More and more cell companies are advertising unlimited service packages these days. Here’s one from a company you have never heard of:
Their “unlimited” plans range in price from $39.99 to $69.99. So do they really give you “unlimited” service?
*MOUSE PRINT:
From their FAQ:
Q: Is there a cap on the unlimited program. A: Yes, the unlimited Local & LD Plans are capped at 10,000 minutes per month.
Q: How many text messages can I send per month? A: Unlimited Text Messaging is capped at 30,000 per month.
Q: How much data can I use on the unlimited program? A: Unlimited MMS, Internet & Data is capped at 5 Gig
Ten thousand minutes of talk time sounds like a lot, but it really is only about 5.5 hours a day. Some business people may in fact be on their phone longer than that. At least they disclose the actual limits of their “unlimited” service, unlike most of the big brand name cell companies that make you hunt through their terms and conditions to find out that their unlimited service is subject to (sometimes unstated) limits.Â
Realistically, while most users won’t go over these limits, that should not give a company the right to call a service unlimited when it is not. From a consumer protection standpoint, no company should advertise “unlimited” service unless it actually is that.
I agree – it should not be considered ‘unlimited’ – it should be disclosed properly in the main print of the advertisement so we can compare so called ‘unlimited plans’. There should be protections in place in order to prevent network “abuse” by hackers, spammers, and others who may abuse the system like tethering their phone as a modem to their laptop, or using the phone to propogate spam texts. Other than that, I fail to see how this plan can be advertised as ‘unlimited’.