When you browse the web and social media these days it’s becoming increasingly difficult to navigate the ‘techno-jargon’. AI this, AI that – what a load of <insert expletive here>. What happened to the good old KISS principle? Let’s have a little rant about it shall we….
Web sites never tell you the ‘real’ price of things. There’s always a cheaper price displayed – along with the dreaded asterisk. Whenever you see that asterisk – you know you are being tricked. A common trick used by some UK based voice over IP companies is the old “unlimited” calls package. This one always has an asterisk which points you in the direction of the small print. A quick read and you’ll soon find a ‘fair use policy’ which will do it’s best to hide the fact that unlimited does not actually mean unlimited. It’s only unlimited when the number of calls you make each month are profitable for the VoIP provider. Perhaps a ‘profitable for us policy’ might be more appropriate.
The UK web hosting industry like to use the word ‘unlimited’ – a lot! They include it in their marketing hype whenever they know you won’t use a certain feature very much. Many are still advertising Unlimited Bandwidth. What’s that about? Nobody has paid extra for bandwidth for years now, yet they still want to use that magic ‘unlimited‘ word..
One popular host advertise their starter plan at £1 per month. When you put your mouse over the asterisk, you find out that it’s £1 for the first three months and then £5.75 for each month after that. Add the dreaded VAT on top and if you are not paying attention, you are into a 12 month contract for £5.47 per month. That’s a bit different to their advertised £1 per month!
In summary, don’t fall for the hype when all you are doing is ordering a very simple service.