  gatorkramKaBOOM BabyPremium
join:2002-07-22
Winterville, NC
kudos:2
 ·Suddenlink
| The future? If we go to metered billing, on normal home internet connections, how many of these stories will be floating around?
What a bunch of crap.
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Give me bandwidth or give me death!
»/testhistory/661871/4f240 | |
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 |  FBGuyyippee ki yayPremium
join:2005-03-19 | Re: The future? $1.99 per megabyte. hmm. a 2gb flashdrive in that logic is worth approximately $4,075
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sbcglobal.net speedtest result 11/11/09 - 5256kbps | |
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| |  r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX | Re: The future? It is cheaper to send by carrier pigeon. | |
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| | |  james
join:2001-02-26
CWCville USA | Re: The future? Faster too. | |
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| | |  Z80APremium
join:2009-11-23 | $20K, could probably take a private jet. | |
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| | | this is pure BS.Verizon would of tanked that owner if it wasn't for the media sticking up.
And just wait till metered internet billing comes ion and these horror stories will be in the 1,000.s.
hacked wireless accounts, multi-person households,etc. | |
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|  DrModemPremium
join:2006-10-19
USA
kudos:1 | said by gatorkram:If we go to metered billing, on normal home internet connections, how many of these stories will be floating around? What a bunch of crap. Home overages on capped plans are like $0.25 per gigabyte overage. Not $2 a megabyte. | |
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| | | | Re: The future? said by DrModem:said by gatorkram:If we go to metered billing, on normal home internet connections, how many of these stories will be floating around? What a bunch of crap. Home overages on capped plans are like $0.25 per gigabyte overage. Not $2 a megabyte. My provider charges $1/gig | |
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| | | | | Re: The future? last year i had 5gig cap for 256k dsl. $89 a month $30per gig over. good morning america didnt save me either.... | |
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| | | | i dont mind 25 cents a gig ... as long as the cap isn't 5GB for a residential connection *cough cough frontier* | |
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| | Grounded until the 64th birthday! I think that kid would be grounded until his 64th birthday ... | |
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 W8ASATieng gi vay?
join:2000-07-31
Dayton, OH | His father's plan wasn't set up for data? If his father didn't have a data plan, how is it that the kid could even download data? Hmmm..... must be more to it than that. Better read the full article.
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Microwave and RF Components at www.ohiomicrowave.com | |
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|  banditws6Shrinking Time and DistancePremium
join:2001-08-18
Frisco, TX
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? The article doesn't go into enough detail for us to really get a handle on this, but it sounds like his dad added his son to his account with a voice plan and a text plan...but no data plan. If this is the case, then data services are still usable with most Verizon phones, at a cost of $1.99 per megabyte (rounded up to the nearest MB). You would have to call VZW and explicitly block data services to prevent this.
Maybe the son thought he was good to browse all he wanted. Maybe dad didn't think his kid would do that.
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"I'll follow the law until it's just stupid." -Ted Nugent | |
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| | W8ASATieng gi vay?
join:2000-07-31
Dayton, OH Reviews:
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? Oh, my! I have T-Mobile, and before recently adding a data plan for my Touch Pro 2, I could not access any kind of data/text/web information at all... unless I removed the SIM card and hooked up to my wireless router. Of course, that wasn't through T-Mo.
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Microwave and RF Components at www.ohiomicrowave.com | |
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|  tvtekLive life to its fullestPremium
join:2004-03-07
Concord, CA | My Verizon plan is not set up for data either, but if you don't block it you will be charged by the minute if you use it without a plan.
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Alumni "Mental State" | |
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| | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1
1 edit | Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? said by tvtek:My Verizon plan is not set up for data either, but if you don't block it you will be charged by the minute if you use it without a plan. You have a grandfathered plan. When they switched to the "Nationwide" plans from "Americas Choice", they got rid of MOU data and replaced it with $1.99 per MB.
edit:unit mistake | |
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| | | tvtekLive life to its fullestPremium
join:2004-03-07
Concord, CA
1 edit | Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? Thanks for the information. My contract is up so before I sign up again I'll make sure that I don't fall into the same problem. 
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Alumni "Mental State" | |
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| | |  SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA | said by patcat88:...they got rid of MOU data and replaced it with $1.99 per KB. Wh-wh-what!?! | |
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| | Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by tvtek:My Verizon plan is not set up for data either, but if you don't block it you will be charged by the minute if you use it without a plan. $21,000 for 1 dollars worth of data?
