Working with Telus's definition of "unlimited"

[karen]

How are the rest of you managing your data usage so that you don't go over (or don't go over too much) the 50MB limit for 'unlimited' data usage?

I've put in place more spam filtering (should have done that ages ago), limited my e-mail downloads to small headers, turned off attachments, etc.

I can't imagine that I'll be under the limit even if I have 'normal' usage. What do I consider normal?

1) checking e-mail regularly, but not downloading every 30MB or 10MB diagram. I do expect to need to download a few attachments a week
2) ocassionally looking something up on the web
3) a couple of times a month using terminal services to log into a server and do something fairly quick (otherwise I'll go crazy)
4) having 3-4 Messenger chats a week
5) e-mail 3-4 pictures a month, maybe more.

Seems to me that all of that will go through 50MB in a week or so.

If I keep my phone synced when I'm at my desk as much as possible, I thinkt that will cut down on usage, right?

Or should I just expect now that I will be spending an extra $80 a month for my 'abnormal' usage?

Karen

[Jason Dunn]

Isn't it sick and twisted that you're PAYING for this service and you have to be KB-pincher? :roll: Telus is such a pathetic joke - I truly can't think any lower of them.

[karen]

Well, I went to Telus because I had been with Bell for 8 years, then this happened:

1) My old regular cell phone started having problems, so I needed to replace it. I was leaving the next day on extended travel, so I needed to do something this past weekend
2) My contract with Bell expires on Dec 19th, so I knew that I should be able to do a hardware upgrade if I extended my contract with them at the same time, since I was near the end of my current obligation.
3) Go to a Bell World store to see what they had in stock.
4) My local Bell World store has nothing PDAish or Smartish in stock except Treo. Sales rep keeps telling me that Treo is exactly the same as PocketPC and smart phone. I keep saying "not to me".
5) Store rep asks "Are you currently under contract with Bell"
Me: "Yes, but it ends in the next 60 days, so I'm ok".
Bell Rep: "Then you can't change your phone".
Me: Yes, I've done this before near the end of my contract
Bell Rep: Nope, current customers can't get new phones because then they'd just get a new phone for every contract.
Me: But that's how it works - I sign a contract when I get a new phone so that I can save money on the price and you make money on the plan. But I don't have to sign a contract, I can just pay full price and not have a contract
BellRep: No, you can't do that any more. Once you sign a contract you always have a contract.
Me: Uh....no.... What's to stop me from just waiting until my contract runs out, walking in as a new customer and starting anew?
BellRep: Our computers will stop you.
Me: (visions of computers hunting me down): Really? If I want a new phone I have to go to another provider.
BellRep: You can do that, but you can't ever come back Bell.
Me: Good idea....(visions of no more stuipd converstaions with BellReps...) What if I, heaven forbid, just pay for a new contract now and put my other phone on the cheapest plan ever?
BellRep: But then you'd be paying twice...
Me: but I desparately need a new phone - how do I do that?
BellRep: You can't do that, ever.
Me: Sure I can...I'll just walk down to Telus and buy one then, right?
BellRep: BUT YOU"LL HAVE TO CHANGE CELL PHONE NUMBER.
Me: Jee, I dunno, that's tough - I have to choose between a new cellphone number or paying for a phone that doesn't work and I'll never be able to change it.
BellRep: That's right.
Me: (sound of me walking out and down to the Telus store...).

Of course, the BellReb was completely wrong, but if they wan't to have stupid sales people who won't sell me an $750 phone and couple of hundred dollars of accessories, then so be it. I didn't have all day to dicker around and of course, no Bell Reps at corporate work on the weekend to tell them they are stupid.

The final stupidity? I can't change my old phone plan to a North American plan ($80 a month) because I "signed a contract 2 years ago for $40 a month for the local plan and I have to live up to my committments". Do the Bell shareholders know this crap is happening? Two stupid people, one in a store an another in a call centre have cost them, with just one customer, about $1500 in revenue by not understanding their business rules. Multiply that about the hundreds of thousands of customers that call or walk into a store a day and it's a wonder that Bell Mobility makes any money at all.

All in all, I went with Telus because they had the dang thing in stock. Makes a world of difference. Oh, and because I'm working in Calgary and thought I'd find more Telus stuff here than in Toronto or the US.

[karen]

I predict a lawsuit or governmental intervention with Telus using the term unlimited in their marketing materials, but defining it in the small print as 50 MB per month.

While I know that people get upset with Rogers putting caps on broadband usage, their caps are very, very high. We have three users downloading software, exchanging large files, etc. and we never hit even 20% of their caps. So I'm fine with their definition of nearly unlimited.

But if I checked my e-mail every 15 minutes, I'd probably hit 50 MB a day, not a month.

If only class action lawsuits were more prevalent in Canada. Maybe I'd get a free month or two out of Telus.

I believe that the average consumer would not understand just how small 50 MB is, so I believe the Telus marketing materials are grossly misleading. And I believe that the marketing folks at Telus know it is misleading.

And what really bugs me is that their use of UNLIMITED is an insult to my intelligence.

Karen

[Don't Panic!]

I've heard the same thing about cingular in the US. The Unlimited plan has a data cap.

[Ripper014]

Are you sure its "MB" and not "GB"... on my standard plan... I believe that I am expected to stay within about 6GB download... and about 2GB up...

I have not read the fine print... but I know that I am well over 50mb on any given day.

[Carlos]

These days everyone has some sort of limits on their "unlimited" plans. It really pisses me off when marketers redefine common words to suit their needs, and they've all done it.

I'm hoping someone with the right connections gets pissed off enough about this to force the issue and go to court.

In the US, Verizon considers 200mb on their "unlimited" EV-DO plan to be "excessive" usage. They contact the users and talk to them, but at least they don't just send a huge bill. They have chosen to terminate service/contracts with some people over usage that costs them too much. I'm on Sprint now, and we'll see what happens after my first month of abuse.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm hoping someone with the right connections gets pissed off enough about this to force the issue and go to court.

Given that it's happened with hard drives and monitors, heck, someone's gotta' bring this one up in a class-action lawsuit. This is one I'd actually support, because it is a clear deception on the part of the carriers to use a word like unlimited then cap it.