Why are Three.ie allowed advertise "Unlimited"

NeVeR

Why are three.ie allowed to advertise as unlimited when they are not?

All their ads and their website claim "Unlimited" text messages - but there is a cap at 3000.

How are they legally allowed advertise one thing but really not offer it to their customers?

Should they not have to show the real number of texts/MB of data you get in your package and not be allowed falsely advertise Unlimited.

Unlimited = not limited or restricted in terms of number, quantity, or extent.

I know this sounds like a rant.. and I suppose it is.
I've not been cut off or limited by them. I'm only a prepay customer.

Ten Pin

A self regulating advertising industry is to blame.


The 20e prepay plan data cap used to be set at 2TB. As a comparison some of the fixed line FTTH ISPs had a cap of 1TB.

In practical terms 3,000 SMS and 2TB seem reasonable on mobile but if your point is more of a clarity for consumers issue then it's a regulation problem for Comreg and they just seem more interested in keeping the ISPs happy than ensuring transparent advertising to consumers.

JTMan

Three are not the worst offenders. At least "all you can eat data" means either unlimited or perhaps 2TB as pointed out above. That's not unreasonable.

Eir advertise their packages to be "no limits data". Totally misleading/lies. There is an 80 GB usage limit and then you get throttled.

Virgin advertise their packages as "unlimited". Totally misleading/lies. There is an 80 GB usage limit and then you get throttled.

Tesco Mobile advertise their packages as "unlimited". Totally misleading/lies. There is just a 15 GB usage limit and then you get charged according to their website.

Vodafone throttle the speed at 10MB speed on a lot of their "unlimited" plans.

48 are transparent and clear that usage is 100 GB.

Who's to blame? Comreg and the ASA for letting this happen.

KildareP

JTMan wrote: »

Three are not the worst offenders. At least "all you can eat data" means either unlimited or perhaps 2TB as pointed out above. That's not unreasonable.

Eir advertise their packages to be "no limits data". Totally misleading/lies. There is an 80 GB usage limit and then you get throttled.

Virgin advertise their packages as "unlimited". Totally misleading/lies. There is an 80 GB usage limit and then you get throttled.

Tesco Mobile advertise their packages as "unlimited". Totally misleading/lies. There is just a 15 GB usage limit and then you get charged according to their website.

Vodafone throttle the speed at 10MB speed on a lot of their "unlimited" plans.

48 are transparent and clear that usage is 100 GB.

Who's to blame? Comreg and the ASA for letting this happen.

48 advertise unlimited calls and texts.
In reality this is capped at 3,000 minutes and 5,000 texts a month. Calls are also automatically disconnected after 60 minutes.

Sadly they are all guilty of the same carry on.

JTMan

Fair point about the call and text limits, I was purely commenting on data.

Some providers are far worse than others but unlimited should mean unlimited or "no limits" as Eir call it.

In the US there have been successful class action lawsuits against mobile providers for lying about unlimited data.

Gatling

Actually virgin isn't even 80gb ,30 is reserved for specifically for roaming or did I read and hear wrong

tjhook

I wonder if any other industry could get away with it? Could I open a restaurant with "unlimited" drink refills, with a FUP of two refills?

Maybe I should start applying a FUP of €10 to my phone bill

silver2020

cap in my t&cs is 10,000 "fair usage policy"
that's about 350 texts a day. allowing for 8 hours sleep, that's about 20 an hour.


and most people use whatsapp now