[O2 BROADBAND] Charging for going over cap

tadhgmorris

i joined o2 broadband in nov of 2008. works fine. speed is acceptable to me. the 10 gb limit is workable. HOWEVER HERE IS WHERE THE RIP OFF HAPPENS. i discovered that o2 simply pile on the download usage for you as you are connected. for my activities over a month. which was really minimal downloaded one or two movie files about 750 mb each and a few music tracks they told me i downloaded 22.5 gb of data and a bill of around €240 was coming. this simply couldnt be true. i simply didnt download that much. i am an I.T. specialist and have been using broadband in this country for six years. i know what i am doing. i agreed to pay them €50. however the next bill cycle came round. this time i recorded my usage carefully. in a three day period where i used the broadband very minimally, o2 clocked up for me over 2gb of data download. this is absolutely crazy. impossible for the activity i was using it for. IMPOSSIBLE. i made numberous calls to customer service. they would conceed nothing. i am in the process of complaining to comreg now. basically o2 in my opinion are simply exageratting the downloads that customers are doing. however since i kicked up a fuss the problem has no been rectified. but not retrospectively. what i mean is the download as i check it on the o2 software statistics tab on my pc matches pretty exactly what i check the next day on the o2.ie website in my account. but this was not the case until i kicked up a right fuss. SO BEWARE IF YOU ARE USING O2 BROADBAND. ANY COMMENTS PLEASE.

itisyeah

tadhgmorris wrote: »

i joined o2 broadband in nov of 2008. works fine. speed is acceptable to me. the 10 gb limit is workable. HOWEVER HERE IS WHERE THE RIP OFF HAPPENS. i discovered that o2 simply pile on the download usage for you as you are connected. for my activities over a month. which was really minimal downloaded one or two movie files about 750 mb each and a few music tracks they told me i downloaded 22.5 gb of data and a bill of around €240 was coming. this simply couldnt be true. i simply didnt download that much. i am an I.T. specialist and have been using broadband in this country for six years. i know what i am doing. i agreed to pay them €50. however the next bill cycle came round. this time i recorded my usage carefully. in a three day period where i used the broadband very minimally, o2 clocked up for me over 2gb of data download. this is absolutely crazy. impossible for the activity i was using it for. IMPOSSIBLE. i made numberous calls to customer service. they would conceed nothing. i am in the process of complaining to comreg now. basically o2 in my opinion are simply exageratting the downloads that customers are doing. however since i kicked up a fuss the problem has no been rectified. but not retrospectively. what i mean is the download as i check it on the o2 software statistics tab on my pc matches pretty exactly what i check the next day on the o2.ie website in my account. but this was not the case until i kicked up a right fuss. SO BEWARE IF YOU ARE USING O2 BROADBAND. ANY COMMENTS PLEASE.

a buddy of mine had it for 1 month but moved house so brought it back, he was slapped with a 280 euro charge for downloading over the 10GB.
He also said there was no way he went much if anything over the 10GB limit.

He is not paying it, but 02 have sent threatening letters and are apprently sending the heavies to his old address.

Elessar

itisyeah wrote: »

a buddy of mine had it for 1 month but moved house so brought it back, he was slapped with a 280 euro charge for downloading over the 10GB.
He also said there was no way he went much if anything over the 10GB limit.

He is not paying it, but 02 have sent threatening letters and are apprently sending the heavies to his old address.

No, they're just threatening to send the "heavies". It will never happen.

thebman

Father uses it, never had a problem with it. I think there is probably a bug in the system somewhere though if the above happened.

You should contact O2 as soon as you notice it, before you go over 10GB allowance if possible as then no money will be involved.

I'd refuse to pay any bill since but you should track your own usage to have proof that you didn't download as much as they say you did.

jor el

The only way to monitor your downloads accurately, is with a download monitor, such as DUMeter. Install this and take note of the totals.

If you're just keeping not of what you download, then that's not going to be accurate. Programs that automatically update in the background (even Windows Update) will use the Internet connection when it's there. If you have Windows Update turned on, and it has not been previously updated, then it could uses several gigs quite easily.

You also have to take note of the uploads, as O2's cap counts both upload and download.

Tipsy Mac

At a guess I would say the 2 movie files and a few music tracks were downloaded over a file sharing network and possibly left sharing for days so your download and the uploading (sharing) was quickly notching up the GB's.

watty

Any download causes about 10% upload and vice versa except for UDP video and similar.


