When is an unlimited data offer not an unlimited data offer? When it’s a commercial tariff, sometimes, and so it proves again with O2’s latest deal.

Quoth the press release: “O2 UK today announced that on 1 October 2007 it will launch three new unlimited data Bolt Ons for Pay Monthly and Pay & Go customers who want to make the most of internet services on their O2 phone.”

It’s not that this offer is a rip-off. At £7.50 including VAT per month, the price will be right for many consumers and business users. 

The catch, as ever with “unlimited” deals is that the deal is not unlimited at all and the spectre of the “fair usage policy” has risen again. In this case, these always-flexible terms mean 200MB per month, or, by O2’s reckoning, 1,400 web pages.

Sorry, but as anybody who has worked a hard shift will tell you, that’s not unlimited.

Much more attractive is the data card offer of £30 per month, including VAT, that this time suggests “fair usage” is above 3GB per month.

Deals on wireless data are better than ever and prices will very likely fall further. Just remember that “unlimited” and “fair usage” are, even by marketing standards, malleable terms.

27 Sep 2007