Yikes ! | |
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| |  RobIn Deo speramus, God Bless the USAPremium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
kudos:2 | The only way I would agree that the parents should pay the $21,000 dollar bill is if Verizon had notified the father after the first $1,000 was changed and the father didn't do anything.
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| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? I disagree. Granted, that would have laid more blame on the father for inaction but Verizon should have cut off data service after the bill reached $200. The father probably would have paid the bill and been able to get his son to complete a few "honey do" projects around the house to compensate. Verizon makes a buck, Dad increases his domestic credit unit balance with Mom and the boy learns a valuable lesson. Everyone wins.
As it stands now, Verizon not only lost the original bill but the bad press makes them look like an insensitive "fat cat" company that is out to get the little guy. | |
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| | | | litephazePremium
join:2005-11-23
San Francisco, CA |  Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data?
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| | | SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA | said by Rob:The only way I would agree that the parents should pay the $21,000 dollar bill is if Verizon had notified the father after the first $1 ,00 0 was changed and the father didn't do anything. Fixed it for you. | |
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| | Reviews:
·Cox HSI
1 edit | The point being...the internet should be set to be blocked unless authorized.
Edit:
After re-reading, I don't think I said what I ment.
What I ment was that when the phone was purchaced, the phone should have defaulted to no internet access of any kind. The dad would have had to give authorization to even be able to see the internet in the first place, thus signing up for an internet plan. That way Jr. would not have be able to "accidently" rack up such a high bill. I believe that was the expectation of the dad. I think Verizon was being preditory and using the standard expectation against the dad. Mostly, I would like to add, that the most the dad should have to pay is twice the highest data rate plan - once for the plan and the second for the "penalty". Any more is straight up preditory. | |
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| KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | and yet data isnt simply disabled when you dont subscribe to it? god if cable companies worked that way people would watch HBO on Demand and then call in and bitch about their bill because they only sub to digital starter. why does Verizon not totally disable Data if you dont sub to it? cant be any harder then shutting off HBO or giving HBO but not Cinemax, TMC, SHO and Starz.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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| | othas3
join:2002-07-15
Los Angeles, CA | Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? Don't just blame Verizon. The pay-by-ignorance business model is employed by other carriers, banks, credit card companies and anyone else that wants to hide behind their TOS when you start screaming.
On a similar note, one day, it suddenly dawned on me the AIM and Y! chats I signed out of on the computer would be continued as text messages on my phone. When I called Verizon, I had gone $125 over. All they did was put me on the higher plan, back dated to the beginning of the cycle. No fuss, fighting, whining or threatening was needed. | |
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|  acid343211Hallo lisa Aus AmerikaPremium
join:2001-08-31
Byron, GA | said by W8ASA:If his father didn't have a data plan, how is it that the kid could even download data? You still can but you will get Charged that's why it was up to the Father to Block it.
I have the Data plan and used 12MB so far...
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Visit-
www.liveleak.com/view?i=e32_1231680425 | |
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| | | | Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? said by acid343211:You still can but you will get Charged that's why it was up to the Father to Block it. I have the Data plan and used 12MB so far... I'd like to know how often VZW actually sits down and explains this to their customers. Probably never. The idea is to make some extra bucks, and then freak out the customer so they buy the data plan for protection against these huge surprise bills. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they actually LIKE the publicity from all this. They forgive the charges, and don't look so bad to the average consumer (who doesn't know what the $21,000 is actually for or what it costs to deliver those services) and a lot of people get freaked out and say, "OMG! I better get a data plan so that doesn't happen to me!" The average idiot doesn't know you can block data because they don't tell you about it and it's hidden in the microscopic fine print. Great for VZW, because now ARPU goes up.
The last time I was in a VZW store, the salesman tried to talk my girlfriend's brother into a Blackberry Pearl. The price was "lower" than the Nokia he was looking at. But then the light went on inside my head and I asked the sales guy if a data plan was required. Bingo! The handset costs $20 less when you "purchase" it, but will cost probably $40 per month more on your bill. This is the kind of trickery they use. | |
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| | | acid343211Hallo lisa Aus AmerikaPremium
join:2001-08-31
Byron, GA
2 edits | Re: His father's plan wasn't set up for data? said by cyclone_z: The average idiot doesn't know you can block data because they don't tell you about it and it's hidden in the microscopic fine print. Great for VZW, because now ARPU goes up. Excuse me you can Block text or Data,why should someone from Verizon should tell you this.
Just log in to your Account online or tell Verizon that you want these Services Blocked.