Download of DVD from Play.com Tesco or Heiton's shelf often can work out better quality and cheaper in the long run. If heavy P2P users paid proportionally to cost of non P2P data users, they'd find that "free" is very expensive. On many networks the 80% of regular users are subsidizing P2P users. Hence the caps, which also improve contention.

corkstudent

****. How much do they charge a MB? I thought they didn't the first 3 times.

Mrmoe

I have the o2 modem for well over a year and I have generally found them to be accurate with the data usage. However recently I have been paying closer attention to how much I download and upload as appraently o2 do not support the internal volume statistic function in the o2 software that came with the modem. I am now going to use an independent download monitor to keep track of the usage.

foggy_lad

many people have been really taking advantage of o2's generosity in not rigidly enforcing their 10GB cap but are finding they are now being stung with large bills as o2 are beginning to charge the heavier downloaders, you may well have been overcharged by o2 but they will have to explain all the charges to ComReg so if they are legitimate be prepared to pay the bill.

CHW

I use additional software (NetMeter) to monitor my O2BB, and it's always been very accurate with what I can see when I login to check online; if anything, it's always been a bit lower than what I've been monitoring it as (eg., if my software sees 100MB, O2 might report about 90-95MB).

+1 to the poster who mentioned use of P2P; upload is counted towards total usage, so making your ratio look good is going to make your bank balance look bad.

If this hasn't been the issue, then report it. O2 have a very good forum with customer service folk constantly monitoring the threads, and are usually very quick at resolving any issues.

corkstudent

I'm really worried now. When I signed up for O2 broadband, I don't recall anything saying I'd be charged for going over the limit From everyone I heard that you generally had to go over 3 times before it happened. I've gone over by 5 gigs. I'm not even sure how.

Will I definitely be charged? This is my first time downloading and the reason it went over was probably because I was down for Christmas. This is actually my Dad's connection.

I don't know what to do at all now They should give warning. This is really unfair. I'm panicing now, a bill of 100 euros for downloading 5 gigs is insane. What about people who don't even know how to watch their limit? actually I didn't either until I'd gone over it.

jor el

corkstudent wrote: »

I'm really worried now. When I signed up for O2 broadband, I don't recall anything saying I'd be charged for going over the limit From everyone I heard that you generally had to go over 3 times before it happened. I've gone over by 5 gigs. I'm not even sure how.

It's in the terms and conditions, as well as being all over the O2 website.

corkstudent wrote: »

Will I definitely be charged? This is my first time downloading and the reason it went over was probably because I was down for Christmas. This is actually my Dad's connection.

Ask O2.

corkstudent wrote: »

I don't know what to do at all now They should give warning. This is really unfair.

Penalising people who over use the service, impacting on other users experience, is not unfair.

corkstudent wrote: »

I'm panicing now, a bill of 100 euros for downloading 5 gigs is insane. What about people who don't even know how to watch their limit? actually I didn't either until I'd gone over it.

They tell you how to monitor your usage when you sign up. It's not O2's fault if your Dad was the one who signed up, and you were the one using it. You also knew enough to think you could over use the service 3 times before being charged, so you cannot claim ignorance on this.

corkstudent

My god I hate sniveling corporate apologists.

Exactly how bad "overuse" is not a definite thing. You act like I was fully aware I was committing a cardinal sin. I was certainly under the impression that it was not majorly penalised, therefore the usage was a guideline, and not a definite measure. I wasn't intended to go over the limit every month.

Given there seem to be relatively few people with O2 Broadband in the area, I'm hardly going to impact their service greatly, and quite frankly it should be up to O2 to implement more realistic measures. I wouldn't mind my speed being limited if I went over a certain limit.

These charges are still unfair and insane. Do you think if I was impacting other people's service, the money would go to them? Nowhere was I told the charge for going over, certainly.

jor el

corkstudent wrote: »

My god I hate sniveling corporate apologists.

Thanks, but I suffer fools gladly.

corkstudent wrote: »

Exactly how bad "overuse" is not a definite thing. You act like I was fully aware I was committing a cardinal sin. I was certainly under the impression that it was not majorly penalised, therefore the usage was a guideline, and not a definite measure.

Read the FAQ, if you want to use the service. It's a guideline in your opinion, which is wrong. O2 impose a defined cap, of 10GB a month, beyond which they can apply various charges, or measures to curb your usage. Being under an impression means nothing.

corkstudent wrote: »

I wasn't intended to go over the limit every month.

corkstudent wrote: »

From everyone I heard that you generally had to go over 3 times before it happened.

