Vodafone UK Tighten Out-Of-Bundle Data Fees (To Smartphone Users' Horror)

With high-profile, data-heavy handsets like the Google Nexus One, HTC Desire and Microsoft KIN either available or imminent to their network, it comes as little surprise to see that Vodafone UK are tightening up their 3G data policy; still, it's not going to win them many fans.  According to a Vodafone forum administrator, as of June 2010 any pay monthly customers with a 500MB data bundle on their contract will pay £5 ($7) for every 500MB over the included data they use.  Meanwhile those without a monthly bundle will pay £0.50 ($0.74) for every 10MB after the first 25MB.  Up until now, customers exceeding the limits had not faced any extra charges.

Vodafone, for their part, are pointing out that the possibility of out-of-bundle fees was always an option, given their terms & conditions for the 500MB "fair use" policy.  The change is necessary, they reckon, "to make it fairer for everyone, and to protect our network from data abuse"; this could also be a pre-emptive move for the launch of the iPad WiFi + 3G which Vodafone have already confirmed they will be offering microSIMs and data packages for.

[via Recombu]