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* Posts by Ancient One

3 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Feb 2016

AT&T grabs dictionary, turns to 'unlimited', scribbles it out, writes: '22GB a month'

Ancient One

When 'limits' aren't really limits

In one respect, using the term 'unlimited' is patently false, as data rates are finite, and the length of billing periods is also finite, and the combination of the two imposes a limit on total data. They might be trying to say that they don't impose a limit on data quantity, per se, but by throttling after a certain volume, they are doing exactly that.

The way to get around these semantic tricks is to reword the contract to say 'unlimited time and volume at xxx rate.' Actually, some smart lawyers (I'm certainly not one, not a lawyer) could probably write a more binding, no-loophole contract that would deliver what the customer expects: a fixed and certain data rate for the entire billing period, with no data volume limitations. (Yeah, try running that past an Internet provider's billing and legal departments. Or go tilt at windmills... it's more productive.)

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Ancient One

In one respect, using the term 'unlimited' is patently false, as data rates are finite, and the length of billing periods is also finite, and the combination of the two imposes a limit on total data. They might be trying to say that they don't impose a limit on data quantity, per se, but by throttling after a certain volume, they are doing exactly that. The way to get around these semantic tricks is to reword the contract to say 'unlimited time and volume at xxx rate.' Actually, some smart lawyers (I'm certainly not one, not a lawyer) could probably write a more binding, no-loophole contract that would deliver what the customer expects: a fixed and certain data rate for the entire billing period, with no data volume limitations. (Yeah, try running that past an Internet provider's billing and legal departments. Or go tilt at windmills... it's more productive.)

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Ancient One
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Re: Technically Correct

Saying "... you can still download an infinite amount after those 10 seconds have elapsed..." is a poor choice of words, since downloading an "infinite" amount would take an infinite length of time, regardless of whether the ISP had throttled or had given fiber optic trunk cable speed.

The better word than "infinite" would be "unlimited," technically correct in that the ISP is not directly and specifically limiting the data volume, but by providing data at a finite rate over a fixed period of time, those finite limits, in particular the ISP's finite provided data rate, do impose a limit, thus contradicting the term "unlimited," or at least qualifying it. But hey, this is advertising and marketing, so what flies under the radar...

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