O2 just shafted me.. for 2 years

I knew it was too good to be true.. after years of avoiding a contract knowing that it was basically giving a company license to screw me over constantly for the term of the deal... I took the plunge in June signing up for a 24 (yes.. TWO YEARS) contract with O2 for the Dell Streak (its still so pretty). £30 a month on the online 30 deal which gives me 600 minutes a month plus unlimited texts and a bolt on that gives me UNLIMITED data and wifi (has anyone ever actually used wifi offered by a mobile phone provider?.. if you have a signal on your mobile, why would you use wifi?.. and if you were somewhere remote enough not to have a 3g signal.. why would there be wifi available???) anyways, turns out the mobile telecoms use of the word "unlimited" varies as much as an politicians meaning of the word "yes/no". I received the following text from O2

O2: Your data usage is exceptionally high and is affecting the service for other customers. This is against our excessive use policy. To comply with our policy you need to dramatically & immediately reduce your usage. One way to do this is by using your home broadband Wi-Fi or public Wi-Fi hotspots such as BT Openzone and The Cloud. Don't forget you get unlimited Wi-Fi on all our data tariffs. Please go to o2.co.uk/datainfo for more information. If you do not immediately moderate your usage we will have to stop you from using data on your mobile.

So, apologies to anyone who was struggling to get a signal or send a text or check out ebay via their mobile, it was nothing to do with O2.. it was all MY fault.

I didn't mind so much being told that my usage was high, although, my mobile phone useage habits haven't altered all that much in the last few years, it was the "hey, you're using mobile phone data too much and screwing it up for everyone else, change your habits NOW.. buy our home broadband... change now or DIE/we'll cut you off". It did carry the whiff of blackmail...

I contacted O2 customer service who again tried to tell me all about their wonderful home broadband package.. how very subtle indeed. A short conversation (poor girl) later I was advised that, although unlimited meant unlimited in June.. unfortunately it doesn't quite mean unlimited in October when they're changing everyone's terms and conditions.. how pleasant, you get to change the rules and I get to take it up the arse. she suggested I could take out an unlimited data bolt on again in October "BUT I ALREADY HAD ONE OF THOSE" i replied.. bless her, she did try. Turns out its using Googles satnav that is gobbling up vast amounts of data.. so, O2 use the shiny wonderful Android and Apple phones to lure you in "hey look at all the clever internet based things you can do" then realise their crappy network can't cope so change the rules.. "oh yeah, you know all that stuff on the adverts.. and all the shiny things on your phone.. well you can't use them now, not unless you pay us lots more money.. yes I know we paid through the nose for this 3G guff from the Government but hey.. we didn't expect you lot to actually USE it.."

I had apparently used 800Mbs of data.. quite.. it must have all been satnav based.. so, if you have an Android phone, don't expect to use the free satnav feature for very long before incurring large bills.

I did a little bit of sniffing around the O2 website and found this info;

Additional Bolt Ons

Unlimited O2 to O2 calls
Offers unlimited calls from your O2 mobile to other O2 mobiles in the UK.
Unlimited landline calls
Offers unlimited calls to UK landlines (starting 01, 02 or 03) at anytime in the UK.
Unlimited Web Bolt On, Unlimited Data + Wi-Fi, BlackBerry Unlimited
These Bolt Ons offer unlimited* data on your mobile in the UK.
* Unlimited data is a promotion until 30th September 2010. After that date, your data allowance will depend on how many minutes your tariff gives you:

UK Minutes	100	300	600	900	1200	Unlimited
UK Data	500MB	500MB	500MB	750MB	750MB	1GB

So.. you don't want minutes.. but do want data.. tough, you'll have to buy the minutes too.

Well, its only for another 15 months..