What does Unlimited mean?

advent1122

Now to you and me unlimited means just that - having no limit.
So how come I am reading a T-Mobile advert which says "unlimted free weekend texts" and in the small print it says "limited to 3000 texts in a weekend".

Granted you must be some sad, lonely individual if you send over 3000 texts in 48 hours but surely this is misleading advertising.

Bt is the same... UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS....unless you download too much in which case they choke your service.

Mini rant over.

mymatebob

Indeed.

Like the competitions which promise free beer(for example) for a year and then you win 365 cans. That would not last many people I know anywhere near a year.

uktim29

I'd disagree because you'd never be able to achieve the maximum amount of texts sent unless you wanted to prove it wrong just for the sake of it by sending 1 letter text messages.

There are 1440 minutes a day. You get 1500 text messages to send a day. Thats more than 1 a minute. But you need to sleep, this send the total you'd need to send to reach the limit nearer 2 a minute. But then you need to eat, go to the loo, drink, get distracted umpteen times. You'd never be able to do it unless sadly trying to prove it wrong by sending 1 letter text messages.

So I do dispute your rant because technically you wouldn't actually run out of text messages.

Just a quick edit as I've suddenly thought. Just like with writing a long time your wrist hurts your hand would suffer in exactly the same way sending constant text messages, this would massively slow you down.

Therefore you would never reach their limit therefore I think they can actually justify using the word unlimited for sending 3000 text messages over 2 days. Unlimited when giving a time period can also mean you'll never get near the limit set for that period of time.

mymatebob

uktim29 wrote: »

I'd disagree because you'd never be able to achieve the maximum amount of texts sent unless you wanted to prove it wrong just for the sake of it by sending 1 letter text messages.

There are 1440 minutes a day. You get 1500 text messages to send a day. Thats more than 1 a minute. But you need to sleep, this send the total you'd need to send to reach the limit nearer 2 a minute. But then you need to eat, go to the loo, drink, get distracted umpteen times. You'd never be able to do it unless sadly trying to prove it wrong by sending 1 letter text messages.

So I do dispute your rant because technically you wouldn't actually run out of text messages.

Surely the point is that unlimited does not equal a number, no matter how high that number is?

uktim29

If you won't run out of something every weekend doesn't that mean you have an unlimited amount? People assume unlimited doesn't have a figure attached but if it's impossible to achieve a quantitative amount over a set period of time it's the equivalent of unlimited, therefore unlimited wouldn't be an unreasonable word to use.

Logic would suggest you could agree with the argument if the limit could be reached but if it couldn't then theres no argument.

So why argue? Unless you love being pedantic.

vetfred

You're signing up on the basis that you agree "unlimited" means no more than 3000 texts per weekend.

I don't like the way companies play with advertising, like "unlimited" broadband but they have fair usage terms etc attached to all these deals - you have to read exactly what you're agreeing to rather than be taken in by specific phrases, no matter how misleading they may seem. One thing I really don't like is the use of unlimited when they don't disclose what would be fair as there's no way of knowing.

If you've 3000 friends in you address book and you sent the same text to them all (albeit unlikely) I guess that's your quota used unless that counts as one text with 3000 recipients, no idea. I'm not savvy with mobiles so don't know what they're capable of.

pinkshoes

I don't think they should be allowed to use "unlimited" when it really isn't.

3000 texts isn't hard if you have many people in your phone book. I think it's to stop companies sending out texts to 10,000s of clients (i.e. those obnoxious ones you get from car companies offering deals, or music download places) and thus "abusing" the policy.

We need "unlimited" broadband at home for my partners work (lots of data transfer), so it's a bit annoying having to always read the small print to check that it really is unlimited!

mymatebob

uktim29 wrote: »

If you won't run out of something every weekend doesn't that mean you have an unlimited amount? People assume unlimited doesn't have a figure attached but if it's impossible to achieve a quantitative amount over a set period of time it's the equivalent of unlimited, therefore unlimited wouldn't be an unreasonable word to use.

Logic would suggest you could agree with the argument if the limit could be reached but if it couldn't then theres no argument.

So why argue? Unless you love being pedantic.

It is not impossible to achieve although it may be difficult ergo it is not unlimited.

Logic would dictate that unlimited means unlimited not capped.

mustrum_ridcully

Wait a mo didn't the ASA slap the wrists of some broadband company for using the term unlimited when there was actually some fair use limit?

To quote the OED - "Unlimited - Not limited or restricted in amount, extent, or degree"

grayme-m

uktim29 wrote: »

So why argue? Unless you love being pedantic.

This statement is just too ironic.

Brooker_Dave

advent1122 wrote: »

Now to you and me unlimited means just that - having no limit.
So how come I am reading a T-Mobile advert which says "unlimted free weekend texts" and in the small print it says "limited to 3000 texts in a weekend".

Granted you must be some sad, lonely individual if you send over 3000 texts in 48 hours but surely this is misleading advertising.

Bt is the same... UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS....unless you download too much in which case they choke your service.

Mini rant over.

There has to be some limit otherwise some bright spark will think of a way of abusing the offer.