Without grabbing a dictionary, it’s pretty safe to say that most people would interpret the term "unlimited" to mean "without limits" or "endless" or "we won’t cut off your service if you download too much stuff."
To be fair, the fine print on Verizon’s unlimited EVDO service said that e-mail and internet browsing were all-you-can-eat, according to Ars Technica, but had no such allowance for videos, music, or other large files.
But after roughly 13,000 customers found themselves unable to use their data services due to an arbitrary, unknown usage cap enacted by Verizon, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo fought back by saying that "when consumers are promised an ‘unlimited’ service, they do not expect the promise to be broken by hidden limitations."
After a 9-month investigation, Verizon has agreed to pay out $1 million to customers who had their service terminated, which in turn left them with useless handsets and data cards. It’ll have to pay out $150,000 to the state of New York as well. Verizon has also now removed the term "unlimited" from its BroadbandAccess plan. So for $60 a month, you can now get sorta-unlimited-but-watch-your-step wireless data access.
Verizon to pay $1 million over deceptive "unlimited" EVDO plans [Ars Technica]
