Google is force canceling gsuite because I used unlimited storage as unlimited
Google is shutting down legacy G Suite and Workspace accounts that once advertised “unlimited” storage, forcing some users with hundreds of terabytes stored — and universities with petabyte-scale research data — to rapidly migrate or lose access. Commenters debate whether it’s reasonable to rely on “unlimited” claims from large tech firms, how much contractual notice makes such changes fair, and whether regulators should treat these offers as deceptive advertising when hard limits and throttling later appear.
Context & Original Case
- Original tweet: long-time Google Workspace/GSuite user with ~400 TB stored is being forced down to the 5 TB-per-user limit.
- They were on an older “unlimited” plan, later transitioned to a 5 TB plan, with enforcement only now arriving.
- User received months of warnings to reduce usage; data will become read-only and then be deleted after a grace period.
- They treat it more as an amusing “great deal while it lasted” than an injustice, and only plan to rescue ~20 TB.
Bandwidth and Data Export Practicalities
- Multiple commenters calculate that downloading 400 TB over a 1 Gbps link takes ~37–38 days, essentially the full 30‑day window, even before protocol overhead.
- There is debate over TCP/IP and request overhead; some note overhead is nontrivial but much less than 10%.
- Google offers export to a temporary Google Cloud Storage bucket, but it’s zipped and not selective, so tools like rclone are needed for partial retrieval.
- Some note that providers and consumer ISPs often cannot sustain full line rate at scale, and “unlimited” ISP plans can throttle heavy users.
“Unlimited” Storage and Contract Changes
- Strong disagreement over whether “unlimited” offers implicitly include reasonable limits:
- One side: every “unlimited” offer has implicit limits; using hundreds of TB or PB is “abuse” of a flat-rate service.
- Other side: if a company says “unlimited” without clearly stated caps, reducing or capping later is straightforward lying or bait-and-switch.
- Some argue that monthly/recurring contracts always allow term changes with notice; others counter that “unlimited” should not be used if not literally true or time-bounded.
Impact on Universities and Enterprises
- Universities previously got “unlimited” Google Drive; now many face strict institutional caps (e.g., 100 TB per university), hitting labs with multi‑TB or PB datasets.
- Similar retrenchments reported at Microsoft OneDrive; users see “unlimited” in UI but hit opaque, varying caps.
- Several note this exposes the risk of outsourcing core storage to cloud vendors instead of maintaining on‑prem systems.
Legal, Regulatory, and Ethical Views
- Some advocate regulatory penalties (e.g., FTC/ACCC actions) for misleading “unlimited” marketing, including escalating fines and even criminal liability for willful deception.
- Others suggest small claims or class actions, though there’s skepticism these would materially change big‑tech behavior.
- Broader sentiment: businesses often treat fines as a cost of doing business; more structural consequences or clearer advertising standards may be needed.