$15,500 "Facebook" Bill

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Whoopsie! Pays to know what your kids are up to...

A teenager racked up a £9,000 mobile phone bill on holiday abroad by sending her friends back in Britain daily updates on Facebook.
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Regardless of the circumstances, this qualifies to me under the "rent is too damn high" principle - there is no conceivable way that telcos can charge that much with a straight face. $20 a megabyte for international data is absurd. :eek:
 
This is why I feel bad for parents that have kids that know more about tech than the parents!

lol a $9,000 bill says otherwise!
 
Sending wireless data from Jamaica to GB isn't likely cheap for the telcos themselves. There's a lot of hops going on there!
 
Ruoh said:
Sending wireless data from Jamaica to GB isn't likely cheap for the telcos themselves. There's a lot of hops going on there!
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Yeah, true, BUT not GBP9000 "not cheap"...
 
Do they FedEx you a stick of butter and knee/elbow pads with the bill to soften the blow?
 
Dad got it knocked down to $500 (well, GBP anyway). I don't understand, article says he declined the extra roaming when he got a cap notice. Or maybe he just thought he did, or maybe the kid already clicked on the "screw it give it to me" agreement.

Even for 500 I would still beat the kid with her phone. Or if that's not your thing, put it in a blender. Will your iPhone blend, little girl? Yes it will.
 
Makaveli@BETA said:
This is why I feel bad for parents that have kids that know more about tech than the parents!

lol a $9,000 bill says otherwise!
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9000 quid is the same as 9000 dollars: too damn high. As for wreaking the girl's iphone... definitely confiscate it!
 
This is the downside of giving smartphones to dumb people ... it isn't a big deal to turn off data roaming with most phones ... that still allows you to use WiFi for important stuff like Facebook and email :p

Of course, after watching 75 people do respond all to an email message that actually got sent to a distribution this morning (so I got copied on 75 replies saying, "What's this", "Take me off", "Stop replying to all", etc) I am not surprised when I see people that are too dumb for tech :cool:
 
Well, you know. Smart phone, dumb user. The dad isn't that dumb in the story actually, but still.
 
/sigh/
Telcos need a provision to pre-cap charges at a resonable amount unless otherwise authorized by the account holder. Likely will never happen as that will probably cut into their overages profits however. :-(

Props to the company though for handling before it exploded into negative press.
 
The $9k bill is bullshit. The fact that they knocked it down to $500 tells you right away the whole thing is pure profit. The roaming rate is only intended to get you to sign up for whatever international plan they're pushing, it has nothing to do with the actual cost of service.

If anyone here really thinks it costs $20 to send a megabyte of data from Jamaica to Great Britain, you're an imbecile. You're an imbecile if you think it costs $2.
 
The first thing I do when I land overseas is remove my US sim and get a prepaid sim. Except for my last trip to Asia this past December- TMobile's free unlimited anywhere text and free 200GB data really came in handy.
 
Parents need to reel in their kids habits. You're in fucking Jamaica, act like you're having a good time on vacation and give everyone the recap when you get back home.
 
Aluisious said:
The $9k bill is bullshit. The fact that they knocked it down to $500 tells you right away the whole thing is pure profit. The roaming rate is only intended to get you to sign up for whatever international plan they're pushing, it has nothing to do with the actual cost of service.

If anyone here really thinks it costs $20 to send a megabyte of data from Jamaica to Great Britain, you're an imbecile. You're an imbecile if you think it costs $2.
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The IOTs can charge whatever the hell they want to transfer the data.. it's not like the provider has a say in every step of the process.
 
Sounds like he deserved it and all by letting his child bring her phone with her, I mean doesn't he know that there's no way in hell a teenager can actually enjoy being somewhere anymore (at least not without posting it to facebook)

My cousin in the same way, went to Maui for the first time, been getting play by play updates as they happen... *sigh*
 
Ruoh said:
Sending wireless data from Jamaica to GB isn't likely cheap for the telcos themselves. There's a lot of hops going on there!
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That's true but considering you can get a 100/5 Mbps connection there for under $100(usd) I doubt that's the real problem.
 
