T-Mobile has changed its mind about slashing its fair use policy’s data cap, saying the lower limit will only apply to new customers.
The mobile operator angered customers earlier this week by cutting its fair use policy data cap to 500MB from 1GB or higher.
The change was to apply to existing customers, but will now only cover customers signing up from 1 February, T-Mobile said.
“Following a further review of our policy, these changes will now be introduced from 1 February, to new and upgrading customers only – not existing customers,” said Lysa Hardy, vice president of T-Mobile UK.
“There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused,” she added.
Under T-Mobile’s terms and conditions, changes to the contract are allowed as long as they cause no “material detriment” to the customer and fair warning is given. Consumer watchdogs earlier today expressed concern the change might not be legal, heaping additional pressure on the mobile operator.
A legal expert told PC Pro that changes to mobile contracts were common. “Mobile contracts change quite a lot and quite regularly, but normally they’re for the better rather than the other way around,” said Jon Fell of Pinset Masons.
Under the new policy, customers will not be charged for exceeding the 500MB cap. While such data hungry users will still be allowed access to email and browsing, they will not be allowed to download or stream video for the rest of the month unless they upgrade with a 1GB a month “broadband booster”.
“This will ensure an improved quality of service for all of our mobile internet users,” T-Mobile claimed.
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