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Vodafone add 'unlimited' Internet to new price plans!


Guest PaulOBrien

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Guest Paul (MVP)

Yowza!

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As Facebook, Bebo and eBay top the popularity charts on Vodafone Mobile Internet, Vodafone UK has today changed the way it structures its price plans to include access to the internet and email on their mobile as an integral part of the monthly price plan.

The move means that pay monthly customers will no longer need to buy an additional internet bundle for £7.50 but instead every plan will automatically include internet access. The new plans will give Vodafone customers reliable and fast unlimited* access to their favourite social network sites, email and the whole of the internet when out and about in the UK. Vodafone customers will now have even greater confidence to browse the mobile internet without the worry of additional charges, no matter what monthly plan they choose.

Price plans start at £25 and customers who select a £40 or higher price plan will also for the first time have the choice of unlimited texts, unlimited landline calls or unlimited Vodafone to Vodafone calls.

“Our customers want simplicity and services that are easy to select, buy and use. Today with our new price plans Vodafone customers have the confidence to browse for as long as they need with no extra costs when checking their e-mail, visiting their favourite social networking sites or making a final bid on eBay,“ said Ian Shepherd, director of consumer for Vodafone UK. “This will make Vodafone not only the network of choice for voice and text but also the internet. And what’s more, all customers who visit a store to sign up to the new plan will benefit from Vodafone’s simple two minute set up for email so that they can leave the store up and running.”

Since launching the internet on mobiles last summer Vodafone has witnessed the growth in consumers’ appetite for email, instant messaging, and social networking as well as more general services such as Google search. Favourites for customers include quick access to Facebook, MySpace or Bebo to share pictures and news, YouTube to check out videos on the move, and fast connections to eBay to make that last minute bid.

*subject to a fair usage policy of 500MB / per month

OK so it's got a 500MB FUP, but to get half a gig of data bundled into your price plan for free is pretty blooming awesome IMHO!

Any Vodafone customers on here?

P

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Guest xmob

This is pretty cool! I was just coming to the end of a Voda £50pm contract and was considering moving away to someone with better data offerings. Now, if only Voda would do a better selection of WinMo devices. <_

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Guest 1straven
Awesome! With any luck orange will match it on the Orange Value Promise, too...

its amost worth asking them. lol

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Guest stevewright

Damn! Just signed up to 12mths with O2 paying £7.50 for their "unlimited" (200MB) package.

Would have gone with Vodafone just for this!

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Guest WILBUR
Damn! Just signed up to 12mths with O2 paying £7.50 for their "unlimited" (200MB) package.

Would have gone with Vodafone just for this!

hold your horses.... this comes as part of a new tariff refresh - guess how much more expensive the new tariffs are than the old ones? About £5...

so - headline actually is "vodafone increases unlimited browsing limit from 100mb to 500mb and drops price from £7.50 to £5" - not actually exciting after all...

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Guest Boinng
hold your horses.... this comes as part of a new tariff refresh - guess how much more expensive the new tariffs are than the old ones? About £5...

so - headline actually is "vodafone increases unlimited browsing limit from 100mb to 500mb and drops price from £7.50 to £5" - not actually exciting after all...

Yep, I'm half way through a £20 + £7.50 contract and was thinking darn... but actually, the equivalent new contract would only be £2.50 less; and presumably the old £7.50 bundle's limit is now up to 500mb too.

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Guest chucky.egg

Is this "new customers only"?

I'm on a £35/m deal + £7.50, so if the prices have gone up by £5 that'll be £40 now and I'll get free text messages!

Anyone got a link (being lazy, but I'm just on my way out ATM)

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Guest brokenm

I just can't get over the fact that people (the consumer) accept unlimited means "500MB"!?! How is that even close to unlimited? Vodafone and all companies that advertise "unlimited" but impose 'usage limits' should be ashamed of themselves.

I understand and accept why limits have to be imposed but it is obserd that marketers are able to get away with this false advertising. In addition to obvious, using the term 'unlimited' makes it very difficult for consumers to make comparisons of the different providers, unlimited to one provider is 100MB while to another unlimited is 500MB, which really does beg the question as to why they are allowed to market BOTH AS THE SAME SERVICE...go figure.

