1 edit | What happened to personal responsiblity? Everyone wants to use the service but does not like to pay for it when it get's out of hand. The price might be high but the person who downloaded the movie has some responsibilities too. | |
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 HpowerRoflmao
join:2000-06-08
Glendale, CA | Ok that's just crazy But funny in the same time. I got a feeling the guy didn't know what the hell he was doing. I wonder why the carrier didn't cut off his damn service say after he passed like a $1000 bill? Such a poor management system it must be they have in place. They really need to work on that...and people need to learn how to frigging read contracts.
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The Internet is about to go down....it is actually. | |
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1 edit | Re: Ok that's just crazy It takes time for roaming charges to get to the "home" carrier before they can cut off someone. If the charges are related to downloading the movie, it was long complete before ATT or whomever knew his bill got out of hand. | |
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| |  RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY | Re: Ok that's just crazy said by Youngjm:It takes time for roaming charges to get to the "home" carrier before they can cut off someone. Then there is a MAJOR design flaw in the roaming system software. If I try to use my ATM card in an ATM that is not run by my Bank, that ATM will call my Bank and verify that I have enough money in my account to handle the Machine Limit before handing over the money. Why when I connect to a CellCo via roaming is my CellCo not contacted to get a limit on roaming charges? That would handle the situation as well as making the charge IMMEDIATE (just like my ATM daily withdrawals are limited and the withdrawal hits my account as I get the money). | |
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| | | | Something tells me it wasn't just the movie that did him in. It's very possible he was gradually building a substantial bill over the course of his trip. That said I can't imagine there is a substantial delay in the usage information being transferred over. The carrier could have prevented this IMO. But then again, why would they if it has the potential to be a cash cow? Haven't you always wondered why it can take 24 hours for data usage to show up on your online account statement when using your own carriers towers? It's not because they can't, it's because they won't, and they just make you believe they can't. They want you to be clueless of your usage in the hopes that within that 24 hour period you will have gone over your allotment allowing them to collect on it. I somewhat equate it to my bank holding a payroll check for 5 business days.
Let's face it, in this day and age it doesn't take 5 or more days for a check to clear. Please, we all know that takes a day if not minutes. This is especially true if you have two bank accounts at two different banks which allows you to see both sides of the transaction. You deposit the check you write to yourself in one account and a 5 day hold is placed on it. The very next day you rise and shine and notice the funds have already been withdrawn from your other bank. So that means bank "A" already has the money, my money, but I still have to wait 5 days, or longer if the 5th day lands on a weekend, before I can actually touch my money. Years ago I would have understood this practice because the bank has a right to protect itself against insufficient funds. But in today's world I am not so understanding. I mean there are programs out there that can notify my folks 3,000 miles away that I am taking a dump while I am still on the pot!
Why do they hold it? Well, the reason is obvious. They do it to accumulate 5 days worth of interest. Now my deposit alone isn't going to make them a substantial amount of money, but it certainly will if it is added to millions more in my predicament. So while the bank is making some extra cash on my money, I'm dumpster diving just to feed myself. That is a true story by the way, sans the dumpster diving. Truth is I was laid off at work and collecting a meager salary from unemployment. Instead of dumpster diving I had to swallow my pride and beg family and friends to lend me money until my check "cleared".
Anyway, the fact is that many big companies prey on consumer ignorance, and frankly there is no shortage of it. Companies need to act responsibly and set limits even if that means sacrificing a few bucks. After all, it is better to cut someone off at $1000 than it is to let them rack up a $64,000 bill. At $64,000 you are just asking for a default. A smart company would have safeguards such as this in their contracts with other carriers both foreign and domestic. It not only protects the consumer, but it also protects themselves. Not just from a potential write-off, but also from the loss of an otherwise dependable customer. After all, even if the customer admits their mistake and pays the $64,000, I guarantee you they will not stick around. Not because of the principle, but because they won't be able to afford their mortgage or car note, let alone a cell service after shelling out that kind of cash.
As people on here have stated, the demand for wireless data is increasing and the probability of people exceeding their caps and utilizing data on foreign carriers is going to increase as well. While profitability in the short term is a given, one has to look at the future as well. Just look at what got us into this current economic crisis? Stop preying on the stupid because sooner or later stupid comes full circle.
Sorry for the long post! | |
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| | Things could be worse... He needs to look at the bright side. He could have gotten the swine flu while in Mexico.  | |
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| | Yeah right  Like this person and others in the future are actually gonna pay many thousands in overages, heh, that's a joke. I'd say sue me, and good luck on your justification in court. In the long run this is going to be a hell of a lot more trouble than whats its worth to carriers. Good luck with that. | |
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 MaggsPremium
join:2002-11-29
Woodside, NY | Data caps They should not have allowed him to roam on the network in Mexico. Carriers could send a text message stating per min/per kb charges when they enter Mexico's cell network. | |
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| | | Re: Data caps First, the consumer has an obligation to be educated about goods and services before buying them (remember the old saying, caveat emptor). Unless this guy has been living under a rock, he should already have known that roaming is more expensive, especially when abroad and especially 3G data. There have been enough stories like this (or even earlier horror stories, with slightly smaller bills, for regular cellular voice roaming). The reality is, unless you're traveling abroad with a company-equipped phone or 3G card, it's best to leave the 3-G phone and/or data card home. (And be prepared for the consequences if you misuse corporate accounts by stupidly downloading a huge amount of data--say a movie--for personal use.) I'm losing all sympathy for the people who do this. It's been well publicized enough times now, it's hard to believe people using 3G data aren't sensitive to the possibility of incurring a huge bill when doing this abroad.
