"Unlimited" Data on each network??

phoenixk

Still deciding between the iphone and ditching the frustrating o2 altogether and going for the N97! I hate decisions like this! Damn you o2 :mad:

ANYWAY, I understand that "unlimited" data means different things to different people on different networks.

As far as I understand

Iphone = genuinely unlimited (not planning on tethering or anything so wont be downloading sordid amounts!)

Orange = 500mb

T-Mobile, Vodafone, 3 etc. = all capped too

Is this accurate, and could anyone fill in the blanks as to the limitations on the other networks?

Many Thanks

banger9365

t-mobile not a full cap just limit you only if you go over it a few times

Snakeeyes21

3 have a 1gb cap for £5 they advertise it as 100,000 standard size pages on a phone.
If you usge a different browser like opera mini which compresses the pages before sending them you will get alot more.
The data counter on my phone shows 300,000 bytes (about 0.3mb) for 5 hours use

phoenixk

Snakeeyes, what did you spend that 5 hours doing?

I assume watching videos and things eats up quite a lot but is 500mb generally enough for most people, without really carefully watching the data youre using?

Snakeeyes21

It was just general browsing, going on forums, checking emails, looking on ebay and stuff like that, oh and some mobile gambling, im addicted to roulette :-D i know i shouldnt but it pays my mobile bill :-D
Downloading music tracks takes about 1 - 2 mb each depending on where you get them. i think streaming videos takes up quite alot of mbs.
500mb should be enough aslong as you dont go OTT on the downloading side of things.
Just remember most networks except 3 have a lag in when your usage is updated, with 3 its updated nearly instantly, you cant check spacific data usage but if you think your using alot you can check my3 every 10 minutes to see if your being charged so you dont get any nasty shocks by the delay

mrochester

Three has a 1GB fair use policy. Once you reach that, you start getting texts telling you to stop using the service, otherwise you might get cut off. In reality, you can use up to 2GB before they really do cut you off.

Jakg

T-Mobile (at least for the G1 on Combi packages) is FUP'ed to 3GB.

jeffmasson

vodafone are the worst how the hell they get away with advertising unlimited when they start charging you if you go over 500mb i don't know.

at least three just send anoying text not charge more:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I HATE VOD

phoenixk

So Vodafone's limit isn't that good then!

http://www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk/Brands/Nokia/Nseries-Multimedia-Phones/sb489/n443/p12765.aspx


Shame that, because the deal at the link there looks very tempting!

I'll be royally hacked off though if I find the 500mb to be pretty restrictive

LeeSouthEast

Why and how they get away with calling it 'unlimited' is beyond me. I can confirm the 1gb 'cap' with Three is soft, and 2gb appears to be the 'hard' limit. They don't mind occasional tethering in that though.

peregrin

Well to be honest unless you are using the thing as a replacement for a computer, or tethering (which is against most T&Cs), it is essentially unlimited for a large percentage of users.

I don't really get how people are using 1Gb+ on a smartphone. Even when I had an iPhone 3G I never used more than about 100Mb a month and I thought that was a lot!

I imagine in time, like the fixed broadband market, networks will start referring to packs by download limit rather than "unlimited", e.g. Orange refers to their pack as "500Mb for £xx" rather than "unlimited* data for £xx". which is the better way of doing it.

But until then, an average phone browsing data pack costs between £5 and £7.50 which seems like pretty good value for money to me and a data allowance of between 500Mb and 1Gb seems like about the right figure to me, given the cost and the fact that it isn't fixed broadband and costs are higher.