The global financial crisis may be making every attempt it can to ruin everyone’s Christmas, but it seems that there is still a bit of magic in the air at this time of year.

On Monday 8 December, Virgin sent its customers an early Christmas present by releasing a phenomenally cheap mobile internet deal, which will see people being able to get online on their mobile phones for as little as 30p a day. Even better, the deal is open for anyone with a Virgin mobile, whether Pay As You Go or contract, meaning everyone gets to join in the fun.

However, it seems that not all is quite as it seems. Although the deal quite clearly describes itself as providing ‘unlimited’ Internet usage, this is not actually the case. In fact, you will only be able to get 25MB a day, under the ‘reasonable usage’ policy introduced in the small print. Any extra MB used will incur a £2 charge, meaning things like downloading films are definite no-go areas.

Virgin claims that it is being three times more generous than all the other mobile companies with its tariff, but these hidden surprises are not going to please the customers, and it is a shame that the company couldn’t just go all the way and provide exactly what it said it would.

Virgin’s mobile Web portal is also being updated for a same-day release, to make the whole mobile Internet experience from Virgin one of the best around. However, it does not allow the phone to be used as a modem, meaning Internet access is restricted to the mobile handset, which will be a disappointment for any customers hoping for a cheap mobile broadband deal.