How you can get caught out on an 'unlimited' phone plan
A truck driver who pays for "unlimited" calls has been left irritated after his provider sent him an SMS instructing him to cut down on usage.
The man from New Zealand received the message from phone company 2Degrees which told him to decrease his calls by 50 per cent or risk his calls being suspended, the New Zealand Herald reports.
The truckie, Mike Oliver, told the publication he makes phone calls while driving, using a hands-free bluetooth headset, and believes he is on the phone to friends for about three hours each day.
He claims he had not made a significant increase to calls and said he was "gobsmacked" by the message.
"I do talk to my friends quite a bit in the morning, I call my mates and talk for maybe an hour," Mr Oliver said.
But when Mr Oliver reached out to the phone company he was told the unlimited plan was subject to fair use policy.
Recalling his discussion with the phone company employee, Mr Oliver claimed, "I said, 'what about me, I have unlimited phone calls and unlimited texts'. She said, 'no you don't sir', I said, 'what do you mean no I don't?'."
The provider's Fair Use Policy on its website states: "Your use of the Services must be fair, reasonable and not excessive, as reasonably determined by us by reference to average and/or estimated typical customer usage of the Services."
"We will consider your usage to be excessive and unreasonable where it materially exceeds the average and/or estimated use patterns over any day, week or month (or other period of time as determined by us) (Excessive Usage)."
A spokesperson for 2Degrees, Lenska Papich, told the New Zealand Herald that it is not uncommon for "unlimited" calling plans to have fair use policies applied to them, but said there was a difference in receiving the notice and restrictions being applied.
"For all intents and purposes our unlimited calling plans are just that for our customers.
"However, we are also very clear in our advertising materials that a fair use policy applies to manage outlying or excessive usage on these plans," Ms Papich said.
Seven News Online has attempted to reach out to the provider 2Degrees for further comment.
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