Mythbusters' Savage The Latest Socked With Huge 3G Bill > Hardly surprising...

Hardly surprising...

No, you can't fix stupid, and boy have we got a lot of stupid.

At the same time, 3G aircards and other means of getting onto wireless data networks are becoming more and more mainstream, especially with the subsidized netbooks being bundled with them as the article mentions. We're going to be seeing more and more non-tech savvy people getting on board with these devices and not understanding all of the minutiae.

It is therefore my belief that the wireless companies need to do a better job of warning users when bandwidth consumption strays into the "ludicrously expensive" category. And I mean really warning people, like by calling the number associated with the account holder, not just sending a fire-and-forget SMS that isn't guaranteed to be received by the device in question and saying "Due diligence done!" Or, provide the customer with an option to have their service suspended when a particular amount of bandwidth has been consumed, just in case.

But then the wireless companies couldn't profit from your stupidity, ignorance, or honest mistakes...could they.
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"I'll follow the law until it's just stupid." -Ted Nugent

reply to a333
Part of the problem may be a lack of understanding when it comes to what kind of roaming we're talking about.

Lots (all?) of mobile phone companies make a big deal of offering free roaming (for voice within the US). How many sales pitches come with those caveats?

The customer hears free roaming and figures he doesn't have to worry about traveling.
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"Religion allows people who would otherwise be arguing about whether the Death Star could beat a Borg Cube to have a place of respect within society."

reply to a333
Let's not mention that the advertising ACTS like you get default service while overseas and mentions nothing about extra service plans or paying extra.

Look at AT&T's whole "Slad and Veeder" campaign. TV and radio blanketed with these ads about AT&T network worldwide.

I'm betting a lot of people think that means they can use their phones on that network on their existing plans. Bzzzzzzt. Wrong guess. Oh they can.... they'll just get the mega-bill later.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

reply to a333
GB isn't that Great Britain
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---Barney

reply to a333
I'd like to know how 9 Gigs of data transfer is worth that much money? Even if we're talking Antarctica or the moon.

Does the CEO of AT&T personally have to calculate the bill by hand to justify that kind of cost?

Did they have to chase after Adam on his trip, erecting temporary antennas?

We're talking 3 orders of magnitude from a normal bill.

reply to BarneyBadAss
I think that is what the user thought. I think they should start making these idiots pay the bill. To the early post and Ron White "You can fix beauty but you can't fix stupid".

reply to banditws6
I know Obama was shocked his Blackberry didn't work in Saudi Arabia.

Yes, consumers are stupid. If they were smart, no one would pay $15,000 for a handbag or $80,000 for a GM car.

If voters were smart, they wouldn't have elected Stuart Smally either. Or Obama.

or Bush? Twice?

Let's pray Obama has 1 term.

reply to cameronsfx
I concure