Orange says its fair use policy is no lemon

The UK network came under fire, when it announced the limit as part of its iPhone pricing information. But now the company has compared the notional limit to more of a wish list, of how it would like its customers to behave.

'We don't call it a cap, we don’t restrict the service, and we don’t charge them any more if they go over 750MB. It’s just an indication of where we’d prefer people to be,' an Orange spokesperson told T3.

The company said it also realises that people play with their iPhones a lot when the first get them, and then gradually settle into a less intense pattern of behaviour: 'People’s first month of usage tends to be a lot higher than subsequent months, in the first month of a customer’s contract we’ll bear that in mind. In the first month users are getting used to their iPhones, setting up email accounts, downloading a lot of applications. We’ll be lenient, and won’t cut customers off if the 750MB limit is reached.'

Orange charges customers of its other phones an excess for every day of 3G coverage once they breach their data download limit, but this will not apply to the company's iPhone customers.

'Our standard data package for other phones starts at £1.47, but that does not apply to the iPhone. When people reach 750 they’re free to use as much as they want after that. If we see customers using loads more than that though, then we’ll send them alerts by SMS or phone call, to tell them they’re using more than they should be.'