No, just the three times then, was it?

corkstudent wrote: »

Given there seem to be relatively few people with O2 Broadband in the area, I'm hardly going to impact their service greatly, and quite frankly it should be up to O2 to implement more realistic measures. I wouldn't mind my speed being limited if I went over a certain limit.

How do you know how many people are using the service in a area that could be 10's of square km? How do you know you didn't impact on them? It's up to O2 to implement whatever measures they want themselves, which are surely what they think is best for them and their customers, or do you think they are going out of their way to deliberately annoy their customers?

corkstudent wrote: »

These charges are still unfair and insane. Do you think if I was impacting other people's service, the money would go to them?

The charge is there to prevent you from abusing the service, not to compensate others.

corkstudent wrote: »

Nowhere was I told the charge for going over, certainly.

You also said it's not your's, so why would you be told anything?

watty

Also the operator makes much less money, about 1/400th per connection second* or less with mobile Internet Data compared to phone calls.


(Of top of head guess based on 3G codec datarate vs 3Mbps data. AMRC 3GPP voice codec is typically less than 8kbps ).

Cabaal

corkstudent wrote: »

These charges are still unfair and insane. Do you think if I was impacting other people's service, the money would go to them? Nowhere was I told the charge for going over, certainly.

Thats not for your to decided, at the end of the day nobody forced you to sign to the service and agree to its terms and conditions.

The T&C's cover these charges etc, O2 are doing nothing illegal

corkstudent

Cabaal wrote: »

Thats not for your to decided, at the end of the day nobody forced you to sign to the service and agree to its terms and conditions.

The T&C's cover these charges etc, O2 are doing nothing illegal

"Nothing illegal" doesn't mean it's ethically right, or that it isn't generally dodgy.

Out of interest the british one doesn't have these at all:

4 What about excessive network usage?

There is no limit on the monthly network usage. However if we feel that your activities are so excessive that other customers are detrimentally affected, we may give you a written warning (by email or otherwise). In extreme circumstances, if the levels of activity do not immediately decrease after the warning, we may terminate or suspend your Services.

http://www.o2.co.uk/termsconditions/broadband

I see no results for "gig" or "meg".

It's still an unfairly large charge, I could have to pay over a hundred euros which I can't afford. This doesn't add up; if 10 gigs of daya is 20 euros a month or whatever, why is half that so much more?

It is overcharging, and is trying to catch out heavy downloaders. There was no alternative to O2 broadband in our area. It's great to see the level of sympathy here. We simply can't afford to pay that much.

This is an insane level of charge. There's also no reason the british one should have no limit, but the Irish one is subject to insane overcharging.

watty

It costs them about 400x the cost of phone calls per second for Internet data. I'd rather say the cost of SMS is extraordinary as they charge about 200x or more than that costs. SMS cost them nearly nothing.

It's an expensive system designed for short bursts of Internet data like phone call duration, not broadband usage, It shouldn't be called broadband. It is indeed quite low capacity.

The real issue is lack of government action and 5 year late response to rollout of BB by eircom due to poor regulation. UPC are working hard to fix years of neglect and under-investment in cable. They of course can only upgrade cabled areas (ex chorus/NTL) to BB, but unlike the Mobile it's real broadband.

corkstudent

watty wrote: »

It costs them about 400x the cost of phone calls per second for Internet data. I'd rather say the cost of SMS is extraordinary as they charge about 200x or more than that costs. SMS cost them nearly nothing.

Can I see something to back this up? This doesn't explain how they're offer 10 gigs for a certain price, and the price suddenly way increases after that limit. Also, the fact that there is no such limit in the UK.

It's unfair either way. If congestion is that big an issue, and I certainly haven't experienced it to be so, they should just limit the connection speed after a certain amount.

corkstudent

jor el wrote: »

How do you know how many people are using the service in a area that could be 10's of square km? How do you know you didn't impact on them? It's up to O2 to implement whatever measures they want themselves, which are surely what they think is best for them and their customers, or do you think they are going out of their way to deliberately annoy their customers?

I have never experienced congestion issues when engaging in light use. I can't be the only person download anything.

The charge is there to prevent you from abusing the service, not to compensate others.

or do you think they are going out of their way to deliberately annoy their customers?

