Well, almost. Here's the release, also pasted below the break. 'Unlimited' in this context means 500MB a month, but it's now going to be included for all pay monthly customers, i.e. there's no need to pay for an additional Internet bundle. A great move by Vodafone UK and one which simplifies their tariffs significantly.
Read on in the full article.
It's a pity that most UK networks are still selling these severely limited data packages as "unlimited" when in fact they are nothing like unlimited.
DO NOT ever go above your monthly allowance (500MB in this case) as the charges for doing so are purely rediculous. Voda's latest charges are �2 per MB when over the allowance.
The only two UK networks to offer anything like true unlimited data are 3 and T-Mobile, and of these only T-Mobile won't charge you extra for going over the allowance (which is a minimum of 1GB per month, depending on tarrif)
This IS a great move by Vodafone, and will encourage more people onto the internet on their mobiles. Unfortunately however, they are still deploying a Novarra transcoder which ruins mobile web sites with it's poor transcoding and blocking of the user agent string in the HTTP headers which otherwise would enable mobile content providers to detect the handset and deliver the right content.
This is how badly Novarra ruin even a PC-website during the transcoding process: http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/vodafonerant/vodawsj/nigel.html
And this is the developer manifesto that asks transcoder vendors and operators to play fair - and is widely supported by mobile developers and other leading transcoder vendors, but not, noticeably, by Novarra (or ByteMobile).
http://wurfl.sourceforge.net/manifesto/
Very dissapointed by this, a decent data package was well overdue by Vodafone, but now they release this 'unlimited' laugh?
500mb is a lot for many, but little for others. And Vodafone have a history of massive data bills given to the unwary.
By advertising unlimited and still having no warning system as when your near/over the limit, Im sure many people will be caught out.
Does anyone know if this comes into effect for current contracts?
Can someone explain why mobile data costs so very much. My line based ISP charges �2 per gig over base useage and Vodafone charge �2 per meg the logic of which escapes me.
I'm sold!!!
My next contract is going to be with Vodafone.
I'm currently on T-Mobile with web n walk but most people are probably aware in terms getting a good signal:
Vodafone & o2 > Orange > T-Moible > 3
The problem with having poor signal means you get poor data transfer rates too.
This is a great move by Vodafone, but please stop calling things unlimited when they're not! I expect it from Vodafone's marketing department, but not from AAS.
I'm on Three's 1GB/month tariff and that certainly isn't unlimited.
Can someone explain why mobile data costs so very much. My line based ISP charges �2 per gig over base useage and Vodafone charge �2 per meg the logic of which escapes me.
Well, to some extent it is more expensive because mobile phone towers don't have as much capacity as the landline or cable networks which ISPs use.
However, �2 per meg is still far too expensive when you compare prices for similar services from country to country.
'Unlimited' in this context means 500MB a month
So, in terms of the english language, "unlimited" is a lie then? There is actually a very clear limit on how much you can use it?
I cannot understand how networks get away with such blatantly misleading advertising.
Surely the ASA or trading standards should be putting a stop to this?
Here in Finland unlimited does actually mean unlimited, there are absolutely no caps on unlimited mobile data deals. The only restriction I've ever come across is no p2p, but that's hardly a major problem on a mobile phone.
Krisse, it would be OFCOM that usually deals with these sort of things.
And OFCOM has already had complaints about the use of the term 'unlimited', for both ISP and mobile provider claims.
OFCOM has ruled that its ok to use it, as the 'fair use policy' (FUP) seems to be a get around.
It really annoys me, especially when you see people on forums asking what to do about huge data bills.
I have asked the FIT135 team that frequent forums many times to see about initiating some sort of warning for nearing or going over whatever data limit you have. It seems Vodafone dont want to know, presumably because they make large amounts of money from misadvertising.
Pretty poor that existing customers wont get this until they upgrade 😞
Is that confirmed yet?
Is that true? Will existing customers have this offer available to them?
I just spoke to customer services and was told it would be considered a change of contract and would require a new commitment period.
For existing customers, if you already have the data bundle at 7.50 a month, your limit is automatically updated to the 500MB fair use limit.
If you actually want to take one of the new tariffs, with their different amounts of minutes and text too, then anyone who has been on their contract for 9 months or more can change.
Anyone who has been on their current deal for less than 9 months must wait, or make an extra 6 month contract commitment to their current deal, as per the current T's & C's of your contract.
I've just noted that Orange now offer 250mb as part of their panther deal, as an option on the contract rather than a bundle. It's added to the choice of unlimited landline / unlimited txt etc and does not constitute a change of contract.
OFCOM has ruled that its ok to use it, as the 'fair use policy' (FUP) seems to be a get around.
That's a real fudge though, because there's no such thing as a "fair" amount of data on modern mobile devices. Even normal users doing normal things may well go through their limits quite quickly.
