A subscriber complains of having received an SMS telling him that his speed will be restricted because he has consumed too much data. Is there a limit to the unlimited at SFR? Not really.
New shitstorm concerning SFR. This time it’s not about a discreet price increase or an aggressive social plan, but about a subscriber having received a somewhat threatening SMS. “Internet is not really unlimited on the landline at SFR», exclaims @Hamster_I on Twittersharing a screenshot of the message received:
SFR INFO: Dear Customer, we have noticed abnormal use of your Internet at home that is likely to degrade our network and harm SFR subscribers in your area. According to the conditions of your offer, which stipulate that you must not misuse your services, if you do not modify your uses following this SMS, the fixed Internet speed of your SFR Box 8X offer will be reduced to 10 MBPS [sic] until the first day of the following month beyond 3 TO consumed.
We will not dwell on the fact that the “10MBPSis very vague here, since it can just as easily express 10 Mb/s (the most probable) as 10 MB/s (i.e. 10 MB/s), which represents a ratio of 1 to 8. Let us rather focus on the use of the subscriber as well as the conditions of the offer.
Hamster_I indicates that he left BitTorrent running every night for a total data transfer over the last 30 days of 10,416.1 GB, or 10.4 TB, only on his computer. To this must be added the consumption of streaming on 4K TVs. Suffice to say that this is a rather intense use far enough from the average user. Note however that we are used in France to unlimited packages, even though SFR never mentions the term on its website.
Unlimited, really?
The fact of being used to unlimited services does not mean that they really are, since each imposes its own restrictions in its general conditions of use (CGU). In those of SFR, one can for example read:
The Customer is prohibited from any fraudulent, abusive or excessive use of the Services (such as in particular: creating a voice server and/or rerouting and/or diverting communications; diverting the purpose or degrading the Service; disseminating any virus or computer file designed to limit, interrupt or destroy the network and/or any terminal or other telecommunications tool, transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, etc., which may thus disrupt the availability of said servers or network.
It is also stated that “SFR reserves the right to restrict access to all or part of the Services subscribed […] in the event of actions likely to disrupt the SFR network or the Internet [ou] in the event of a substantial increase in the amount of the Customer’s consumption“. However, no numerical limit is specified, but the terms correspond with the SMS.
Remember also that the SFR Box 8X boasts its speed of 8 Gb / s in reception via its SFP port, or 1 Gb / s. At this rate, it only takes a little less than 52 minutes to download the 3 TB which seems to be the limit imposed according to the SMS. But let’s be more realistic and assume that the computer is connected to the traditional Ethernet port limited to 1 Gb/s: this monthly limit is reached in just under 7 hours of downloading at full speed. Suffice to say that it can quickly be exceeded…
A well-orchestrated spam
SFR spoke on the subject, both through the Twitter account @SFR_SAV and the press service that we contacted. SFR therefore denies having sent this “Misleading SMS referred to on an isolated Twitter account“, specifying that”the official communications of our services are made from the number “1023”“. “I ask you to disregard this SMS [sic] and not to click on any possible link“, completes the CM of the Twitter account.
However, the number 38948 used to send this SMS is indeed used by SFR for official communications, as confirmed by several subscribers in response to the tweet, but also by a Top Contributor from the SFR community, whose message was “certified by SFR“.
In addition, spam messages usually aim to steal private information and therefore contain a link leading to a fraudulent page cloning the desired page in order to push the user to enter their identifiers. The author does not seem more isolated according to the Twitter testimonies.
Despite all these elements that can leave room for doubt, the one who describes himself just as a “big fan of Mylène Farmer in her spare timefinally received a second message telling him that “[son] access is now restricted to 10 MBPS“, enjoining him to call a surcharged number (80 cts per minute) for “follow the reset process“.
As you will have understood, it is therefore a very well organized spam in two stages which has targeted the ideal victim here.
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