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December 13th, 2007$85,000 Cell Phone Bill Gains National Attention

Posted by Editor in bell, Carriers, datarates

It was bound to happen. A cell phone user in Alberta, cleverly thought he’d use his $10 “unlimited” data plan for well, unlimited data usage. He tethered his phone to his computer and happily used the heck out of that connection only to be surprised by an $85,000 phone bill. I guess he should have read the fine print. “Offer not applicable if attaching your phone to a computer, Subject to “acceptable” use restrictions in Terms of Service, including but not limited to consuming “excessive” network capacity or causing our network to be adversely affected.”

Now the story of Piotr Staniaszek’s 85,000 dollar phone bill is gathering serious mainstream media attention. the most popular story of the day at the globeandmail.com.

cbc news: Cellphone user shocked by charges of $85K

Globe and Mail: Cellphone user rings up $85,000 bill

Bell’s spinners are valiantly attempting to unwind this PR gem. According to the news, they’ve offered to cut Piotr’s bill to ‘only’ $5,000 or so. But I have a feeling that with the fresh media attention, they may sweeten that offer further.

What does this mean for wirelessnorth subscribers? Careful how you use your data.

The best/only deal we are aware of for truly unlimited data in Canada are Telus’s connect plans: [details ]. (Though please send us a link if you are aware of other good deals)

Related link of the Day: “We’ve replaced John’s phone bill with…“

Jeff

And now featured on MSNBC as well.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22262994

I particularly like this statement; “Staniaszek, 22, said he used his cell phone to download music and movies onto a computer, an unwise move in a country where mobile carriers charge expensive fees for data.”
http://www.blackbus.org Peter Gulka

I’m going through this right now with the Blackberry 15 “Unlimited” data package, only I have not tethered it to my laptop. I’m just using the included apps and things like Opera Mini. Bell claims it includes unlimited email only through the Blackberry Internet Service, and not data usage.
http://www.mibill.com Sean O’Connor

In the UK you get unlimited data allegedly from Voda and T-Mobile for a slittle as £10.00/mth. READ THE SMALL PRINT about Acceptable Use Policy. Limits your data. Just like the old days with ISP’s. That changed and so will the carriers have to to keep clients.
Data Transfer will see huge growth over the next five years and carriers will have to compete as more and more phones are happy with WIFI linking. When this happens the carriers lose out.

We have clients in Europe who are providing more and more data service based applications as we are one of the few companies that can manage all the multiple billing options required to make data service applications run smoothly.
http://www.iwizz.co.uk/show_product/126/Macally_-_Retractable_Headphones_For_iPod_/ Headphones for ipod

Great post, I really enjoyed it. I will have to bookmark this site for later.
http://www.bestcellphonewebsite.com Erika23

I ended up here while searching about Wirelessnorth.ca » Blog Archive » $85,000 Cell Phone Bill Gains National Attention. thx for the info!

December 13th, 2007$85,000 Cell Phone Bill Gains National Attention

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