iPhone UK: Just how "unlimited" is the O2 data plan?

The thing I was most concerned about missing out on, or at least getting a watered down version of, was the iPhone's unlimited data plan.

Though things are gradually getting better in the UK, mobile data is still pretty expensive. The introduction of plans such as T-Mobile's Web'n'Walk initiative have helped to make browsing the Internet more affordable, but with the advent of devices like the iPhone, users are going to want to surf more and more.

Most "unlimited" plans in any medium — mobile, broadband, "eat as much as you like" restaurants — have some kind of fair use policy (or at least, you're expected to buy drinks).

What isn't clear yet is exactly how much data O2 are willing to allow their customers to download each month.

When questioned at the UK press conference, Matthew Key (CEO of O2) said, "There is a limit: 1,400 internet pages per day would break the deal as part of fair usage agreement."

So how much is that?

The front page of The Guardian currently renders to around 750KB. I doubt O2 would be happy if you tried to download over one gigabyte of data per day. Mind you, try doing that over an EDGE connection. Yeuck!

Hopefully when the O2 Store comes back online, there'll be more concrete figures. I tried to find out whether there was any similar limit on AT&T's unlimited data plans. Anyone know?

If iPhone users are going to be stung after downloading just a few megabytes per day, then something's seriously wrong with the plan. It's a serious issue, though, because O2 plans to roll out unlimited data plans to all of its customers in October.

"It's the future," says Jobs.

I thought that was garlic bread, but never mind.

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iPhone UK: How much free Wi-Fi can you get?
8GB iPhone coming to UK: 9th November with O2

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