iPhone isn't completely plain sailing for Orange

With the iPhone set to launch on Orange's network tomorrow, the company has set contentious data limits to avoid complete network annihilation by iPhone users, but it's not a popular move.

Worried by the experience of AT&T in the States, where the ill-prepared network was unable to cope with demand from iPhone users, Orange has set a data usage limit of 750Mb per month on its so-called 'unlimited' data service, causing howls of outrage from would-be YouTube and Spotify users.

Potential iPhone owners who intend to use data-hungry applications are convinced that 750Mb per month will be insufficient for their requirements, but Orange has defended the decision, suggesting that from its experience in other European markets the limit will be plenty. Orange points to France, where it claims that the average iPhone user gets through about 200Mb of data per month. Commenting on Twitter, Conor Maples, part of Orange UK's marketing team, said:  "750Mb is actually quite a lot of mobile data - it's about five hours of video downloaded from YouTube, 75,000 mobile web pages or 30,000 normal web pages."

It's the mobile broadband dilemma moved to handsets: flat rate deals with unlimited data allowances can wreak havoc with networks' traffic management and with their profit margins; but it is those exact deals which attract customers, and imposing limitations is universally unpopular.