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www.liveleak.com/view?i=e32_1231680425 | |
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| | | said by W8ASA:If his father didn't have a data plan, how is it that the kid could even download data? Hmmm..... must be more to it than that. Better read the full article. A friend of mine got himself an iPhone last year and his daughter a Blackjack II. He specifically said she was NOT to have data on the phone but ATT let her rack up $700 worth of data charges when the bill came in.
No data plan should equal phone's data capability cut off. | |
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tvtekLive life to its fullestPremium
join:2004-03-07
Concord, CA Reviews:
·Astound Broadband
| Make the parents pay On a Verizon account, the account holder can block downloads for free! I think the parents are totally responsible. I assume now Verizon account holder will pay for this kids parents fault by NOT blocking downloads and/or v-cast services.
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Alumni "Mental State" | |
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See 51 replies to this post |
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| | Well well... In my opinion, it appears that this is a good case for flat rate pricing. 1.4GB != ~$22,000. This is blatantly obvious that it is mere gouging the customer, and not recouping costs for transfer. | |
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| r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX | Re: Well well... The sad part is there are plenty of people on dslr that actually think that gigabytes cost ISPs that much and that we all need to be capped and pay per byte.
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Republicans: less fiscally conservative than that other party. | |
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| |  DarkLogixPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | Re: Well well... ya the ISP has bought the spectrum (or rented it) so they don't pay more because theres more data there and they only lose if a tower is maxed out
so assuming the tower isn't maxed out VZW likely paid a few dimes or less on the gb
now if the tower was maxed (which I don't think a single phone could even do) then people would be having lots of trouble | |
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 koolman2Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK
1 edit | limit these... I think it would be fair to charge up to twice that of the highest tier of a plan available to have an incentive to setup data plans. There is NO way that 1.4 GB costs $21,000 to deliver. If the end user agrees to pay the cost of the highest tier for the offending month, let them pay only the unlimited charge. | |
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| iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Golden, CO
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Comcast
| Re: limit these... 1.4GB costs $21,000 to deliver...to spaaaaaaaace! 
Seriously, I'm pretty sure data is ridiculously expensive to deliver to the Mars rovers. But it certainly isn't that expensive to deliver over a 3G cellular network to a customer. Might cost a buck or two, that's about it. | |
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| | | What a way to "punish" your customer...
That's certainly no way to treat someone whom you respect and want to be in a business relationship with. Perhaps the "fairest" thing I've read so far is to bump the cost to the next higher tier, or even "block" a service that one doesn't subscribe to... I am really so very tired of all of these predatory business practices. It's simply obvious that this is abusive behavior when it happens. It shows how unreasonable the pricing is on these products. It doesn't really matter whether people will (can) pay for it or not. | |
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| | I agree this was insane, but While I agree that the bill should never have been allowed to get to that level (they should have an internal process in place to flag these accounts once they reach a certain dollar amount and contact the customer), I am left to wonder by all the knee jerk comments here: isn't the customer responsible for anything anymore? I agree with another comment that they should have been charged for the unlimited data plan. They used 1.4GB of bandwidth, Verizon incurred costs delivering it to them. The idea that they don't owe Verizon anything is, in my opinion, as wrong as Verizon trying to charge them thousands of dollars for that 1.4GB of data.
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"Don't steal. The government hates competition."
Beyond AM. Beyond FM. XM | |
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 GbcueAlmost P.E.Premium
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:8 | Math Error There's probably a Verizon math joke somewhere in there.
Something about $.02 per kilobyte or .02 cents per kilobyte...
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My Blog 2.0 | |
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 HpowerRoflmao
join:2000-06-08
Glendale, CA | Total lol Another funny story to make me giggle. These thousands of dollars verizon bills are just too funny.
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The Internet is about to go down....it is actually. | |
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 RickezGoinginsane
join:2000-09-02
Three Rivers, MA
·Comcast
| The Fees Should only be applied to consumers who order data plans, no-one wants to pay almost $2 a megabyte. Ever. What is lost in the shuffle here is that Verizon was really trying to make a few bucks from an accidental push of a button.
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Got a one way ticket, going the wrong way.... | |
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|  Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA
kudos:3 | Re: The Fees "batshit insane" ... I like that Karl | |
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| |  CheesePremium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
kudos:1 | Re: The Fees said by Jim_in_VA:"batshit insane" ... I like that Karl LOL! It made me laugh! Way to go Karl!  | |
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| | |  naseqp
join:2003-11-02
Fernandina Beach, FL | Re: The Fees No matter the who what when where.......I was considering Verizon.....not any more. | |
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| | | | CheesePremium
join:2003-10-26
Naples, FL
kudos:1 | Re: The Fees said by naseqp:No matter the who what when where.......I was considering Verizon.....not any more. Nerp, me either | |
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| | Typical VZW Employees. They're all over web even HoFo
It's usually just the 18-22 year old Verizon retail store idiots who agree with all stupid actions done by their employer.
