New Misleading GPRS Pricing From Vodafone
Wireless carriers are clearly known for overhyping offerings and having problems understanding “reasonable” pricing models. The latest example of both of these things is Vodafone. They’re now offering much better GPRS data pricing in the UK, but it’s not great, and it’s misleading. They have a few different plans. The first one, for “low data users” requires you to pay money each month for absolutely nothing. You’re paying them for the right to use data – at an extra fee. That’s nice. Then, there’s the “unlimited” use plan, which is only “unlimited” if you use less than 150 MB of data. Now, 150 MB of data is an awful lot of data, but it certainly seems like a “limit” to me. As networks get faster, and phones get to access more real internet content, 150 MB will go by in no time at all. It would appear to be false advertising to claim “unlimited” and then give you a limit. Furthermore, there are also very high roaming charges if you happen to go off-network. These charges might not be obvious to many users who will assume (it’s “unlimited”, remember?) that they’re in good shape… until they get the bill. Plans like this do little to encourage usage, and do lots to anger customers. If they want to price this way – then, fine. But make the limitations much more clearly stated, and don’t use false labels like “unlimited”.
Filed Under: 2.5g
