Big mobile bill; any help or advice...

[d w124]

I had the same thing happen to me few years ago but my case was different as I had £70 maxx till the line was cut of.
The last month they called me to upgrade but I said that I did not want to and after a very long conversation they finally got convinced that I did not want anything to do with three anymore
Than they said that if I wanted to cancel I should give them a month notice (even though my contract was out) but I was to tired to start another argument
Got a bill for that last month for £243,but I never paid it

 

[rascalmaster]

Rip off britain...

 

[Charles Morgan]

Vodafone send me a message if at any time I am close to my usage limit, normally only when travelling overseas, and I am staggered in this day and age that your provider doesn't.

So we can be warned, who is it?

 

[Nibbo]

Not sure about iPhone apps but I have installed Net Sentry on my android.
This monitors my internet usage and you can set a usage limit.
I have set mine to 90% after which it prevents the phone from using the internet.

Does not solve your problem but would stop it happening again.

 

[verytalldave]

Its seems to be very a very common feature of most "unlimited 3G" contracts to be subject to a "fair usage" clause. And most seem to be circa 500mb per month.
My son can eat that up and more in less than a week.

When I swapped from Virgin to BT on my home internet, I wanted totally unlimited downloads because my son is a DJ and downloads at least 200 tunes a month. Plus all the other things as well.
BT said they had a contract that would suit - but on closer inspection was subject to a "fair use" clause.
I enquired what this meant and lo and behold - it was subject to 500mb a month downloads.
I asked for a COMPLETELY unlimited download contract and had to pay about £5 a month more then their other"unlimited" contract.
I now pay about £23 a month for phone and broadband with UNLIMITED (totally) downloads.
They have also increased my connection speed considerably over what I used to get with Virgin.
With Virgin, downloading a 20mb track would take about 3-4 minutes.
The same track with BT now downloads in much less than a minute. MUCH.
Quite happy with that.

If you want totally unlimited downloads, then it will not be a standard tariff. You will need to pay considerably more.

 

[DITTRICH]

Mobile companies are ALL without exception rip off merchants.
I am with orange and their "service" is frankly appalling.
The only reason I don't change is that I am sure the 'others' are the same.

 

[Stratman]

You could always OFCOM or the Advertising Standards Authority what 'unlimited' means.

 

[rascalmaster]

They have offered to refund half the bill amount...
... Better than a poke in the eye, but not very impressed.
Will be moving back to O2 at the end of this contract...

 

[Alps]

when you are out of contract , check out "giffGaff", on the O2 network but unlimited means unlimited!

 

[timskemp]

I carry an android phone and a regular handset (a sony ericsson elm) - as a heavy mobile user I can't get the battery life out of a smartphone to cope with the usage.

The phone is (and has been for over 10 yrs) on orange contract, the smartphone moves around on various PAYG offers whichever offers the best data, currently on a T-mobile "top up £10 for 6 mths free data" one.

I also have a sim in my laptop, currently a 3 sim giving 12 gig for up to 12 mths for £50.

Mobile data on contract is a joke, I get (I think) "unlimited" data on the orange plan, defined as 300 meg a month...