoboos abound. It all takes up data transfer. It all costs money. Are we going to see the end of 'unlimited' (subject to fair usage) ;) at last?