iPhone: weak Wi-Fi leads to hefty bill.
-
San Francisco teen Ashton Finegold was floored when his dad told him he had racked up a $2,000 phone bill in one month by going over his plan's data cap.
-
Bad decision on Apple's part to have it on by default.
-
@brianlittlejohn said:
Bad decision on Apple's part to have it on by default.
Bullshit. Bad parenting. It is impossible to unknowingly blow over you cell plan package with any of the top 4 carriers. The parent willingly ignored notices.
From the article.
https://i.imgur.com/gPXGyO6.jpg -
Eh.... well I can see how it would be incredibly annoying to not have service.. but really this is on the family for having crap WiFi coverage.
-
@brianlittlejohn said:
Bad decision on Apple's part to have it on by default.
Also, like any Apple hater will point out, Android has had this feature for a while. Apple did not invent it.
-
Didn't read the article, but when the first mentioned this feature in one of the iOS 7 beta's i thought it was a bad idea to have it on by default.
-
@JaredBusch I fail to see how I implied apple invented it...
-
@brianlittlejohn said:
Didn't read the article, but when the first mentioned this feature in one of the iOS 7 beta's i thought it was a bad idea to have it on by default.
This is disabled by default on Android (at least it is on my phone / carrier... Verizon Galaxy Note 4).
-
@JaredBusch said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
Bad decision on Apple's part to have it on by default.
Bullshit. Bad parenting. It is impossible to unknowingly blow over you cell plan package with any of the top 4 carriers. The parent willingly ignored notices.
From the article.
https://i.imgur.com/gPXGyO6.jpgThat is his own damn fault then.
-
@JaredBusch said:
@brianlittlejohn said:
Bad decision on Apple's part to have it on by default.
Bullshit. Bad parenting. It is impossible to unknowingly blow over you cell plan package with any of the top 4 carriers. The parent willingly ignored notices.
From the article.
https://i.imgur.com/gPXGyO6.jpgThis is why some people just shouldn't use technology. All the click happy Windows users with 100 toolbars got cell phones and this type of crap happens.
-
This took a lot of missteps for this to happen, which is why this one kid made the news.
- Using his phone as an entertainment device (not a mistake, but a requirement here was that he wasn't using a tablet, computer or other device.)
- Didn't check his settings.
- Has AT&T
- Has a capped plan on AT&T
- Got an alert that the above was going to be a problem and decided to wait till the bill came to see how bad it would be.
- Has a capped plan and does not manually check his usage.
- Leaves his cell radio on when he is intending to be on WiFi (I turn mine off for better call quality and battery life and to prevent accidents like this.)
None of those alone is a big mistake. But combine them all, you have a risk of big issues. It took quite a bit of not caring and putting in zero effort to get to where they ended up.
-
@scottalanmiller said:
None of those alone is a big mistake. But combine them all, you have a risk of big issues. It took quite a bit of not caring and putting in zero effort to get to where they ended up.
The Swiss Cheese Theory.
-
I believe everyone is at fault here, the son, the father, and AT&T. Everyone already mentioned why the father and son our at fault, but AT&T should have proactive monitors that send out redflags once a data bill hits a certain threshold. Especially if the family's typical phone bill is $150 and all the sudden is $2000. That should send a redflag somewhere and something should be done to ensure the customer really wants to accept the outrageous data charges.
-
@IRJ said:
I believe everyone is at fault here, the son, the father, and AT&T. Everyone already mentioned why the father and son our at fault, but AT&T should have proactive monitors that send out redflags once a data bill hits a certain threshold. Especially if the family's typical phone bill is $150 and all the sudden is $2000. That should send a redflag somewhere and something should be done to ensure the customer really wants to accept the outrageous data charges.
But they did, right?
-
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I believe everyone is at fault here, the son, the father, and AT&T. Everyone already mentioned why the father and son our at fault, but AT&T should have proactive monitors that send out redflags once a data bill hits a certain threshold. Especially if the family's typical phone bill is $150 and all the sudden is $2000. That should send a redflag somewhere and something should be done to ensure the customer really wants to accept the outrageous data charges.
But they did, right?
a single text message
-
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I believe everyone is at fault here, the son, the father, and AT&T. Everyone already mentioned why the father and son our at fault, but AT&T should have proactive monitors that send out redflags once a data bill hits a certain threshold. Especially if the family's typical phone bill is $150 and all the sudden is $2000. That should send a redflag somewhere and something should be done to ensure the customer really wants to accept the outrageous data charges.
But they did, right?
a single text message
how much hounding does one need. The message was sent and received and they didn't care. I don't see how AT&T has any more responsibility here. They have the status on the phone itself, they have an account status AND a courtesy, but unnecessary, text alert that they were being foolish. How many layers must AT&T do?
-
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I believe everyone is at fault here, the son, the father, and AT&T. Everyone already mentioned why the father and son our at fault, but AT&T should have proactive monitors that send out redflags once a data bill hits a certain threshold. Especially if the family's typical phone bill is $150 and all the sudden is $2000. That should send a redflag somewhere and something should be done to ensure the customer really wants to accept the outrageous data charges.
But they did, right?
a single text message
how much hounding does one need. The message was sent and received and they didn't care. I don't see how AT&T has any more responsibility here. They have the status on the phone itself, they have an account status AND a courtesy, but unnecessary, text alert that they were being foolish. How many layers must AT&T do?
I would think an alert at every GB over the limit would be appreciated by customers.
-
@BRRABill said:
The Swiss Cheese Theory.
A phrase taken from this article, which is one of the best articles I think I've ever read (it won a Pulitzer that year), and also one of the most heartbreaking as a parent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549_pf.html
-
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I believe everyone is at fault here, the son, the father, and AT&T. Everyone already mentioned why the father and son our at fault, but AT&T should have proactive monitors that send out redflags once a data bill hits a certain threshold. Especially if the family's typical phone bill is $150 and all the sudden is $2000. That should send a redflag somewhere and something should be done to ensure the customer really wants to accept the outrageous data charges.
But they did, right?
a single text message
how much hounding does one need. The message was sent and received and they didn't care. I don't see how AT&T has any more responsibility here. They have the status on the phone itself, they have an account status AND a courtesy, but unnecessary, text alert that they were being foolish. How many layers must AT&T do?
I would think an alert at every GB over the limit would be appreciated by customers.
I don't think that it would. Maybe some, but only some. And whether or not it would be appreciated doesn't in any way make AT&T at fault.
-
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I believe everyone is at fault here, the son, the father, and AT&T. Everyone already mentioned why the father and son our at fault, but AT&T should have proactive monitors that send out redflags once a data bill hits a certain threshold. Especially if the family's typical phone bill is $150 and all the sudden is $2000. That should send a redflag somewhere and something should be done to ensure the customer really wants to accept the outrageous data charges.
But they did, right?
a single text message
how much hounding does one need. The message was sent and received and they didn't care. I don't see how AT&T has any more responsibility here. They have the status on the phone itself, they have an account status AND a courtesy, but unnecessary, text alert that they were being foolish. How many layers must AT&T do?
I would think an alert at every GB over the limit would be appreciated by customers.
I don't think that it would. Maybe some, but only some. And whether or not it would be appreciated doesn't in any way make AT&T at fault.
What I would like to see is companies give their customers the options of what to do when data runs out.
"You have met your data cap What would you like to do?"
- Continue using data (warning, you will be charged per GB of data you use!)
- Upgrade to next tier of data plan
- Disable data until your next billing cycle.
I get text messages from Verizon at 75, 80, and 95%, so that is kinda option 1. They actually offer the upgrade to next data tier option via text message, but not the option to disable my data.