Why did they let them take the cell phone to begin with? When I go into countires I get a local one for calls only and thats really all you need for emergency purposes.... People who can't live without internet....
 
I think its sad carriers are allowed to rape the customer with such crazy data rates when you go off network.
That being said, if you know its going to happen, or that it could happen, there should be some type of web based settings someone could use to restrict their settings or the settings on their kids' phones instead of just a roaming on/ off under the data section of the phone.
 
Aluisious said:
The $9k bill is bullshit. The fact that they knocked it down to $500 tells you right away the whole thing is pure profit. The roaming rate is only intended to get you to sign up for whatever international plan they're pushing, it has nothing to do with the actual cost of service.

If anyone here really thinks it costs $20 to send a megabyte of data from Jamaica to Great Britain, you're an imbecile. You're an imbecile if you think it costs $2.
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I agree.... if they knocked it down to $500, that is probably all it cost. They are NOT going to LOSE money.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Sounds like he deserved it and all by letting his child bring her phone with her, I mean doesn't he know that there's no way in hell a teenager can actually enjoy being somewhere anymore (at least not without posting it to facebook)

My cousin in the same way, went to Maui for the first time, been getting play by play updates as they happen... *sigh*
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EXACTLY!!!!

My wife and I go on tropical vacations every year. (sanity maintenance having kids and all that...) Maui, Playa del Carmen, etc. After a full day of body surfing, jumping off waterfalls, drinking, and otherwise playing in the sun, we might hit the phones for a few minutes before going to sleep. (and then mostly because of the kids, though my wife will post a pic or two) The only reason you should even have your phone with you is just to take pics in the first place (or have on hand for an emergency.) People do not seem to get the concept of unplugging for vacation. It's sad.
 
J3RK said:
EXACTLY!!!!

My wife and I go on tropical vacations every year. (sanity maintenance having kids and all that...) Maui, Playa del Carmen, etc. After a full day of body surfing, jumping off waterfalls, drinking, and otherwise playing in the sun, we might hit the phones for a few minutes before going to sleep. (and then mostly because of the kids, though my wife will post a pic or two) The only reason you should even have your phone with you is just to take pics in the first place (or have on hand for an emergency.) People do not seem to get the concept of unplugging for vacation. It's sad.
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Great post.

What I usually recommend is only have the parents take 1 phone for emergencies.

Then take an actual Real Camera for you and the kids to take phones and movies with then at the end of the day you can sit in the hotel on wifi and upload all your photo's if you can't wait until you vacation is done to do it.

This alone would have saved many stupid parents thousands of dollars in that scam these phone companies are running.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Parents need to reel in their kids habits. You're in fucking Jamaica, act like you're having a good time on vacation and give everyone the recap when you get back home.
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The same people video tape a concert instead of watching it. Enjoy the experience. Have a good time. Take a few pictures, but some people focus too much on sharing the experience, they don't have an emotional experience.

$9000 is a bit much. With most everything hitting the internet anyway, there is no reason for costs to be that high...
 
The EU's making moves to stop carries from overcharging like this, because it actually costs barely anything over what an in-country bit of usage would cost behind the scenes.
 
MrLonghair said:
The EU's making moves to stop carries from overcharging like this, because it actually costs barely anything over what an in-country bit of usage would cost behind the scenes.
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It's only effective within the EU though. Jamaica isn't part of the EU.
 
It didn't cost 500gbp either. Probably more like 50gbp, they are still making a huge profit.
 
Aluisious said:
Jamaica is not transmitting data by unicorn farts. It doesn't cost them significantly more than it does anyone else.
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No, but the EU law doesn't effect data transmitted by other carriers outside the EU.
 
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