Is “Unlimited” Internet Ever Truly Unlimited?

Even though consumers by this point in time should know better, there exists a relentless myth that when an Internet service provider tells you that its service is “Unlimited”, it’s true. But of course it’s not true. You might begin to believe it given the fact you never seem to get calls from the company or get charged extra, but if that’s the case, you can be rest assured that it’s because you’ve never hit the real (but hidden) limit.

As a recent story over at the Consumerist points out, Comcast is one of the worst offenders. One of the visitors of the site received a leaflet in the mail that explained the benefits of moving to a higher grade package, and understandably so, the bullet point to catch his eye read, “Unlimited usage for a flat, monthly free.” That of course would be all fine and dandy, but the reader soon found out the truth.

After the absolutely first month of having the service, he received a letter from the company stating that he used too much bandwidth. Interestingly, the company told him straight-out that he used more than 250GB worth, which is the supposed limit. So of course, there’s no such thing as “Unlimited”. Why and how do companies continue to get away with “false” advertising?

Well, I can say that if something like this ever went to court, I don’t think it would go anywhere. After all, the line in the agreement says “Unlimited usage”, not “Unlimited bandwidth usage”. Therefore, the company is merely saying that you are free to use your Internet service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s clever, because though it seems kind of obvious when you look at it this way, it’s very easy to simply assume it’s referring to bandwidth. Rather, companies like Comcast seem to be sticking to the old dial-up way of thinking, where you actually did have to pay by the hour. Boy, am I ever glad those days are over (for most of us, at least).

I do have to say though, if you manage to hit 250GB bandwidth per month, you really, really must have quite the appetite for data, whatever it may be.

In 2008, Comcast began limiting Internet users to 250 GB a month. At the time, they claimed that the 250 GB number was where they decided to place the threshold for excessive usage. In a letter to customers, they noted that 250 GB was enough to “download 125 standard definition movies.” Of course, as more outlets are providing HD films and TV shows online, we’re wondering if Comcast is going to have to revisit how they handle limit violators. It would seem to us to merely charge them more for overages, instead of threatening with sanctions.