The French Fail to Read the Fine Print on Unlimited 3G Plan
While having unlimited access to 3G network sounds fun (think of all the huge downloads). There is a limit to where you can access the feature and just exactly how large you can download.
What many users are not aware of, (yes, there are plenty) is that the unlimited 3G refers strictly to the amount of time you may be connected to the internet. What is not unlimited is how much you can download. The average limit for all 3G plans is 1GB, once a user downloads more the 1GB worth of data to their phone, the rest of the bytes are metered and billed to the customer.
With many people using their 3G connections for Facebook applications, Twitter and various other social networking websites, the 1GB limit is rarely ever reached. Hundreds of email message will only account for as high as a couple of megabytes at most (provided no images are attached). 10 page document files are around 50-70KB only. Uploaded images on Facebook and similar sites are resized to small downloadable chunks no bigger than 200Kb.
This is why it comes as to no surprise that Jean Spadaro, a doctor from Fontainebleau, found his bill amassing up to 160 thousand Euros pretty staggering. No questions have been raised as to what he was downloading (streaming a lot of HHD videos perhaps), but he is not alone.
Two other Frenchmen have also made public their complaints about their bills from Orange Mobile UK. They claim that Orange have not only failed to clarify the details of the subscriptions, but have also failed to inform them of the slowly increasing bill. However, Orange Mobile has released a statement that they have, in their own power, informed the individuals regarding the bills. Worse, one of the complainants has taken their device outside of France which further increased the bill thanks to roaming charges.
