Posted: 03rd May, 2007 By: MarkJ
Orange has attempted to simplify its mobile phone data (Internet) rates by introducing new unmetered tariffs. But don't get too excited, there are restrictions:
The new bundles include free evening and weekend browsing for £5 a month, or £8 to be able to browse during the day too. Pre-paid customers can pay £5 for seven days unlimited browsing. The new tariffs come in on 1 June.
Orange is very careful to say that the service is "
browsing" and not "
internet access", leaving it plenty of room to block services it doesn't like the look of.
Its previous unmetered data terms and conditions were pretty clear on what services were frowned upon. "
To ensure the fair allocation of network resources for all customers the offer may not be used for: modem access for computers, internet based streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing and non Orange internet based video."
But, unlike Vodafone,
Orange seems to accept the impossibility of enforcing such restrictions: "
We would discourage any customer from using VoIP through the mobile internet due to the quality of service they may experience. We are looking to launch our own high quality IM service in the next few months which will deliver a far superior customer experience to currently available services."
The Register points out that
Orange may still impose the 1GB per month usage cap as used with previous packages, although the operator was unable to confirm that.