Three years ago, when I got my iPhone 3G with an Unlimited Data Plan with O2. I couldn’t believe my luck, considering that practically everywhere in the world went metered. I snerred everytime people moaned about how small their data allowance was, as I watched countless YouTube clips, browsed the Interweb, checked my Twitter and Facebook, and streamed BBC iPlayer and my Spotify playlist to my heart’s content, or until my battery is gone. All of these via the 3G network!
Freedom was addicting, and unlimited was the drug.
As time went by though, I couldn’t help but wonder how O2 could’ve coped with this total onslaught of constant bandwidth hog. I didn’t know the answer, and I didn’t want to know. It was my freedom, and I intended to keep it as long as I can.
The honest answer to that question is clearly ‘NO‘ … No, O2 could’ve not coped with the massive data flood. And last week, on the brink of Apple iPhone 4 announcement, came the confirmation.
It came from a blog post written by O2′s CEO Ronan Dunne, titled ‘Offering fair and transparent access to mobile data’.
Dunne started in this post by saying how the massive growth of so-called ‘smartphones’ has changed the face of the mobile industry. But this growth, he continued, needs data to make it happen. Lots and lots of data (Data consumption is doubling every 4 months). Unfortunately, he said, O2 has been using the old way of charging customer for data, i.e. Unlimited, designed for less data-hungry customers.
I don’t agree with Dunne, because I’ve never seen any network offering an Unlimited Data Plan as long as I’ve lived in the UK, where Unlimited means unlimited, not the Unlimited* with accompanying small print.
I believe there might be either of these two reasons why O2 decided to go Unlimited. The first reason is they completely underestimated their customers usage pattern and consumption, so now when they finally realise this, they want to recupearate the lost.
The second reason, which is more likely in my opinion, is that O2 deliberately offered the unbelievable juicy plan to entice new customers to buy the iPhone and moved to O2 (from other networks). And now that everybody is hooked to their iPhone, and with the new shiny iPhone 4 coming, O2 wouldn’t miss their chance to completely change the tariff, knowing that the customer will pay no matter what!
So what’s changed?
First of all, there is one little interesting statistics that Dunne was mentioning in his post. The statistics said that, and I quote: ‘… a third of our data traffic is accounted for by just 0.1% of our customer base …‘, and more: ‘…97% of our smartphone customers currently use less than 500MB of data every month‘.
You can guess by now what would the tariff change would be … yes it’s 500MB cap per month for the cheapest tariffs (£25 per month at least). It goes up to the Unlimited* tariff, which has 1GB cap, provided that you are willing to pay for at least £45 per month!
To be very honest, I’ve never checked how much data I’ve consumed since I got my iPhone. Why would I, it’s unlimited! But as for this month I am keeping an eye of my data usage, I want to see how much I am spending, and to have more detailed information in preparation of the tariff change. More importantly I want to know if I was part of the 97% or the 3%!
Dunne closed the post by saying: “Our new billing strategy is an important stepping stone to that future – a means to ensure that however it evolves, everyone has fair, transparent access to the mobile data they need.“
In one hand I agree with this last point above, transparency is a good thing, but on the other hand, if they really want to promote fairness, they could’ve also offered a tariff for a low data consumption customers, with less mothly data allowance but with much cheaper monthly payment. What do you think O2?
One thing I like from this change is that O2 came out with a clear explanation, from the CEO himself no less, on why they are doing the change. Clear communication is always the way to go in times like this (you hear me Mark?).
Today is the day where people can start pre-ordering the new iPhone 4, and I can’t help but to think that my Freedom will last only for another month. After that I will probably be too paranoid to go online, fearing that I will go over my allowance.
You know what I need? What I need is an iPhone App that will warn me when I’m almost go over a certain amount of bandwith cap. Any of you know such an app? Let me know on the comment, please.
One last thing, fourtunately unlike in some other countries, iPhone sale in the UK is not being monopolied by only one operator! This time around, we have all 4 major network operators selling the iPhone 4 (O2, Orange, Vodafone and 3), creating a healthy competition.
I currently have a rolling contract with O2 which has already finished 6 months ago (I resisted to upgrade to wait for the new iPhone), and now I have freedom to choose which operator I want to get in bed with for the next 12-24 months. I’m hoping that this competition will create good deals from the operators. Hope springs eternal!
You can find a screenshot of the range of iPhone Tariffs you can expect from O2. For more details on other tariffs, such as Pay As You Go, you can visit this O2 page.
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Check your online bill – you can see how much data you've used at My Bill -> What I've used -> UK Browse and download.
I appear to normally use way less than 500MB… this month since I've started not working at home I've managed 310MB. Of course data requirements are only going to go up.
I see … I'll check it out .. thanks!
I also monitoring it in my iPhone too.