The end of ‘unlimited’? Maybe…
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/online/isp/news/index.cfm?newsid=20748
One particularly choice quote:
I wonder if Plusnet might now be willing to concede that calling a blatantly limited product ‘Unlimited’ might have been a bad choice?
I know it doesn't matter much now that the Unlimited product is no longer even sold, but that was always something that really irked me, when Plusnet went from ‘you know, there's no such thing as a real unlimited product’ to ‘hey, look at our new Unlimited product! It really is genuinely unlimited, honest!’. I know I and a few others complained about it, calling for a name change to something like ‘Unmetered’ – so I'm pleased to see some vindication at last.
(Ok, I admit it. This is basically a post saying ‘I told you so’.
)
One particularly choice quote:
Quote The likely outcome is that the word ‘unlimited’ will be banned unless a service is intended to have no data limit or shaping to enforce that by the back door.
I wonder if Plusnet might now be willing to concede that calling a blatantly limited product ‘Unlimited’ might have been a bad choice?
I know it doesn't matter much now that the Unlimited product is no longer even sold, but that was always something that really irked me, when Plusnet went from ‘you know, there's no such thing as a real unlimited product’ to ‘hey, look at our new Unlimited product! It really is genuinely unlimited, honest!’. I know I and a few others complained about it, calling for a name change to something like ‘Unmetered’ – so I'm pleased to see some vindication at last.
(Ok, I admit it. This is basically a post saying ‘I told you so’.
)
It did at the time appear to be a simple case of double standards 
Not an argument even I can win in 4 hours but IMO saying Unlimited when there genuinely isn't a usage cap is fine, it's when the word is used and then there's an arbitrary cap (like O2 and they're recent Access limitations) that there's an issue.
but IMO saying Unlimited when there genuinely isn't a usage cap is fine, it's when the word is used and then there's an arbitrary cap (like O2 and they're recent Access limitations) that there's an issue.
Being myself on the "unlimited" product. I have seen no emails telling me that I need to cut down on my d/ling, Yes it is heavily profiled but there is no cap on it, better than the O2 Unlimited = 10Gb/mth 
Quote from: Hairy Being myself on the "unlimited" product.
Do they allow you to download at line speed, any protocol, 24x7?
A post of mine from February 2009
Quote from: jelv
Quote from: Peter I think you're perhaps being a tad disingenuous when you say the new products are 'throttled to death'.
I suggest you are being somewhat disingenuous by calling the product Unlimited. In case you haven't seen what I said earlier in this topic I'll repeat my comments here (there was no comment from Plusnet on the suggestion I made).
The unlimited product it isn't unlimited. For downloading files a simple formula applies: hours x rate limit for the protocol = the maximum amount you can download. To me there is a very simple test: Is the amount that can be downloaded on the account less than that which could be downloaded if there were not any restrictions on protocols? If so it is not unlimited. Plusnet "Unlimited" fails this test.
Now if you had called it Plusnet Unmetered - i.e. we don't care how much you download and there is no FUP (visible or hidden) - it would be a totally accurate description of the product.
Let me make one thing very clear at this point. I am not criticising the product, I think it is a very good product and an excellent move by Plusnet providing people buying it understand correctly what they are buying. What absolutely sucks is the name and the way it is being marketed.
The product you have launched is unlike any offering I've seen from any other ISP. The limit on it's usage is similar to contention (however on your network scale rather than just being contended per exchange), but far more intelligent. You have long experience of tuning the network to give priority to the protocols that matter when someone is sat at the keyboard. Plusnet bragged about leading the field on traffic management and the specification of this product means it should be a market leader. However instead of leading the market again by giving the product a correct name you pull a dumb stunt and go back on everything you has said over the years by copying the totally misleading naming of the all the other ISPs.
Do you not realise that you have missed a golden opportunity? People who don't know Plusnet may know that Unlimited means far from that with other ISPs, they'll see Plusnet Unlimited and won't look at the details. It may be that they know Plusnet and if so they may well remember that you said that there could be no such thing as unlimited and dismiss the product without reading the details. However if they saw Plusnet Unmetered it would be different, they'd stop and look to see what it was about, why it was different to that offered by other ISPs. You could make it crystal clear that Unmetered meant no FUP. You could complain to the ASA if other ISP's tried to copy you (as they would) with products called Unmetered but with a FUP. You could have been the leader by being what you used to be - honest.
When you said there could never be an Unlimited product at an affordable price you were right. You should be stressing that Unlimited means hidden caps, FUPs, general slowdowns across all protocols and stressing that Plusnet Unmetered is different, far more intelligent with full speed browsing and gaming.
Be different, be honest, be better!
mmm, just poor choice of words 
i meant unlimited, but ill leave it as-is for continuity 
i am only human
lol
i meant unlimited, but ill leave it as-is for continuity i am only human
lol