Consumers were unhappy over M1’s new unlimited wireless broadband service, which has turned out to be not really unlimited after all. Launched on Tuesday, M1 Broadband has been touted as an anytime, anywhere alternative to both consumer and business broadband in Singapore. However, it turns out that the broadband service has a “fair use policy” in its terms and conditions that caps the monthly usage to 2 GB per month. Users may, at the option of M1, be charged 1 cent per additional KB for use beyond the 2GB limit. That’s a staggering $10,000 for an additional 1 GB of use.

Forumers at local IT forum HardwareZone cried foul over the M1 “fair usage policy”. One forumer “ry0suk1” claimed that he had signed up for the service, unaware of the cap. Ry0suk1 added that he read the terms and conditions given to him and there was the fair usage clause was not there. He added that he later saw the terms on the website and then tried to cancel his account but was apparently told that he had to pay for early termination. You can view his thread here

Cindy Leung, 25, a media buyer, had initially planned to switch to the 1.8 Mbps service, which costs $38 per month for “unlimited” access. She was lured by the attractive pricing, the short six months contract period and the ability to access the Internet just about anywhere in Singapore. She was even prepared to switch from her StarHub MaxOnline broadband service to the new M1 Broadband service. But all that came to naught when she discovered the 2GB cap through the forums and through M1’s terms and conditions posted on its website. “They should not call it an unlimited service when it is capped at 2 GB. The correct thing is to call it a volume-based plan,” said Miss Leung.

According to the terms and conditions found here it states under the “fair usage clause” that usage (under clause 1.1) should not be excessive, and goes on to define that as “downloading or uploading more than 2 GB each month inclusive of video streaming, video calls, email assess (wrong spelling is not mine), VOIP calls, downloading and uploading of any content.”

Clause 1.2 then adds that “If you are in breach of clause 1.1 above, we have the option to charge you a rate of S$0.01 (1 cent) per KB in blocks of 10 KB, for continued data services usage, or suspend or terminate this Agreement in accordance with Clauses 5.2 and 5.3 of this Agreement.” Don’t ask me what is clause 5.2 and 5.3, I can’t find it anywhere.

I decided to go down to M1 at West Mall last night to check out for myself. I spoke to a slim bespectacled guy who claims to be Charles Wong, the shop manager and who was manning the M1 Broadband “booth”. Mr Wong said that although M1 had an option to charge users, it has actually never done so and at most have only sent a warning letter. When I asked him why I should sign up for the M1 service when I could get broadband services from StarHub and SingNet without such a cap, his answer was “You have a choice.” I sure hope he is not representative of M1’s marketing department or other store managers. I also asked for a copy of his written terms and conditions but he refused to let me have it and added that the fair usage term was not on the written terms and conditions but his staff would verbally inform the users who sign up for the service.

I wrote to M1 for their comments and received their official response which I reproduce in full below.

“M1 introduced the Fair Use Policy in the interest of all our customers, to ensure that the majority of customers are not unduly affected by a small group of high bandwidth users. As the mobile network is a shared network, any overload will adversely impact on the usage experience of all users.

Many mobile operators in the US, Europe and Asia have such a policy for the reasons mentioned above.

For the launch of the M1 Broadband service, the Fair Use Policy was highlighted on the M1 website, print advertisements and sales brochures. Our customer service officers at M1 Shops will also alert customers to this policy when they sign up for the service.

Under the Fair Use Policy, M1 has the option to charge customers a rate of $0.01 per KB for usage in excess of 2GB per month. However, this is purely an option available to us to manage the network more effectively and efficiently. Our practice is to review every instance of excessive usage on a case by case basis, taking into consideration the specific circumstances of each customer and in consultation with the customer. We assure customers that this process will take place once the 2GB mark is exceeded and that it will not trigger additional charges automatically.

We will also monitor and review this policy and its implementation in order to ensure that it continues to serve the interest of all our customers.”

However, this was not the experience of many consumers. Miss Leung for example went down personally to the M1 Shop at Bugis and asked if the service was “truly unlimited” and that she could use as much as needed. She added that the counter staff said yes to both questions and did not mention anything about the fair use policy.

What is even more interesting is that M1 has two different sets of terms and conditions on its broadband service online. You can compare them here and here

Under the terms, it also says that VOIP is not encouraged to be used for the service.