My god you are naive. Just look at all the 3 bull****. No company here gives a **** about the customers since nobody does anything if someone is ripped off.

corkstudent

tadhgmorris wrote: »

i joined o2 broadband in nov of 2008. works fine. speed is acceptable to me. the 10 gb limit is workable. HOWEVER HERE IS WHERE THE RIP OFF HAPPENS. i discovered that o2 simply pile on the download usage for you as you are connected. for my activities over a month. which was really minimal downloaded one or two movie files about 750 mb each and a few music tracks they told me i downloaded 22.5 gb of data and a bill of around €240 was coming. this simply couldnt be true. i simply didnt download that much. i am an I.T. specialist and have been using broadband in this country for six years. i know what i am doing. i agreed to pay them €50. however the next bill cycle came round. this time i recorded my usage carefully. in a three day period where i used the broadband very minimally, o2 clocked up for me over 2gb of data download. this is absolutely crazy. impossible for the activity i was using it for. IMPOSSIBLE. i made numberous calls to customer service. they would conceed nothing. i am in the process of complaining to comreg now. basically o2 in my opinion are simply exageratting the downloads that customers are doing. however since i kicked up a fuss the problem has no been rectified. but not retrospectively. what i mean is the download as i check it on the o2 software statistics tab on my pc matches pretty exactly what i check the next day on the o2.ie website in my account. but this was not the case until i kicked up a right fuss. SO BEWARE IF YOU ARE USING O2 BROADBAND. ANY COMMENTS PLEASE.

How did you get away with just paying the 50 out of interest? What did you say?

foggy_lad

corkstudent wrote: »

How did you get away with just paying the 50 out of interest? What did you say?

have you contacted o2 to see if they are going to definitly charge you for going over their advertised 10GB cap? they may waive any excess charge if you undertake to adhere to the terms and conditions in the future

jor el

corkstudent wrote: »

It's still an unfairly large charge, I could have to pay over a hundred euros which I can't afford. This doesn't add up; if 10 gigs of daya is 20 euros a month or whatever, why is half that so much more?

They haven't actually charged you anything yet though, have they? You're going on about how unfair this is, and there absolutely nothing there yet. You need to cop on to yourself first of all, and then take stock of what's actually happening.

Even if there is a charge, which you can't afford, it's your own fault for not checking out the penalties in the first place. Also, since you admit you thought you'd get away with breaking the cap 3 times, before being charged, you were aware of penalties, but choose to ignore them.

corkstudent wrote: »

It is overcharging,

It's not over charging. Over charging would be saying it's 1c per MB, but charging you 2c per MB. They told you, up front, what they charge, and so far, they haven't actually charged you anything. That's undercharging.

corkstudent wrote: »

and is trying to catch out heavy downloaders.

It's designed to curb heavy use, since that kind of use can be detrimental to a 3G data network. Data usage taxes the network quite heavily, and as such, they like to keep it down as much as possible. A punitive charge, is an effective way of doing that.

corkstudent wrote: »

We simply can't afford to pay that much.

Then don't go over the cap.

corkstudent wrote: »

I have never experienced congestion issues when engaging in light use. I can't be the only person download anything.

Eh, what?

corkstudent wrote: »

My god you are naive. Just look at all the 3 bull****. No company here gives a **** about the customers since nobody does anything if someone is ripped off.

I'm naive, because I understand the business model, and accept it for what it is? Wow, that's a definition I was previously unaware of. I would have thought the definition if naive would be closer to expecting a company to allow you to breach the terms of your contract (that you were aware of, and accepted by using the service), three times, before any kind of penalty be applied. Businesses are usually so forgiving and nice about that sort of thing, aren't they? How dare O2 stomp all over the little guy like that. You should write a letter to the king of your village about it.

Also, Three have an unsustainable business model, that is far over subscribed, and at an unrealistic price. It was marketed at the wrong audience, and for the wrong purpose. This is completely different to O2 charging, or in any way penalising, for going over the cap.

O2's business model, is not as flawed as Three's, and their penalty system, is far more forgiving too.

corkstudent wrote:

Can I see something to back this up? This doesn't explain how they're offer 10 gigs for a certain price, and the price suddenly way increases after that limit. Also, the fact that there is no such limit in the UK.

O2 factor in the usage of up to 10GB in their monthly price, because they have to allow you some usages, and they've decided 10GB is enough. In truth, it would be more than enough, if the service was used as intended, i.e., not broadband. They also don't make a whole lot on this, as the cost of delivering 10GB of data across the network, is a factor of hundreds of times larger than making phone calls, or sending SMS messages. They don't want you to go over this limit either, which is why, rather than simply disconnecting you, they put a heavy penalty in place, so as to discourage you.

