Legal news in brief - 23 August 2012
Posted: 23 August 2012
T-Mobile and Orange phone users will be the first to get 4G mobile phone services in the UK.
4G represents the next generation of mobile phone data services – it will allow mobile phone users to browse the internet and use other data services significantly more quickly than they currently can on 3G, the current standard.
The UK has experienced delays in rolling out 4G services, as the additional capacity needed to offer 4G services to everyone is not yet accessible. Eventually, this capacity will be auctioned off for use to other mobile phone operators.
However, Everything Everywhere, who run the T-Mobile and Orange networks, have been given permission by communications regulator Ofcom to offer 4G services within its existing capacity from the 11th of September, giving them a significant head start over their competitors.
Competitors were quick to express their intense displeasure – Vodafone said they were “shocked”, while O2 was “hugely disappointed”. The additional capacity for other mobile phone networks to get in on the 4G act will not be available and ready to go until next Autumn.
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A woman has expressed her outrage after being made to pay £200 to print out her Ryanair tickets.
Suzy McLeod was set to fly with her family from Alicante to Bristol with the budget airline, which has repeatedly been accused of unfairly hitting customers with extra unexpected and hidden fees.
However, Mrs McLeod had not printed out her boarding passes after checking in online, and was told when she arrived at the airport that she would need to pay €60 to have each boarding pass printed, coming to a total of €300 (£236) for her family.
Mrs McLeod took to Facebook to express her displeasure, writing: “When flying from Alicante to Bristol yesterday, I had previously checked in on-line but because I hadn't printed out the Boarding Passes, Ryanair charged me €60 per person!!!”
She then invited others to “like” if they agreed that this was unfair, and offer that over 350,000 other users took her up on.
Ryanair spokesman Ryan McNamara pointed out that Ms McLeod’s obligation to print out her boarding passes and the fees for failing to do so are both mentioned in the terms and conditions.
Mrs McLeod pointed out that printing the tickets was difficult, as they had left the country 15 days prior and Ryanair only allows boarding passes to be printed out 14 days in advance.