In Russia, you’ll get rewarded for excessive downloads on 3G

Telcos especially 3G players often cringe with the thought of offering unlimited downloads. However in Russia, things are very different over there. Putting the 140% and “In Russia” jokes aside, one 3G telco by the name of Megafon had defied convention by encouraging its subscribers to push the limits of “Unlimited Downloads” with a contest from November 2011 till January 2012. As a reward, they are giving out 1 million rubles (about RM100,000) worth of prizes.

One subscriber managed to clocked 419GB downloads in a week and was rewarded an overseas trip worth 150,000 rubles (RM15,000). That’s almost 60GB a day or 2.5GB per hour which calculates an average of 5-6Mbps. The contest was also a publicity stunt by the telco to prove that it is capable of delivering high speed and unlimited usage nationwide. The 2nd and 3rd place winners came from small towns which proved its wide coverage into rural areas.

All this sounds too good to be true but a quick check on Megafon’s site reveals that the Unlimited Package isn’t without limitations. They have 3 plans on offer at 1Mbps (approx. RM35), 2Mbps (approx. RM55) and Uncapped speed (approx. RM75) options but there’s a certain limit of quota before it gets throttled to 64kbps.

For the highest unlimited plan, the allowed FUP quota increases depending on duration. The first month you’ll get 8GB before throttle and this will be increased gradually each month – 10GB, 12GB and 14GB (maximum). So the “all you can eat offer” was just a time limited promo. Nevertheless, it was a good way to promote its nationwide high speed 3G capabilities.

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