In theory, the best deal around in the UK for a mobile phone contract is currently being offered by the mobile virtual network run by supermarket chain Tesco – for a flat monthly fee of £30 the advertising offers you “unlimited” calls, text and data. That's an attractive package, especially for those of us on a budget. It might have a lot of small print, but unlimited is where the industry should be heading. Let me explain...
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Another reason I'm glad to have left rip-off Britain.
In Luxembourg we get unlimited for �30/month with a "fair-usage" 25GB cap 😃
Over here in Romania, for 5 euros you get 500 MB for internet sites and unlimited browsing of Vodafone Live!, after which its 0,48euros/MB. If you get an internet modem you get 8GB of data for 22 euros after which your speed decreases to 128kbps.
Orange is somewhat better as 500MB/month cost 6euros, and after that it costs 0,6euros/50MB.
There's no unlimited data though, even if any MB left after one month will be added to the next months total.
Even if data is only unlimited on internet modems at least it really is unlimited, even if the speed goes down to 128kbps after a few GB per month.
Yes, there are reasons why carriers are afraid of "unlimited" plans, but they shouldn't be allowed to advertise obviously limited plans as unlimited, it's just false advertising. The regulator needs a kick in the head.
Isn't it great now, a carrier is offering me 300 free texts per month instead of 100. Sounds great until I remember I used to send about 20 texts per month, and guess what? I STILL send 20. So the amazing generosity of the carrier hasn't made the slightest difference to me. I uses about 20 minutes of calls too. So screw you inclusive minutes contracts, they are a ripoff.
Same for browsing. I spend most of my mobile internet time connected to other people's WLANs so data for me is unlimited. I would still be pushed to hit about 50MB per month according to my counters. So, �30 per month from Tesco would be stupidly expensive. Virgin do 30p per day, so about �9 per month data. T-Mobile do �2.50 per 5 days, which is a good deal because you can just switch it on when you need it.
The answer is to use ASDA. PAYG 8p per minute calls, 4p per text. Internet 20p per MB.
My phone costs about �5 every two months to run, so for me the whole thing is filthy cheap. Rip-off Britain? Not in my case. You just need to be savvy and not just accept whatever deal.
In India, I pay Rs. 350 a month (as per the current conversion rates that comes to around 5 euros) for unlimited data. No capped limits and data is completely free whether its surfing on my phone, downloading or hooking up the phone as a modem and surfing through the notebook. The only downside is we are still limited to EDGE / 2G speeds (although 3G is not too far away).
I hope the same rates stay when 3G comes 😃
I think the fear is justified. With unlimited data I would instantly quit my cable internet access at home and would use another sim card in my notebook for internet. Currently with WiFi at home and at the office I do not even get close to my 250MB limit. With Windows getting updates through the 3G connection this would change dramatically.
"One network is going to open the floodgates and just go for it as a marketing campaign."
Oh no they won't. They are having a hard enough time keeping up with usage already. The main goal is to keep things running, rather than making the situation worse.
In Aus, we have 1gb a month for 20 bucks (prolly about 10 pounds?) from 3 (hutchinson). I would've thought they'd have similar deals over there? Unlimited <> 125 mb a month!! That's a scam.
Come to Finland and get real unlimited data. I am loving my N86 and iPhone running unlimited data.
In Bulgaria - 5 GB / 15 Euro / Month
In "Nokialand" we pay for the speed instead of the GB . 35euros for 5mbits/s
Where in Nokialand? Are you talking about Finland? Sonera has unlimited data for 14.90 Euro/month.
I doubt you are never going to get unlimited data plans because mobile operators will loose too many sales on mobile dongles. If you give us unlimited data or even 3gb a month, mobile dongle sales will fall and everyone will start connecting their mobiles over bluetooth to their laptops, netbooks and even pcs. I would happily pay another �10 month to get true unlimited data plan.
D4n958GB wrote:I doubt you are never going to get unlimited data plans because mobile operators will loose too many sales on mobile dongles. If you give us unlimited data or even 3gb a month, mobile dongle sales will fall and everyone will start connecting their mobiles over bluetooth to their laptops, netbooks and even pcs. I would happily pay another �10 month to get true unlimited data plan.
Obviously you have never been to Finland my friend. We have unlimited data. In fact, I took everyone from the State Department off of landline (unless they really wanted higher speeds) and had them all get either a dongle or a 3.5G capable phone for their data needs. I have plenty friends that no longer have home phones and use only a cell phone connected to their laptop or desktop for their Internet needs. Sorry to say but maybe in your country, you will not see unlimited data but in other places it exists.