The fair use ought to be defined in such a way that if more than a certain percentage go over the limit on an "unlimited" plan, then the limit would have to be lifted until it only covered exceptionally heavy users (say the top 1% or 2%). That way any limits on supposedly unlimited plans would be much closer to the spirit of "fair use".
Hi all,
Sorry but some of what is being said is just wrong i have spoken to VodaFone just a short while ago. I am in month six of a 12 month contract and have been able to change to one of these new plans but had to stay at the same spend level. As i have no use for all my texts or minutes and it is mainly texts that seem to be reduced this is a great deal for me and means on the odd occasions i am away from Wifi i can allow my Seven Push E-Mail to now roam at no cost plus of course can do some browsing if i need to. The other point to remember is that VodaFone are offering the best speeds for HSDPA unlike T-Mobiles that is capped and it's not even worth mentioning 02's slow speeds although i am and not sure about Oranges.
Marc
Good timing for me, at least, as I'll have had my Vodafone contract for 9 months next week 😉
Julie
Fair use is still a bit of a misnomer... it's a 500MB limit, that's it. No fair about it, if you use 500MB you're getting charged for more... it's a limit!
Orange, 3 & O2 are the same, their limits are LIMITS! The only one who's limit is actually "fair use" is T-Mobile, as it states quite clearly in their T&Cs that they will only start to throttle your bandwidth when you exceed your "limit", not charge you more for it.
UK networks are taking the preverbial when it comes to data packages, and none of them are really trying to match WebnWalk, other than 3.
Incidently, using the coverage argument against T-Mobile really doesn't work any longer; especially not so when their site & transmitter sharing deal with 3 comes on stream later this year.
One thing important to note is the tariff change only applies if you are moving down a tariff level. Switching on the same level, or moving up, doesn't incur a penalty.
Does this apply to the pay-monthly sim-only deals?
Everything is pretty much covered here: http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1711
I called Vodafone today to change to one of the new plans but was told that changing plans would add 6 months to my contract. But the 500mb allowance is being applied to exsisting customers who have the �7.50 data bundle already - Like me. So I'm not gonna change anything until the end of my contract period.
In my opinion title of this news is quite misleading reporting. Even the Vodafone press release doesn't argue it's unlimited data, but instead it's "unlimited" with asterisk and there's a clear note of the 500 MB/month limit.
For laptop users 500 MB/month is far from unlimited, and as unlimited is also available, I don't see the point for this kind of title.
Reading through the forum postings in the link above, Vodafone staff have confirmed that it is a "Fair usage" type deal, i.e. you won't be charged the instant you go over 500Mb unless you do it regularly, and they'll warn you first.
This is in line with landline Broadband Fair Usage policies.
Apparently, the 6 month extension to your contract only applies if you transfer to a tariff that wasn't available at the time you took out your original contract. There is no penalty if you transfer to an "old" tariff, and you can still add the �5 data plan to those.
Anybody already receiving 120Mb as part of their contract will automatically get shifted to the 500Mb Fair Usage data plan from this month. If you're paying �7.50 for data as an add-on, you can call them and get this changed to �5, but you have to continue to pay the �5 until the end of your contract. If you stick with �7.50, then you can stop paying the �7.50 for data at any time. Either way you get "Unlimited with 500Mb fair usage" instead of 120Mb and getting charged the instant you go over 120Mb.
(This is a quick summary of the information I've gleaned from reading through the forum postings.)
Julie
Hi Julie,
Sorry but you are wrong as i have just got off the phone from VodaFone who have confirmed that i am now on the new price plan at the same spend pm. This was done in month 6 of a 12 month contract with no extension needed and no penalty either.
All it has cost me is some texts being removed from my plan also i have now been told that just like T-Mobile it is 500mb fair use Policy and the first time i go over it i will get a warning but incur no charges. Only if i then continue to go over the allowance will i get charged anything extra. As the calls are recorded and i have made a Calender entry of the time i feel quite safe it won't cost me anything extra.
Marc
Good news then!
I'm OK here - I am on the old "Anytime 200" tariff (200 shared any network minutes (2 handsets) and no inclusive texts and the add-on �7.50 data tariff.).
As part of this new contracts, I get upgraded to 500 minutes and 200 texts as well as increasing from 120Mb to 500Mb
All for the same money. Now although I take the point about "unlimited" data , I can hardly complain.
If Vodafone were a bank or building society, they'd leave me on the "old" scheme indefinitely.
Hold your horses, i wouldnt get to excited. The current plan which i have with my contract gives you 120mb under the old unlimited internet; However this only applies to wap sites or site designed for mobiles. As soon as you go onto a full blown web page, like that of which you would view on a pc or laptop, you will get charged.
No, thats not right. The 120MB was for anything, and the 500MB is for anything. Check the link posted earlier in the thread, it links to vodafone forums and one of the staff saying the data is for anything.