I was getting my car cleaned today. While they were busy giving it a shine I had a snoop around the App Store using O2's 3G connection. I dound a free app of interest do I hit the install button button.
It's the first time I had downloaded anything of a significant size to my iPhone over 3G. I had no idea what to expect, but the hype surrounding 3G had set my expectations high. Too high in fact... It took about 5 minutes to download a 3mb app from the iTunes App Store.
I could only find out the app file size when I got home and checked it out on iTunes via my PC. No where on the Wireless App store does it tell you the file size. Also, there's no way of stopping or pausing the download once it's started. That's a pain in the arse. After 4 minutes I was ready to ditch the download.
So this got me to thing about O2's excessive data policy. I checked out the O2 site and the O2 iPhone Terms and Conditions states...
-start-
O2 Web Daily allows you unlimited use of Telefónica O2 UK Limited's Edge/GPRS/ 3G networks (as applicable to your handset), for personal internet use via your mobile phone. All usage must be for your private, personal and non-commercial purposes. You may not use your SIM Card:
in, or connected to, any other device including modems;
to allow the continuous streaming of any audio / video content, enable Voice over Internet (Voip), P2P or file sharing; or
in such a way that adversely impacts the service to other O2 customers.
If O2 reasonably suspectsyou are not acting in accordance with this policy O2 reserves the right to impose further charges, impose network protection controls which may reduce your speed of transmission or disconnect your tariff at any time, having attempted to contact you first.
-end-
Well that's as clear as mud! I wanted to know an actual limit per month. 10mb? 50mb? 100mb?
So I contacted O2's iPhone customer service number (dial 2302 from your iPhone -a free call) and asked the woman "What's your 3G limits per month"?
She said it is was unlimited. I explained that I had just downloaded a 3mb file over 3G from the itunes App store, and that if I did that every day I would rack up 90mb of data usage every month. "Would that be considered excessive usage"?
Her reply, "Umm. No. I don't think so".
I asked, "What if I did 5mb per day, 150mb per month"?
Her reply, "It's unlimited"
So, there you have it. Are you any the wiser? No? I'd didn't think so. but she did finish by saying that they wouldn't just cut you off if they deemed you to be using too much data. They would call you first to discuss your usage.
