MWeb, facing criticism from some consumers over fair-use provisions in the terms and conditions of its new, uncapped broadband packages, will meet with its legal team on Tuesday to consider amendments to them.

The company, which operates the Twitter feed FreeTheWebSA, tweeted on Friday morning that it was considering amendments to the terms and conditions following consumer pressure. “You have spoken and we listened,” the Twitter message said. “We’re relooking the terms and conditions to be changed next week.”

In a further tweet, the company said: “Our [terms and conditions] are causing unnecessary confusion and misunderstanding. We are in the process of reviewing [them].”

An MWeb spokesman says that although the company will consider changes, it’s not guaranteed any will be implemented. However, the company has said it is taking heed of comments on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Consumers have raised concerns over clauses in the terms that prohibit “continuous video streaming and “continuous FTP downloads”. Users may also not use the service for “unattended automated operation”.

According to the fine print, users must not “restrict, inhibit or interfere with the ability of any person to access, use or enjoy the Internet or … create an unusually large burden on our network, including, without limitation, continuously uploading or downloading streaming video or audio; continuous FTP uploading or downloading, or otherwise generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others’ ability to send or retrieve information, or to use the ADSL services in an abusive manner in connection with any unlimited packages, options or promotions”.

Some consumers have taken this to mean that the service isn’t truly uncapped.

However, MWeb CEO Rudi Jansen (pictured) said in an interview with TechCentral on Thursday that the company will not cut off people using the service, for example, to consume streaming online media. He says fair-use clauses are standard and used by international companies such BT Group and France Telecom and are there to protect service providers.

“Yes, we have a fair-use policy, but the idea of it is to ensure the abusers don’t spoil it for everyone,” he said.

Jansen explained that the fair-use terms were there to stop someone from, for example, hosting a website with thousands of movies on it and then inviting people to download that content. “We won’t go after people who are using [the service] for their own personal use.” — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral