Canadian hit with whopping 85,000-dollar cellphone bill

[biker9075]

OTTAWA (AFP) - An oil field worker in western Canada was shocked this month to be charged 85,000 dollars for surfing the Internet on his new mobile phone, local media said Thursday.

Calgary resident Piotr Staniaszek, 22, had signed up for Bell Canada's cellular phone service at about 150 dollars per month, with unlimited mobile Web browsing.

He believed the plan allowed him to use the phone to connect with his computer, using it as a modem to download a lot of data, high-definition movies and other bandwidth-hungry applications.

But when his first bill arrived in the mail, Staniaszek realized to his horror that the company was charging him on a per-kilobyte basis for Internet downloads.

"I didn't know what to think. I thought there was probably a mistake," he told public broadcaster CBC. "I told them I wasn't aware that I would be charged for hooking up my phone to the computer."

A spokesman for Bell said the company will adjust Staniaszek's bill to 3,243 dollars, as "a measure of goodwill."

But Staniaszek said he still plans to try and fight it, "because I didn't know about the extra charges. Nobody explained any of this to me."

"The thing is, they've cut my phone off for being like 100 dollars over," he told CBC News. "Here, I'm 85,000 dollars over and nobody bothered to give me a call and tell me what was going on."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071214/wl_canada_afp/canadainternettelecomoffbeat

[Roco]

:2funny:He believed the plan allowed him to use the phone to connect with his computer, using it as a modem to download a lot of data, high-definition movies and other bandwidth-hungry applications.,

I guess he didn't read the small print , I think he got of lightly  .

so what does he want with his apeal ? all for free? 

[Dark06]

i think some1 should appel wireless use on my phone is 40cents per kb

look heres the size of a regular 4 min song

5,923 kb if i did the conversion correctly its 5.65 MB

so yeah 5923 x.040 = $2 370

i might have donr the conversion wrong but if i didnt and if im correct thtas a shitload to pay

one time i dl like a 25 kB ringtown and was force to pay like $12 for it plus the $2 it cost me

i could have bought a whole cd 4 that and that was the last time i bought a ringtone its not worth it

its crappy quality anyway

[Stank_Ho]

Thats bull. The cell phone companies need to alert people to abnormally large charges, like credit card companies do, just to be sure they're legit. They let this guy rack up this enormous bill. I mean the guy did a lot of assuming on his part, but there should be something in place that red flags the company to investigate huge charges like that to make sure they're valid.

[justinlay]

Thats bull. The cell phone companies need to alert people to abnormally large charges, like credit card companies do, just to be sure they're legit. They let this guy rack up this enormous bill. I mean the guy did a lot of assuming on his part, but there should be something in place that red flags the company to investigate huge charges like that to make sure they're valid.

I agree with you.

[tommie gorman]

Ain't that the truth. But come on, he was trying to beat the system. Its what always happens. And he does work for an oil company. So he'll be ok. I am sure if he worked for McDonalds, he'd have gotten off cheaper.  What choice would there be. 

[starship_troopers]

Ain't that the truth. But come on, he was trying to beat the system. Its what always happens. And he does work for an oil company. So he'll be ok. I am sure if he worked for McDonalds, he'd have gotten off cheaper.  What choice would there be. 

hell Tommie, if he worked for McDonalds, hed have gotten off alot cheaper cause he'd just give an extra large fries to the judge next time he went through the drive though. 

[saygoodie]

It was probably the first time that had ever happened to that particular company.