Revolut Mobile Disconnect Heavy Data Users from “Unlimited” UK 5G Plans

Nearly a year has passed since banking and money management app provider Revolut launched its own eSIM based mobile service – Revolute Mobile (here), which is powered by Gigs. But two customers have recently informed ISPreview that their “unlimited” mobile plan has just been “terminated, effective immediately” due to heavy usage.

Just to recap. Revolut Mobile typically offers an “unlimited data, calls and texts” plan for £14.99 per month on a “cancel-anytime contract“, which is competitively priced and also includes 20GB of data roaming in the EEA/US. Customers were also promised a plan that pledges to support tethering, a “maximum” data speed of “100Mbps” and “no throttle“.

However, the provider’s pledge of unlimited data is also subject to a slightly contradictory Fair Use Policy (FUP), which among other things warns customers not to use “excessive or abnormal amounts of data or by causing disproportionate contributions to network congestion (e.g., excessive roaming, hotspot use, uploads, downloads, streaming, or any other form of automated or continuous data usage)“.

The policy goes on to warn that their service is only intended for “personal use” and not “commercial purposes“, before clarifying where they draw the line: “If your unlimited data usage exceeds 150GB per subscription period twice or more in a six (6) month period, we reserve the right to investigate and determine whether you are using data in a way that violates this policy.”

The policy initially suggests that users found to be “using data in a way which Gigs believes is harmful to the network” may result in Revolut Mobile introducing “certain traffic management measures such as reduced speeds or additional charges“, or switching you to a “more suitable plan“. But a little later they also “reserve the right to immediately and without notice deny, restrict, suspend, or terminate the Service for violations“.

The above is relevant because a couple of ISPreview’s readers have now reported being terminated for heavy usage, seemingly without Revolut Mobile first giving them a chance to change. The feedback we’ve seen suggests that these users may have been using between around 200GB and 500GB, so a fair bit over the FUP (one of the users might have gone into TeraByte territory), but whether or not it was fair to disconnect them so quickly is a more complex matter (read on).

Copy of Revolut Mobile’s Customer Termination Email (via Gigs UK)

Subject: Important update regarding your Revolut Mobile subscription

Hi [REDACTED],

We are Gigs UK Ltd. (“Gigs”), the underlying carrier of record that provides connectivity services for Revolut Mobile. We are writing to let you know that your Revolut Mobile line has been terminated, effective immediately.

We have identified that your SIM has been used in a device other than a mobile handset, alongside data usage significantly in excess of what is expected for personal use. This constitutes a violation of our Acceptable Use Policy, which forms part of your End User Service Agreement and applies to your Revolut Mobile plan.

Because this usage falls outside the permitted use for your plan, your Revolut Mobile line has been closed.

What happens next? Although your line has been terminated, you can keep your phone number. Simply give the Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) below to your new provider when you switch. They will handle the transfer for you.

Your PAC: [REDACTED]

Please note that this code is valid for 30 days.

If you have any questions regarding this email or the porting process, please respond to this email.

Yours sincerely,

Gigs Support

Mobile operators with unlimited data plans typically tend to treat their FUP limits as soft caps, which in practice means they’ll often warn customers about their usage first, as opposed to proceeding straight to a disconnection or other service restriction. In addition, the soft caps imposed by other mobile operators tend to be much more flexible than Revolut Mobile’s.

For example, Vodafone’s FUP warns customers about exceeding 600GB per month twice or more in a 6-month period on unlimited plans, while O2 uses a figure of 650GB against a similar approach (EE use a 600GB figure). Suffice to say that this is several times larger than the 150GB+ figure that Revolut Mobile appear to define for excessive usage on their “unlimited data” plan, which may confuse some consumers.

A spokesperson for Revolut Mobile told ISPreview:

“Revolut Mobile plans are provided by Gigs, the electronic communications service provider and owner of the Acceptable Use Policy. To ensure network integrity, Gigs takes action only in cases of severe, network harmful misuse. While immediate action for such instances aligns with standard industry practice, such interventions remain rare and reserved for exceptional cases.”

ISPreview understands that the two service terminations we’ve heard about are currently the only such actions to have taken place. In both cases the customers are understood to have put their SIM cards into dedicated 5G routers, which seems to have been of greater concern to Revolut than the “excess” usage itself, although the provider’s letter does seem to give greater weight to the usage side. 

Regular readers might recall that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has, in the recent past, warned mobile operators like EE (here) to ensure that any plans offering “unlimited data” are directly qualified with the limits expressed in their associated FUP.

The ASA has also previously expressed that unlimited claims are only likely to be acceptable if (here): “the legitimate user incurs no additional charge or suspension of their service as a consequence of exceeding any usage threshold associated with a fair use policy (FUP), traffic management policy or the like“. This is one of the reasons why most other mobile operators tend to be fairly gentle or cautious with application of their FUP limits.