You cannot compare the UK and Irish markets like that either. Firstly, the UK customer base is approximately 30 times larger than the Irish one. Next, availability of real broadband in the UK far outweighs that in Ireland. DSL availability is approaching 99%, along with cable and fiber being far more available. As such, the demand for 3G Broadband is nowhere near as much as in Ireland, and with demand and heavy use, come restrictions.

corkstudent

Even if there is a charge, which you can't afford, it's your own fault for not checking out the penalties in the first place. Also, since you admit you thought you'd get away with breaking the cap 3 times, before being charged, you were aware of penalties, but choose to ignore them.

"Appeal to Force", and "Appeal to Consequence". Please learn some basic debating skills before I have to put up with more of that drivel.

I didn't even purposely go over it either way, I just thought it wouldn't be bad to do so. You are casting right and wrong as entirely black and white here, with no minor levels. As far as I was concerned the "rule" was a guideline. I already said this, but as you ignored me, it's pointless. Enjoy your overly simplistic worldview.

It's not over charging. Over charging would be saying it's 1c per MB, but charging you 2c per MB. They told you, up front, what they charge, and so far, they haven't actually charged you anything. That's undercharging.

Argh. People like you are so what's wrong with this country. If a shop states that they're selling a product for twice it's normal retail, it's STILL a rip off. By your logic, the idea of being ripped off could not possibly apply to any kind of shop.

This brainless forum of capitalism is partly why prices are so high here to begin with.

Cabaal

corkstudent wrote: »

"Appeal to Force", and "Appeal to Consequence". Please learn some basic debating skills before I have to put up with more of that drivel..

Funny your being so pedantic about the use of words given your incorrect usage of rip-off

rip⋅off
   /ˈrɪpˌɔf, -ˌɒf/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [rip-awf, -of] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun Slang.
1. an act or instance of ripping off another or others; a theft, cheat, or swindle.
2. exploitation, esp. of those who cannot prevent or counter it.
3. a copy or imitation.
4. a person who rips off another or others; thief or swindler.

- Theft, cheat or swindle - hardly considering the price is displayed upfront and anything else is outlined clearly in Terms & Conditions
- Exploitation (cannot prevent it) - nobody forced you to subscribe, or to hand over the initial money when signing up

corkstudent wrote: »

"Nothing illegal" doesn't mean it's ethically right, or that it isn't generally dodgy.

Out of interest the british one doesn't have these at all:

http://www.o2.co.uk/termsconditions/broadband

I see no results for "gig" or "meg".

Sorry why are you even wasting your time referring to O2 in the UK, myself, the dog on the street, O2 and anybody else here doesn't care what O2 in the UK have in its terms as it means nothing to your situation.

O2 in the UK could be offering free houses and cars if you sign upnto them but that doesn't apply to you as you subscribed to O2 in Ireland. The Broadband market in the UK is completely different to that of Ireland so they cannot in anyway be compared like for like.

I find your reference to ethically wrong also amusing, bottom line is you subscribed to a service and agreed to T&C's which you clearly don't understand. Answer me this did you even read the terms before signing up?

If you can't afford to pay for going over the cap "if" they charge you then you shouldn't go over the cap or shouldn't have subscribed to the service.

O2 Ireland's T&C's are very clear about usage - http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/About+O2/Terms+and+Conditions/O2+Broadband/Mobile+Broadband

1. 7.1 Monthly Data Usage limits apply and any usage over the limit is subject to the excess charge. Where monthly usage is below the usage limit at the end of the monthly period the difference cannot be carried forward from one billing cycle to the next on any Price Plan. Data usage is measured in kilobytes (KB). 1MB = 1024 Kilobytes (KB), 1024 MB = 1 Gigabyte (GB).
2. 7.2 Minimum system requirements may apply. See www.O2.ie for further detail.
3. 7.3 Usage limits apply to data usage on the O2 Ireland network only and data usage while roaming is excluded.
4. 7.4 Roaming is restricted on connection to the Service and Customers must contact O2 customer care to request the roaming service. When roaming standard roaming charges will apply, including when you are using Services in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom.

You have no leg to stand on here, doesn't matter if you personally don't agree that doesn't make or wrong bad or otherwise. Take this as a lesson in life and learn from it.

Cabaal

corkstudent wrote: »

Argh. People like you are so what's wrong with this country. If a shop states that they're selling a product for twice it's normal retail, it's STILL a rip off. By your logic, the idea of being ripped off could not possibly apply to any kind of shop.

This brainless forum of capitalism is partly why prices are so high here to begin with.

No its not, if a shop sells an item that normally costs 10e and they sell it for 100e thats upto them, the consumer association of ireland has runs advertising telling consumers in Ireland its upto them to shop around to get the best price.