Another way to look at it is to compare it to a new car warranty. If Ford advertises you can buy the new Focus for whatever and it comes with a 3 year unlimited milage warranty, you get just that. It's not unlimited subject to a 'fair usage' policy otherwise it wouldn't be an unlimited warranty.

Agh now I'm frustrated lol. I say there should be a consumer backlash at marketers who tell porkies!

One last point, then I'm done...the failure by providers to clearly and precisely define what is classed as 'abuse' simply is just another way of imposing a limit on an unlimited tarrif because they are simply retaining the ability to 'choke' your volume as they please by quoting "violation of the fair usage...spew...". Anyway, how can there be too much use on an unlimited plan? Talk about the meaning of life?!?

Edited by brokenm
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Guest hotphil

I think car manufacturers specify that if a car is used for instance as a minicab then the warranty doesn't apply....

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Guest brokenm
I think car manufacturers specify that if a car is used for instance as a minicab then the warranty doesn't apply....

Yes you are right. There is a key difference though which is that it is an EXCLUSION and not a LIMIT. If they advertised as 'unexcluded warranty' then it would be the same.

Which brings me to another thought on the matter. Sorry lol. Instead of using fair usage and abuse clauses why don't they just say unlimited means just that, and use exclusions which would mean that the service is genuinely unlimited. Just like included minutes exclude premium numbers. At least it makes it a level playing ground where things are referred to in comparible terms.

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Guest PayableOnDeath
I just can't get over the fact that people (the consumer) accept unlimited means "500MB"!?! How is that even close to unlimited? Vodafone and all companies that advertise "unlimited" but impose 'usage limits' should be ashamed of themselves.

I understand and accept why limits have to be imposed but it is obserd that marketers are able to get away with this false advertising. In addition to obvious, using the term 'unlimited' makes it very difficult for consumers to make comparisons of the different providers, unlimited to one provider is 100MB while to another unlimited is 500MB, which really does beg the question as to why they are allowed to market BOTH AS THE SAME SERVICE...go figure.

Another way to look at it is to compare it to a new car warranty. If Ford advertises you can buy the new Focus for whatever and it comes with a 3 year unlimited milage warranty, you get just that. It's not unlimited subject to a 'fair usage' policy otherwise it wouldn't be an unlimited warranty.

Agh now I'm frustrated lol. I say there should be a consumer backlash at marketers who tell porkies!

One last point, then I'm done...the failure by providers to clearly and precisely define what is classed as 'abuse' simply is just another way of imposing a limit on an unlimited tarrif because they are simply retaining the ability to 'choke' your volume as they please by quoting "violation of the fair usage...spew...". Anyway, how can there be too much use on an unlimited plan? Talk about the meaning of life?!?

am with you on this one, dont says its unlimited when its not, that really p***'s me off with the Broadband adverts "unlimited broadband for 9.99 month" in the little small print at the bottom of the screen "* 1gig limited bandwidth"

then its not unlimited lol, someone really should clampdown on ISP's doing stuff like that

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Guest Kaiser Wilhelm II

Does anyone know if this applies to business tariffs as well?

I'm guessing not as the old 7.50 for 'unlimited' didn't apply to them, you had to spend a fortune to get a couple of gigs or else just do without. No inbetween.

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Guest FlyFox

I thought the £7.50 "Unlimited Web Bolt On" from O2 no longer had an upper limit? Is there a webpage stating any limit with O2? Can't find it here...?

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Guest Confucious

Unlimited me.ans you can browse and download from the Internet and you are not limited to WAP sites or their portal.

Also 500Mb is a pretty reasonable limit, 120Mb can easily be broken but it's quite difficult to download more than 500Mb, but is it a FUP or a limit? Wasn't it Voda who charged people for going over the limit unlike T who just warn you and will throttle you back if you go over 2 months on the trot?

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Guest woogal

No, unlimited means it has no data limit (you've always been able to browse whatever you like). It's fair use, not a limit, so you'll just get a warning or something if you keep going over 500mb, instead of being hit with a charge.

