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Unlimited Definitions

Members of the ISP-Marketing list discuss the definition of "unlimited service." In practice, nobody offers unlimited access for a flat fee. So why do so many ISPs advertise unlimited service?

[May 30, 2001]

On the ISP-Marketing list in May, BL queried,

"Where do you stand on unmetered versus metered access? The Philippines is filled with ISPs that offer metered access at high prices with bad service. Would an ISP that provides unlimited access at affordable rates appeal to the mass market?"

BH observed that there are a number of issues to consider:

"You must consider how this would impact your costs: could you offer the service and be profitable? There would also be an education process, because unmetered service does not mean the customer can stay connected 24/7.

If someone is staying on the line 24 hours a day we will disconnect them for abuse. You might consider offering the unmetered (but not unlimited usage) service at a premium price to test how well it will be accepted. Originally in the US it was all metered, then someone started raising the metered limits, and eventually most of us became unmetered services."

Others noted that there's a middle ground to consider:

[BL offered] "Some of us sell 'Unlimited Attended Access.' We do that so that we don't have customers that cost us $50 per month, yet pay us only $16.95 per month. No one is allowed more than 16 hours per day. Automatic software blocks their access once they hit that point. The software also watches for pinging. Some other ISPs say 'it all evens out in the end.' I don't buy that: there is no point in having a customer that you will lose money on. So I suggest that you offered Unlimited Attended Access, and aggressively get rid of customers that you can't afford."

[RK observed] "We say 'unlimited personal use' and 'unlimited use during office hours.' Most people understand the difference between unlimited and dedicated when you define unlimited in that way. It's all in how you word it. AT&T offers 'unlimited' service that's limited to 150 hours a month; I haven't seen the government go after them yet."

Still others argued that unlimited must mean truly unlimited:

[MK contended] "Unlimited means 24/7 access and no port filtering. Period. If you're using the term 'unlimited' in your ads but in your AUP you say 'unlimited' really means less than 24/7, that is false advertising. If your plan is not 24/7 access, then be truthful to the customer and call it something besides unlimited."

[NS agreed] "We use the term 'Unlimited Online Time' in our ads, and our customers get just that!"

BB suggested it's important to remember that most people just want basic access:

"The vast majority of our customers connect, do what they want to do, and then disconnect. Some decide that they are going to use a dialup account to run their office network 24/7, but Joe Public just wants to make sure that he's not going to be blindsided with an invoice for more than the monthly fee.

So they want to know if there are limits on the time being used. We explain that there are. We then explain what they are. The time is 'unlimited' in that we have never charged people more than their monthly fee; people who habitually have their computer set to auto dial in unattended, and who are running their apartment network 24/7 on a dialup account, will receive a couple of friendly warnings. That's usually all it takes."

[SW agreed] "Most people just want to make sure they're paying a flat rate and won't get any surprise bills just because their grandson stayed with them and was online 18 hours a day. I've noticed a lot of ISPs are switching from using the term 'unlimited' and moving to 'unmetered'. In my opinion, unmetered is really a more accurate term, but when we tried to switch to that term and used unmetered in an advertisement, people kept calling to find out what that meant."

— End

 

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