If somebody is thick enough to pay the shop the 100e for the item then they deserve it and should think of it as a stupidity tax because you clearly have more money then sense. In addition it is still not actually theft or a con in anyway so as such is not a rip-off.

Cabaal

In relation to O2's 10GB cap its extremely competitive given its so called "Mobile Broadband" when compared to the rest of the market, lets look shall we?
(copied from a previous thread as I'm not retyping it all again)

Remember that for all ADSL providers that PSTN line rental of 25e is a requirement to get ADSL, it may be an extra or included in the price

Eircom - eircom.net/broadband
package of 60e - Download allowance of 50GB
50e package - Download allowance of 30GB
65e package - Download allowance of 50GB
55e package - Download allowance of 30GB
45e package - Download allowance of 10GB
55e 1MB package - Download allowance of 10GB


Lets talk about BT - http://www.btireland.ie/AtHome_bb_totaltalk.shtml
48e package - upto 10GB cap
56e package upto 30GB cap
67e package Unlimited but comes with Fair Usage Policy which many users report is about 70-90GB before they throttle you like mad


Lets Talk UTV - http://www4.u.tv/UTV_Internet/Residential/ClicksilverBroadband/index.asp
45e Upto 1MB package - 6GB cap
49e upto 3MB package - 12GB cap
56e upto 7MB package - 20GB cap

So if you look across all the ADSL providers in Ireland you'll see that the low end product at around 20e comes with a very small cap in pretty much 98% of cases.

Now as for typical internet user usage, I can tell you from personal experience in the industry typical usage is instead between 1-8GB a month for the average home Broadband user. As such 10Gb is more then enough for average usage and is comparable to the rest of the market.

Now if you assumed O2 would not charge you or just went on "my friend told me I wouldn't be charged" and still didn't pay attention to the T&C's then you have nobody to blame but yourself and no court in this land or any other will rule in your favour.

thebman

You could always try ringing O2 once the bill comes and plead stupidity. That's about your only hope TBH. They have no reason to reduce the charge if you've gone over.

If its not a rip off, your only choice is to not use the service. My father has O2 as well and makes sure he never goes over the cap. Brother has 3 and does the same.

If you have a cap, you try to stay under it, that's why its a cap

jor el

corkstudent wrote: »

"Appeal to Force", and "Appeal to Consequence". Please learn some basic debating skills before I have to put up with more of that drivel.

Oh, I'm so pwnded! But I have no intention of learning basic debating skills. I'll just stick with stupid "facts", and "the truth".

corkstudent wrote: »

I didn't even purposely go over it either way, I just thought it wouldn't be bad to do so. You are casting right and wrong as entirely black and white here, with no minor levels. As far as I was concerned the "rule" was a guideline. I already said this, but as you ignored me, it's pointless. Enjoy your overly simplistic worldview.

Learn to read, before I have to put up with any more of your drivel. You're just seeing what you want to, and you can't even see how wrong you are, can you? You knew there were rules, and you knew there would be consequences, and now you're bitching about the consequences and how unfair they are, when in actual fact, there have been no consequences at all yet.

I also didn't ignore you, I see exactly what you are saying. You thought the "rule" was a guideline, you thought that you thought you could break the cap three times, you knew there was a cap, and you knew there were potential consequences. You were wrong, and now you can't stop complaining about how you didn't know any of this would happen.

corkstudent wrote: »

Argh. People like you are so what's wrong with this country. If a shop states that they're selling a product for twice it's normal retail, it's STILL a rip off. By your logic, the idea of being ripped off could not possibly apply to any kind of shop.

As I said, learn how to read. Where in these sentences, that you quoted, do I mention rip off? It's not over charging. Over charging would be saying it's 1c per MB, but charging you 2c per MB. They told you, up front, what they charge, and so far, they haven't actually charged you anything. That's undercharging.
I was talking about overcharging, as you put it, and how it is not overcharging, when they haven't charged you at all. Did you understand that at all?

corkstudent wrote: »

This brainless forum of capitalism is partly why prices are so high here to begin with.

Yes, that's it. We are responsible for setting pricing policy in some of the largest corporations in the EU. Not the CEO, or the board of directors, or even the accounts managers of such companies, they mean nothing. It's all us, random nobodies on an Internet forum.

watty

Adjust your dress, your sarcasm is showing again.

We get the same issue Cable/Digital TV, people complaining about UPC / Sky policies or charges as if we on Boards decide them.