After 3.5 years of being a very happy 2Degrees customer (always on a plan with 'unlimited' calls), yesterday I got a txt from them asking me to reduce my monthly call usage by half!
Just to tack onto Matt's post, from my experience the Commerce Commission seem very interested in practical examples of unfair contract terms. They certainly took an interest in a non-Telco one I reported.
My problem with this one is that if it's based on 'the average' then by continually enforcing it, 'the average' usage is going to come down closer & closer to zero, either through people using less 'unlimited' minutes or the higher users moving to other technologies or plans. Plus it's so vague they could change their mind at any moment and not need to update the terms.
I think you've got a good case to say to 2degrees "Please explain, I've used X minutes every month +/- 5% for the last Y months, how is my usage so excessive that I suddenly need to halve it?"
That is a good point about the average calling time becoming less and less, as people are using their mobiles more for data and messaging. But still tying the word 'Unlimited', to an average usage in their fine print, is not 'Unlimited calling'. You also don't know what the average usage of their other customers is, so unless it is advertised what that average usage is, how is the customer supposed to know. Obviously they do have limits, so IMO they should stop calling it unlimited, and call it something else more fitting for the plan, such as the 'Average Plan'. Don't think too many people would signup to a plan called that.
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