5
Feb
2010
T-Mobile’s unlimited Internet is only 1GB – Ridiculous!
By Mike. Posted in Hardware, Maemo, N900, Poor Show, rip off | 3 Comments » |
I recently upgraded my T-Mobile contract to a Sim Only deal where by I get X amount of minutes and X amount of voice calls and unlimited internet usage. I took this option because I bought my phone outright.
T-Mobile were very quick to point out that the “unlimited internet usage” was not actually unlimited but instead capped at 1GB.
How ridiculous?
Ridiculous for many reasons as the phone I recently purchased is totally geared towards the Internet and for social networking (Skype, Gtalk, MSN, Facebook, Twitter, has a full internet browser, access to everything internet related). The Nokia N900 is a mini computer or tablet device with a phone function.
The Nokia N900 is not the only phone offering such features, there are many other phone makes (Blackberry, Apple, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG etc) and models offering fast download speeds (7.2MBit, 10MBit).
T-Mobile bragged that they were streaks ahead of the other mobile ISP’s because they offered 1GB instead of 500MB. All very well, but that is a pathetic statement to make!
I consider myself a heavy Internet data user on my mobile and by that I mean:
- The Nokia N900 is a multi-tasking device, therefore it is possible to open multiple web sites in the real internet browser, which is similar to what you would find on your desktop PC, and it is able to load up all the graphics, video and sounds that are normally present on a website quickly, which obviously uses a lot of data. I regularly browse;
- BBC, Sky News, Engadget, Wired, Netvibes, Youtube, Wilkinsonsworld, Crunchvictims, FT, CMAVision, Gmail, etc.
- On top of that I would have open Facebook, an online scrabble game,
- Multiple Twitter accounts,
- Last.FM scrobbler, or Shoutcast music streaming, or E-Book reader,
- I am downloading a few podcasts on a daily basis,
- Reading and replying to my various Email accounts,
- Instant Messaging through Skype, MSN, GTalk and Facebook (all possible in one place on the N900),
- Blogging on my various websites,
I had a look at my data usage after a week of using the Nokia N900 and it’s up at 450MB. (Doh! after a week). There is no way on earth the 1GB limit is going to last me. I will reach that cap by the end of next week!
T-Mobile already offer broadband via a USB Dongle. They are quite generous in the amount one can download with their USB dongle (£ 10/mth – 4.5 Mb/s – 3 Gb cap). – Check out wifi.co.uk
What they need to realize is that with the new mobile technology coming out with bigger and better devices with lovely large screens and qwerty keyboards, that devices such as the N900 are similar too and / or if not better than a netbook or a laptop with a USB Dongle, since they incorporate the internet technology in the device.
For a Sim Only contract with unlimited Internet at a cost of £15/mth, one would expect T-Mobile to offer a larger download limit!
Come on T-Mobile, please review your Interet download policy!
Mike is A web surfer - formula 1 mad - a married man - a gadget man - an installation & implementation consultant - a gaming man - a website builder - a positive person - a bit of a gambler.
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June 3rd, 2010 at 8:45 am
The concept of “Unlimited” as regards net usage has always been a bit of a misnomer. There has always been a theoretical cap or a bandwidth restriction and according to british law a company can use whatever word they like to describe something as long as they qualify it. I agree it is 100% ridiculous that a company cound theoretically say “Unlimited (fair use policy applies)” and then define unlimited in that policy as whatever they want but thats how its been for several years now. Richard Branson attempted to suggest that “Unlimited” was not used unless it was true but most companies ignore that. Orange and O2 state the specific quantity or 500mb rather than “Unlimited”.
When I first got BT home broadband it claimed to be “Unlimited” but I had reason to consider their upgrade offer and discovered that they had changed that from under me. In short few service providers can boast true unlimited services and none of those are mobile providers. BT Option 3, Sky Max, Virgin and BE(unbundled O2 Essentially) are the few I know of but even they reserve the right to punish excessive users.
Where you are right on the money is that Phones like the N900, iPhone and HTC Desire, Hero are powerful net enabled phones with the processing capability of at the least netbooks and that multi tasking is expected and they are somehow shunted into a backward third place on the broadband scale.
My only advice is these phones also offer WiFi so a cheap home service will allow these devices to access broadband in your home from as little as £5 a month. Use that to download your podcasts and other large email files and you will soon see your mobile usage drop. I know its not as convenient and effectivly adds £5 to your line rental but its all we can do right now apart from haranging the phone industry to give us what they give netbooks.
June 3rd, 2010 at 9:18 am
Cool comment CelticExile…
Wifi in the home shouldn’t cost a thing if you already have broadband and a wifi access point, which I do. When I step into my home, my T-Mobile internet switches automatically to my Sky Broadband / Wifi and internet downloads is then “unlimited”
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:11 pm
cheers guys ive got t-mobile to and i was wondering what happens when you go over the limet and also i like to use my mobile as a dongle when im on holiday because i have a netbook plus my smartphone dosent have wifi