Canadian’s $85,000 phone bill
p2pnet news | Mobiles:- Whoa!!!
An $85,000 cellphone bill?
No, it’s not a typo. It’s what Piotr Staniaszek, 22, from Grande Prairie, Alberta, saw when he got a Bell Canada bill for two months’ use of his Motorola KRZR.
Bell didn’t make the rates clear, “and should have at least alerted him when his bill started climbing into the thousands,” he told the CanWest News Service, which goes on:
“He was using his cellphone as an Internet modem for his computer, believing it was part of his mobile web browsing package.
“He said he started using the phone as modem in October. His November bill hit him with a $60,000 charge. Then it grew to $85,000.
But, “They never called me when it got up to $1,000 or $2,000 or $30,000 and I kept using the Internet,” he says in the story.
According to the Globe and Mail, in what it calls a “goodwill” gesture, Bell Mobility offered to reduce the charges to match the best data plan available for using cellphones as a modem, says company spokesman Mark Langton.
This broiught the bill down from $85,000 to $3,243, says the story.
But, “So far, Mr. Staniaszek has opted to fight the charge, his father said,” the Globe & Mail says.
Meanwhile, Langton said Staniaszek, “downloaded the equivalent of 10 high resolution movies in one month,” says CanWest.
Also See:
CanWest News Service, – A Chapter of `Jackass` as Web Test, December 13, 2007
Globe and Mail – Calgary cellphone user rings up $85,000 bill, December 13, 2007
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December 13th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
There should be an equivalent of Darwin’s award but for people who are unfortunately still among us.
When he got his November bill, $60,000 was not alerting enough..All right, then, let’s see what happens next month….
Smart, very smart…
December 13th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
“When he got his November bill, $60,000 was not alerting enough..”
The article linked says that the bill was 60k. They called Bell, and were informed that the bill had jumped to 85. It wasn’t from another month’s use.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
I’m sorry to say this but…
Idiot, mobile web browsing is expensive and really not worth it unless your office is paying for it.
Also using your cell phone as a modem is a stupid idea anyways.
December 13th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
It is expensive because telcos are on their laurels, no competition – no incentive to lower the prices like in Europe and Baltic states
December 13th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
And it is slow…when you have broadband for $50, a dial up for $3,000 deserves the Noble prize!
December 13th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Satellite-based Internet is less than THAT!
December 13th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Yet another example of an oligopoly fucking the customers.
Canada needs wireless competition.
December 13th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Here where I’m at, I can get a ~2Mbps all you can use wireless Internet connection for only 6000yen or about $60 US.
I am limited in where I can use it (Only in Major cites across Japan, and not over seas at the moment), but I can watch a decent video stream from my home PC @1Mbps, while on the train.
I agree with the person who mentioned that he should get the Darwin award, but I am surprised that the phone company didn’t warn him before that. I have a friend in Canada, who has to make a deposit, every time his phone bill breaks the $300 barrier, before he can call or receive any calls again.
While I think that their should be safe-guards towards the accidental overuse of a cell phone, I still think that this may be a case of racking up the bills, and then calling foul to get his Internet connection fees to go away on a technicality.
But, that’s
Just my two cents
December 13th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
are there no free wi-fi hotspots in canada?
December 14th, 2007 at 4:47 am
UNLIMITED TIME CELLULAR
Here a $49 per month unlimited time cellular phone service is available. A peson can use the cel phone 24 hours for each day of the month without additional charges. Which of course means that the actual cot to the phone company is less and at $49 it is still profitable.
Why should anyone pay much more than whatever is offered for unlimited service is beyond me.
Is anyone offering unlimited time cellular service in Canada? Whatever they charge for that service should be a guide to the maximum charge allowed when a person subscribes to a limited time service.
I will buy that the naximum bill for local call use be 2 to 3x the cost of unlimited service, or $100 to $150. The cell company will still make a profit.
Just as Internet time is no longer limited by ISP and regular phone service time is no longer limited, as these were limited at one time, its about time that cellular phone time not be limited. Of course, most governments are too busy looking elsewhere.