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Guest Confucious
No, unlimited means it has no data limit

By whose definition? Yours? Certainly not the UK Government's whose official reply is

“The Government is aware of complaints by consumers to the Advertising Standards Authority that some Internet or telephone packages are being promoted as being ‘unlimited’ or ‘unrestricted’ in some way. Qualifying an ‘unlimited’ claim with a fair usage policy in the small print of an ad is allowed as long as it really is fair and not misleading. For example, if 80% of domestic customers fall well within the limit specified by a broadband provider and the remaining 20% fall outside of it, perhaps because they are using a domestic package for business use, then it may be considered a reasonable claim.”
Edited by Confucious
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Guest Boinng
By whose definition? Yours? Certainly not the UK Government's whose official reply is

Well actually, the government does seem to be talking about data limits there (which is the generally accepted definition in this case), not the walled garden/wap-restricted model you've invented.

At the end of the day, most people would reasonably expect a service described as "unlimited internet" to be unlimited, and not involve a quota. These fair usage caps may be perfectly legal (apparently) as long as they're properly explained in the advertising, but they still make a nonsense of the term "unlimited", which in anyone's dictionary simply means "without limits", not "without limits, apart from some limits we've set in the small print".

It's a bit like advertising an apple for ten pence, and then explaining in the small print that it's an orange. Nonsensical, and clearly meant to decieve.

The funny thing is, when Vodafone originally sold me my £7.50 bundle, they made it perfectly clear on the phone that I was essentially buying 120mb for £7.50, there was no suggestion that it was "unlimited" or that the 120mb was merely a "fair usage" cap, and I probably wouldn't have believed it if there was. It's odd that this bizarre marketing speak has since taken over and clouded the whole issue. I understand that explaining concepts like 120mb or 500mb to the average non-savvy consumer may be difficult, but surely it's easier than making these "unlimited" promises they just can't keep?

Edited by Boinng
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Guest Confucious

I haven't 'invented' anything. I was just explaining that 'unlimited' in this case is used to mean unlimited access not unlimited data which ties in with what the Government. ASA etc all say is acceptable.500Mb is, for well over 80% of users (IMHO) effectively unlimited.

I'm not saying I agree with it, just that that is the accepted standard and if it is a FUP rather than a limit then I doubt if many people will actually be bothered by it.

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Guest Boinng
I haven't 'invented' anything. I was just explaining that 'unlimited' in this case is used to mean unlimited access not unlimited data which ties in with what the Government. ASA etc all say is acceptable.

No, what you've quoted from the government certainly doesn't support that. They're not talking about access, they're talking about data, just as the poster you disagreed with was. They're simply suggesting that "unlimited" in the context of data may be fair as long as the amount of data is well above that likely to be used by 80% of the customers. That justification is nothing to do with access, or walled gardens, or wap vs. internet, as you were suggesting.

500Mb is, for well over 80% of users (IMHO) effectively unlimited.

"Effectively" perhaps, and the government obviously agree with that, but it's still literally untrue. A 500mb limit (whether you call it a FUP or not) is still a 500mb limit, and that's not unlimited. Other operators offer "unlimited" internet with a cap of 3GB, so Vodafone's "unlimited" data is limited to just a sixth of that offered by other's "unlimited" internet packages, which are themselves limited in any case - see how silly this is getting?

I completely understand the need for these limits, I'd just don't believe there's any sense to calling a limited plan "unlimited", regardless of the government's weak-headed line.

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Guest Confucious

I'm just pointing out the arguments used by ISPs in the past Vodafone clearly have a * by unlimited and clearly state the FUP. The 'argument' that 'unlimited' should mean no limit on data has been had many times before.

Personally, I have a 3Gb FUP and have very rarely gone above 500Mb. The 100/120Mb limits I have always argued are way to low for 3G speeds but were adequate for GPRS but 500Mb is plenty for most people.

The 'argument' that 'unlimited' should mean no limit on data is not one I care for and will now gracefully bow out to your greater knowledge and agree with you if that's what you want - makes no difference to me. :D

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