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Orange "doesn't think it's a problem" but users disapprove of cap on flat rate mobile data

If eight pounds sterling really represents the lowest price you can charge for thirty megabytes of data,  then it becomes painfully obvious why music downloads aren't doing anything for Orange's bottom line.

The company has made much of the effect on ARPU (average revenue per user) of offering MP3 tracks over the air, but has consistently refused to discuss what this does to APPU (average profit per user).

Now, according to David Meyer at ZDNet, the company has been compelled to impose a 30 megabyte limit on data traffic for users who signed up for an £8 per month "Monthly Anytime" service which was originally billed without any mention of limits.

Meyer wrote:

Since then it has emerged that the package has a usage cap of 30MB per month, despite being promoted as a flat-rate deal. Comparatively priced bundles from rivals such as T-Mobile offer a fair-use cap of up to 1GB per month, which is roughly 33 times greater than Orange's cap.

Orange customers have taken to forums to vent their displeasure over the 30MB cap. On CoolSmartPhone.com's forum, user Surur wrote on Saturday: "I bought the SPV E650 [smartphone] from Orange last month on the strength of this [Monthly Anytime] press release. I now wonder if I will be able to cancel that contract." The forum's administrator, Gears, opined that "30MB is way, way, way too low to be useful and will just drive people away if it's true".