The point is, it's not about whether we ever will get true unlimited contracts, it's the fact that many contracts are advertised as "unlimited" when they are clearly not. It's the misrepresentation, bordering on the illegal, that's the issue.
I have a T-Mobile unlimited contract (in Holland), and as far as I'm aware, it really is unlimited. However, the main problem is the speed. My E90 can handle 7,2Mbps HSDPA but the maximum speed I get is 128Kbps, which is a bit pathetic. You can pay extra for a higher speed (256Kbps I believe), but there is a data-cap; if your data consumption exceeds a certain amount (1,5GB?) then the speed drops to the lower speed for the rest of the month. To be fair to T-mobile, this limit is well publicised, but it does seem like an odd restriction...
Patcatuk says,
Don't forget about tmobile UK. I just upgraded a week ago to an HTC hero on flext 35 o get L.170 to spend on txt, voice, mms, etc for L.35 a month with 1gig allowance, then a pay an additional L.5 to increase that to 3gig with permission to use the sim to tether to pc. And if you co over allotment there is no charge just the speed drops. Just make sure you don't abuse the your usage month after month and there are no charges or permanent drop on speed. Another L.10 increases allotment to 10gig
The working is that it is a fair use policy and the limit only comes gets you noticed if it is consistently burst. Going over occasionally won't be a problem. For 99.9% of users never get anywhere near the limit.
? Im in the UK
Use 3 as my data provider.
GBP 5.00 per month unlimited data
malerocks wrote:In India, I pay Rs. 350 a month (as per the current conversion rates that comes to around 5 euros) for unlimited data. No capped limits and data is completely free whether its surfing on my phone, downloading or hooking up the phone as a modem and surfing through the notebook. The only downside is we are still limited to EDGE / 2G speeds (although 3G is not too far away).I hope the same rates stay when 3G comes 😃
Which operator you're using? I'm on Airtel prepaid with the Net-on-phone (NOP) plan at Rs. 99 per month unlimited WAP based services and a max 3 MB at a time download cap. Of course, tons of workarounds to that but Google Maps, Youtube etc. don't work. The Rs. 400 per month Mobile Office plan is truly unlimited internet, with no caps.
Waiting for the Rs. 95 (something around 1.3 EUR) unlimited data plan by TataDOCOMO to come to my state now. 8)
In Israel all three operators give real unlimited (no conditions) data plans for about 29$ and 5gb per month for 21$. What is interesting, that you can choose the data plan not on the phone, but on given for free 3g usb dongle, which you can connect anywhere. Here is the small revolution, because at the end this kind of unlimited internet is seriously cheaper then the one provided by telephone or cable company, almost the same speed (hsdpa everywhere) and mobility. Most of the people use inet only slightly, so no big problems with the traffic. And the numbers of defectors from cable internet to "mobile" are climbing every day judging media.
I think it's stupid that on Orange (although they're slowly learning to advertise data as a key part of a contract) you have to pay �8/month for 80MB data.
I'm sure the network could handle a lot more bandwidth demand from consumers but it certainly needs to be upgraded as fast as possible. Once someone tries mobile data they won't go back, be it the Kb's used up by Google Maps, or Facebook or checking the train times - more and more people are using data because feature-phones, smart-phones, they're all moving to be connected to the internet, and quite simply, the networks have to be ready for this.
I also find it a bit funny that they bemoan the lack of profits in the UK's extremely competitive market, or cry out that they're not just a 'dumb pipe' but they are a pipe and they've got a commodity that everyone is going to need. If the mobile network is good for anything, it should be for data!
In the USA we get truly unlimited data for $10 a month on AT&T.
User sapporobaby wrote there's unlimited data from TeliaSonera in Finland. This also applies to the other two mobile network operators DNA Finland and Elisa. The cheapest deal for a 384 Kbits subscription is about 10 EUR/month.
However, it's good to note operators might have data transfer limitations. For example, TeliaSonera's customer agreement says there's a 3GB/month fair-use policy. Although they haven't put this into practice yet. It's just there in case someone would transfer huge amounts of data. They could, for example, set the user on lower priority after that or charge extra fees.
While viisiting Finland recently, TeliaSonera's CEO Lars Nyberg said in the future they may need to move away from 'all you can eat' type pf flat-rate, because "the demand for bandwidth is unlimited". Nyberg did not specify when this might eventually happen or what would the new pricing be like.