Suit challenges 'unlimited' data claims

Posted on 11 Aug 2010 at 10:59

The days of 'fair use policies' on so-called 'unlimited' data connections could be at an end, if a US lawsuit against T-Mobile succeeds.

The suit, which ConsumerAffairs reports has gained class action status, makes the claim that adverts run by mobile provider T-Mobile in the US claimed it offered "Unlimited Web & E-mail" for smartphone users - only for a 10GB per billing cycle limit to be enforced once users were tied into a contract.

The lead plaintiff, Trent Alvarez, states that his two smartphone contracts were signed after an assistant "expressly represented" that the plan on offer was truly unlimited - which was proven untrue when Alverez started receiving warnings that his use of more than 10GB of data meant that the speed would be dropped to slower than that of a dial-up modem.

Alverez claims that this limitation makes the contract "essentially useless for anything other than making or receiving phone calls and text messages" once the 10GB 'fair use' allowance has been used up.

Fair usage policies are commonplace in both broadband and mobile contracts: because 10 percent of the users take up around 90 percent of the capacity, limitations are put in place so anyone unfairly hogging the network can be restricted. The suit argues, however, that these restrictions should be made clear at the point of sale - and that using the word "unlimited" in advertising is extremely misleading.

The suit seeks monetary damages for those mislead into signing a contract with T-Mobile, and an injunction against advertising 'unlimited' plans again.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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