Vodafone has announced it is to ditch its fair usage data policy and begin charging users who go over the 3G data limit on their mobile phone tariff.
The mobile network operator does not currently charge its pay monthly customers for exceeding its 500MB of 3G data cap, or 1GB of data for the iPhone or Nexus One smartphone .
However, from next month the company intends to introduce a new charging plan for those who use additional data in a bid to “make it fairer for everyone”, and to protect the network from “data abuse”.
Under the new ‘Out of Bundle charging’ plan, customers will have to pay £5 for every 500MB they use after the first 500MB, while non-contract customers will be charged 50 pence for every 10MB they use after an initial 25MB.
A Vodafone spokesman said that customers will be sent a text message if they approach their data limit and will be warned of the charges they face if they exceed it.
He added that the real-time notification service is designed to help customers keep an eye on what they were spending, and will prevent customers from receiving surprisingly high monthly bills.
Users of high-end smartphones such as the iPhone and the HTC Desire are most likely to be affected by the new charge.
