Apple is wrong over video calling says 3 UK

Rating: Never mind that, look at our tariffs

Apple spearheaded the growth of data consumption by smartphones but it won’t have a similar effect with video-calling, says Kevin Russell CEO with 3 UK. “I’d be very surprised if there were a significant take-up [in video-calling],” Russell told the assembled hacks at a 3 UK briefing in London.

Russell’s real objective was to talk up a new smartphone tariff which 3 UK has just launched called the ‘One Plan’. You can get this tariff on any SIM-free (unlocked) handset for £25. And that SIM could be a micro-SIM for use inside an iPhone.

3 was anxious, of course, to promote the fact that consumers can now get an iPhone 3GS on the 3 UK network. If you spend £40 a month it’s free. By the end of July you will also be able to get an iPhone 4 (16 GB) for free if you pay £45 a month.

The most significant feature to this new tariff is its data allowance. It comes with 1GB of data as standard. This prompted an intense debate about so-called ‘unlimited’ data tariffs.

Russell admitted that he had been “Led by the market” into offering unlimited data tariffs. “This is not about the 2 per cent [taking the Michael and going way over 1 GB] but more about transparency,” Russell explained.

In effect, this new 1GB limit simply replaces the ‘fair use policy’ which applied in 3 UK’s contracts anyway. Better still the old limit was 500 MB and those on old contracts should find themselves upgraded to 1 GB.

The most interesting remarks centred on what is apparently known as ‘tethering’. A typical tether is when you take your Nexus One 2.2 enabled Android handset and turn it into a Wi-fi hotspot.

Devices which then take advantage of this facility are regarded as being tethered. A 3 UK spokesman claimed that tethering wasn’t allowed on the network but failed to explain how such behaviour could be blocked.

The most ridiculous thing about breaking the 1 GB threshold is how you would get charged. 3 UK currently charges 10 pence per extra megabyte. That would mean a second 1 GB over the allowance would cost £100.

Don’t worry, however, because for an extra £5 you can ‘bolt on’ another 1 GB if you decide to pay in advance. And if you use the real-time ‘My3′ billing facility you can easily predict when you might need that extra data.

For those who aren’t familiar with Apple’s new obsession with video calling, an app called Face Time is built into the iPhone 4.

You apparently make a regular voice call then switch over to Wi-fi for the video bit. Face Time is thus proprietary video calling just like Skype is proprieatary VoIP calling.

3 UK’s original sales pitch was that all its handsets supported video calls. Nobody really took up the facility although the Italians were less shy than US Brits, apparently.

Of course if there were some way to charge for Face Time sessions then the sex industry …