3 offers true unlimited data

3 has become the first network operator to offer a true unlimited data package, without any fair usage limits.

Announced in a blog post, 3 has now done away with the 1GB data cap on The One Plan and users are now able to download as much data as they want without incurring any extra charges.

3 also say customers are free to use their phone as a dongle – known as tethering – meaning customers can use their phones to connect their computers to the internet for no extra cost.

We think this is brilliant news and it’s great to finally see a tariff offering unlimited and actually living up to its word.

3 are also not just offering this to new and upgrading customers, but also people who are currently on The One Plan. They do warn that their billing system will still show a countdown of MBs for a while, although they assure us that the unlimited deal is already in place.

Hopefully this will kick some of the other networks into action, either doing away with their fair use policies or at least stop pretending their data packages are unlimited when they aren’t.

UPDATE: Being the cynical hacks we are, we couldn’t take 3′s blog quite at face value, so we called-up one their representative to ask if this tariff really (really) did offer unlimited data. Here’s what they said:

Unlimited had bad connotations, which is why 3 is branding this tariff as ‘all you can eat,’ rather than ‘unlimited.’

And it genuinely is all you can eat. There are no penalties or restrictions.

But you can’t use it for anything illegal. So 3 reserves the right to cut off your connection if you engage in illegal file sharing.

3’s been investing significantly in its network and it’s got the capacity to cope with the expected level of traffic this tariff will bring. We expect most users won’t be downloading huge amounts of data anyway, there will only be a minority that do so.

So there you go. It’s a data party at 3′s house, and everyone’s invited…