Online petition to end ‘Unlimited’ Broadband tag

As was reported last week, UK customers who sign up with ISPs including BT, Orange, Be and Tiscali, who offer no limits on downloading, have found out the hard way that there are limits, and penalties for those who cross them.

In response to this, an online petition has been made out to the Prime Minister, calling for Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) to force providers to redefine their premium services, or risk prosecution. The petition, started by Kevin Peel reads:

“Many ISP’s (Internet Service providers) are advertising Broadband with ‘Unlimited’ downloads. The majority of these services are not unlimited as in the providers fair usage policies they either cap the use at a defioned [sic] amount, or use an undefined criteria that only they know.”

So far, the petition has received over 800 signatures; by comparison an online petition against road pricing launched in February this year attracted over 1.2 million signatures, surprising ministers and provoked a significant media response.

The petition is one of many to be found at petitions.pm.gov.uk – including one with over 4,000 signatures, petitioning Tony Blair to stand on his head and juggle ice-creams – and it is unsure if this petition will have an impact. There is a certain amount of irony to be found here, consumers using the internet to formally protest against providers of internet access, biting the hand that feeds maybe, but an indication that companies may have to change how they pitch their services in the future.

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