Guy with 'unlimited' data plan gets $85,000 bill

[petkow]

You guys might have heard about this already, but just shows you have to be careful with that word 'unlimited'! Apparently the bill was then reduced out of goodwill but it is still a hefty $3,243. I presume these are Canadian Dollars. (€1 is around C$1.5)

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7141935.stm

[bylo]

Originally Posted by petkow

you have to be careful with that word 'unlimited'!

It never was "unlimited" — at least not the way most people understand it.

Cellphone user shocked by charges of $85K

"What happened is that the client used the cellphone as a modem linking it directly to the computer and downloading huge files, ... high-res movies for instance."

Staniaszek said he pays $10 a month for unlimited mobile browsing on his cellphone. "So I figured that was the same thing, but I guess not."

The $10/month for "unlimited mobile browsing" is separate from "used the cellphone as a modem linking it directly to the computer." The latter is charged by the amount of data downloaded. So the only sensible meaning of "unlimited" in this case was the size of the bill

But no matter, the $85k bill is unconscionable. Bell charges $47/month for DSL service that includes 30GB of bandwidth. Although it's not a totally fair comparison, $85k/30GB means Bell charged the poor guy ~$2,800 per GB.

Is it any wonder why Bell is the most hated telephone/Internet carrier in Canada? See e.g. Ellen Roseman's blog (The consumer affairs reporter for the Toronto Star newspaper) and especially the 336 posts (and counting) under Bell Blues.

[dg7feq]

Well, this is typical for people who are not insider or lets say "freaks" like us but normal users .
These flat-rates are only for the mobile browser and the operators detect which engine you use or force special proxy servers. We have such flat rates here from o2 (surf&mail) and also from vodafone. Also there people tried to use the laptop - which works with some tricks - and some got the several thousand euro bills afterwards as they were charged with the regular 19euro/mb standard tariff.

lovely.


Chris

[PhotoJim]

Bear in mind that based on what I know about this case, this fellow was an employee in the remote northern Alberta oilfields. We're not exactly talking downtown London or Vancouver here.

[petkow]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

Bear in mind that based on what I know about this case, this fellow was an employee in the remote northern Alberta oilfields.

In which case I can only imagine what was being downloaded in copious quantities! LOL

[bylo]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

this fellow was an employee in the remote northern Alberta oilfields.

That's what several news stories said. I presume that neither DSL nor cable are available up there and that explains why he had to use a cellphone.

As for what he was downloading, it was probably seismic data. When you're up there without your girlfriend for weeks at a time, when you come, the earth really moves — or so I've heard