They have zero sense of what is considered reasonable and will defend everything in the name of capitalism.... that is until they get fired and they realize the meaning of getting screwed by their former love.
They forget that capitalism and the right to make a profit doesn't mean it's okay to gouge the customer nor is the customer supposed to cushion their risky business decisions with increased ETF's | |
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 panth1The Coyote
join:2000-12-11
Boca Raton, FL | Phantom fee? Did Verizon remember to also add their $2 phantom fee on the bill as well. | |
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| | | Re: Phantom fee? I sure hope so. We wouldn't want Verizon to be short-changed here. | |
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| | | | Re: Phantom fee? said by Karl Bode:I sure hope so. We wouldn't want Verizon to be short-changed here. Of course not. It would be just terrible if they couldn't afford that third summer home, or had to settle for an 80-foot yacht instead of the 100-foot one they need. | |
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 BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | REAL data plan? Apparently, the father made the bankruptcy-worthy mistake of failing to set the family up on a real data plan
Ok Verizon idea of "real" data plans are as follows
A) $10 per month for 25 MB, $512 per GB overage.
B) $20 per month for 75 MB, $307.20 per GB overage.
C) $60 per month for 5 GB, $51.20 per GB overage.
Anyone that calls ANY of these REAL data plans is an idiot. Let review the cost of each plan in said case. For 1.4 GB of useage
A) $714.30
B) $427.58
C) $60
ALL of them are a joke. | |
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Z80APremium
join:2009-11-23 Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| It's on VZ Obviously this dad skipping on the bill is of no consequence to Verzion. It doesn't cost VZ more than a few bucks to deliver 1.4GB of data over their cellular network. If it actually cost VZ a bundle and margins for cell data were low there would be tons of protections stopping people from running up their bills just like credit card companies freeze up your account if they see suspicious activity and Amex declines purchases when you supposedly have "no preset spending limit".
Contract or no contract, VZ would have a hard time explaining to a judge how getting that $21K wouldn't be unjust enrichment, particularly when they charge $60/mo (or whatever) for 5GB/mo plans. | |
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 jazzy_
join:2004-01-27
Charleston, SC |  yeesh!
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| BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: yeesh! said by jazzy_:There are people really defending VZW right to charge 21,000 dollars for 1.4gigs??? Holy crap! Metered evangelist take note, this is your future. They are punishing people for not joining the all you can eat buffet(5GB max) so that they can subsidize the unlimited plans using people that wouldn't use their devices much. I hate to break it to you, but their 5 GB plan is NOT all you can eat. After 5 GB you get charged $51.20 per GB overage. | |
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| | | | Re: yeesh! If you only use data on your smartphone, then there is no hard limit. The 5GB is only there if you officially tether, or have a laptop card of some sort. | |
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 PTB
@charter.com | $?? Am I doing something wrong or did I miss something in the story? No matter how I crunch the numbers I still can't see how 1,400MB multiplied by $1.99 per MB equals $21,917.
Apparently I was missing something. I looked at several postings of the story. All were quoting the UPI story that was linked on this page. I could not find any that told how much bandwidth was actually used. My guess would be around 10,966MB. Still not very much if you watch a lot of videos. | |
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| BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: $?? you're right the math doesn't add up. Now 10.4 GB DOES add up. Someone forgot a zero. | |
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BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Hey Karl it's 10.4 GB not 1.4 GB 1.4 GB X 1.99 per MB = $2921
10.4 GB X 1.99 per MB = $21,913 | |
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 pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Stupid No credit card company gives a customer unlimited credit. Why should cell companies do this, especially if they end up forgiving the charges anyway?
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"Net Neutrality" zealots - the people you can thank for your capped Internet service. | |
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| KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | Re: Stupid said by pnh102:No credit card company gives a customer unlimited credit. Why should cell companies do this, especially if they end up forgiving the charges anyway? add to that some CC companies wont allow the transaction to continue if its usage goes outside the norm for your account.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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| | Excellent! According to UC San Diego, the average American consumes 34GB of data a day. So by Verizon's reckoning, you owe $68,000 per day, or about $2 million per month. Better start saving!
BTW, data is blocked on my kids phone, but that has not stopped Verizon billing him for data usage. | |
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