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| | MaggsPremium
join:2002-11-29
Woodside, NY | Re: Data caps They should shoot him a text saying: You are now roaming on X network. International Roaming and Data Charges of X will apply. | |
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| | Price per meg Ok if the download was 4.7gig or roughly 4812 megs.
That comes out to about $3.53 a meg.
Time Warner would be so jealous they only wanted to charge $1 extra per gig. | |
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slckusrPremium
join:2003-03-17
Maumee, OH
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T Midwest
| ignorance is no excuse. For something that gets explained to them.
Mexico is international. which leads me to believe he would need to call his cell phone service to get international dialing enabled ( at least with my employer).
At which time the customer would be told about various charges etc... while he was out of the country.
Personal responsibility is an amazing thing, sadly no one has any when it come to a big bill. instead its the carriers fault for following the policies and procedures they have set up.
Hope his bill gets sent to collections. | |
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 BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Are people stupid? If you think at&t "only" maked up thier cost 400% or whatever I have a gold mine in the Everglades t sell you. Do you HONESTLY think it cost at&t $17,000 to provide this guy with wall-e? even if it was in HD that would be 6 GB max. Since when does at&t pay nearly $3000 per GB?
Even at&t domestic overage rates are outrageous at $503 per GB. yet every one get their panties in a knot of TW $1 per GB overage fees. | |
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| | no tears for idots I ain't in love with the telecoms, and while I have no idea (nor do I care) what the real cost of this was, this guy deserves what he gets. As long as we keep protecting the morons from the consequences of their actions, they will continue to propagate. I have and use a wireless card every day (using it now). Absent the activities excluded by the tos 5, gigs is plenty. Never come close, and I still have an "unlimited" account. | |
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| | | Re: no tears for idots Everyone should be responsible for their actions. It is not a secret that charges outside a plan calling area is costly. Another problem is the attention the media gives to morons like this one but the reality is that people do like to be entertain by these media clowns.
When media and us start ignoring these idiots and stop calling their stupid actions issues or problems they will learn. This just does not deserve news mention sor the time and space that it was given here. | |
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| | It's a standards and user interface failure International roaming charges for data are ridiculous and remind me of the days of X.25 yet with modern data sizes which guarantees ridiculous bills. Yet the problem is completely solvable even if the carriers insist on being abusive with pricing. Why haven't open source rebels fixed this (at least on Linux and Windows)?
This kind of huge-bill problem is a gross failure on the part of user interface designers making consumer products for non-technical consumers. Given that Telecom is a regulated industry it could also be solved by government regulation requiring the Telecom to disclose the cost of any metered session (for example).
Handset makers, device driver writers or PC Operating System vendors could all also be held responsible for this equally with carriers. They've built and distributed millions of stupid "smart" products. All of the above are in general not designed assuming the network is a scarce, metered resource and hence do not provide users visibility into it's consumption. Unlike other scarce resources (like battery) they are also not obsessive about saving bandwidth. The fact that domestic plans are often all you can eat exacerbates this blind spot in design. Even Apple has blown this in their design of the iPhone, and Google with mobile Google Maps which is a huge data hog.
The guy in this article could have been the silent victim of a similar bill if Windows Update decided he needed new software from Microsoft and he might never have known he was even consuming vast quantities of data until the bill arrived.
That said, accessing all EDGE and 3G networks has a login function and that process allows them to know who the subscriber is.
There is no reason why the mobile device could not take advantage of knowing
- What it's home carrier is
- Whether it is roaming
- Look up the roaming rate in a db on the Internet
- Provide the user periodic status about their usage
- A calculator function to estimate costs
If they were smart they'd even be able to find out from the operating system which of multiple applications are causing data transfer and be able to individually deny or authorize applications to cause data activity on a metered network.
And if even more clever, the mobile device could figure out where it is by GPS and if no GPS function is available in the device, then know where it is by carrier + tower ID. From that it should be able to tell the user where they can most conveniently buy a prepaid local SIM card and alternate device (if the phone/PC card is carrier locked) how much cheaper that would be. | |
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| | Start a new life For $62,000 it would be cheaper to abandon all your financial obligations, move to Mexico, and start a new life. 
Prepaid phones have their advantages. The only thing I find that sucks about Tracfone is the phones are always reconditioned and battery life is lousy. They don't offer new phones for people willing to pay a little extra. | |
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| | man this site is short-sided! With all the AT&T bashing you would think they were the ones that did it. I watched the CNN video and it wasn't clear to me that there was a cell phone company named.
I guess repeating it often enough makes it true right karl? | |
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bn1221
join:2009-04-29
Cortland, NY | Crazy While I agree the overages are outrageous people really need to start using their brains and thinking about things.
Yes, I could watch YouTube on my Blackberry Curve. Why would I want to? Why would I want to pirate a divx copy of Wall-E (which most likely took 8 hours to download) when I can rent it for 3 bucks? | |
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