iPhone: weak Wi-Fi leads to hefty bill.
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Unfortunately where I live, AT&T is the only reliable service once you are outside of the city. But the family plan I am on with 4 phones is only $135/month.
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I use cricket. Which is AT&T prepaid. It provides the best service and value. You do have to buy your own phone, but it's much cheaper in the long run then getting locked into a contract at a higher price (payments).
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I buy my phones outright all the time to keep monthly costs low.
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@IRJ said:
They should adjust the bill immediately as there are losing more than $2k in bad press. It's so easy for AT&T to implement a notification system.
Problems there are...
- Bad press has already happened. Too late to fix it.
- Adjusting it makes it look like AT&T might have been at fault making the press worse.
- Those who know that they do this will start to expect AT&T to not require them to pay their bills.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
They should adjust the bill immediately as there are losing more than $2k in bad press. It's so easy for AT&T to implement a notification system.
Problems there are...
- Bad press has already happened. Too late to fix it.
- Adjusting it makes it look like AT&T might have been at fault making the press worse.
- Those who know that they do this will start to expect AT&T to not require them to pay their bills.
If I were AT&T, I'd lock the kid in a dark dungeon and whip him until his parents pay the whole thing. I would record it and make an ad from it, showing what happens to people who refuse to be responsible with their data usage. Then I would take all of the bonus cash from customers paying their bills early, and I would line the pockets of some elected officials, so I didn't have to take any real heat for beating an idiot in the public view.
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@art_of_shred said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
They should adjust the bill immediately as there are losing more than $2k in bad press. It's so easy for AT&T to implement a notification system.
Problems there are...
- Bad press has already happened. Too late to fix it.
- Adjusting it makes it look like AT&T might have been at fault making the press worse.
- Those who know that they do this will start to expect AT&T to not require them to pay their bills.
If I were AT&T, I'd lock the kid in a dark dungeon and whip him until his parents pay the whole thing. I would record it and make an ad from it, showing what happens to people who refuse to be responsible with their data usage. Then I would take all of the bonus cash from customers paying their bills early, and I would line the pockets of some elected officials, so I didn't have to take any real heat for beating an idiot in the public view.
...and after the parents pay up, lock them up for a combo treatment - beating and sterilization, get those defective genes out of the pool.
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@RojoLoco It's already too late for that. Gotta get the kid before he reproduces.
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@art_of_shred that goes without saying... but the kid doesn't need any more siblings either. Sterilize all the idiots!!!!
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
They should adjust the bill immediately as there are losing more than $2k in bad press. It's so easy for AT&T to implement a notification system.
Problems there are...
- Bad press has already happened. Too late to fix it.
- Adjusting it makes it look like AT&T might have been at fault making the press worse.
- Those who know that they do this will start to expect AT&T to not require them to pay their bills.
Everyone knows that the carriers will work with people on these issues. They always have. It is always in the news when this happens.
And for the record, AT&T sends a message EVERY time you go over the plan. So when they hit the plan limit and was sent the message about being charged for another 1GB that they ignored, well they got another one for each GB because it is another plan add on. That is a standard account setting and I do not know if you can even turn it off.
I was using a LTE based router at a client for a while until their fiber came in. I used AT&T for the service. When Windows 10 dropped a couple devices not on the domain there promptly downloaded it and i received a shit ton of messages.
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@BRRABill said:
@art_of_shred said:
Fine. But, if you hand a device to a kid, you just owned the responsibility for whatever they do with it. Of course there are limitations to that statement, but I'm sure you get what I mean.
Have you ever been with a screaming kid in a restaurant?
I'll take the $2K bill.
Actually yes... two in fact. Glad we are still on the old Unlimited plan...
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@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
@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.
But I can do all of that with my phone now, right? It would be a redundant service?
You can, but with the exception of T-mobile, the rest of the major carriers are shared data plans and your phone only knows about the data that YOUR phone has used.
I want this same system too.
Frankly, from a child perspective, I would like to be able to limit how much data they can use per day.
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@art_of_shred 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 would think that anyone who cared about their bill would be watching their usage after seeing that warning. Once again, not AT&T's fault. Everyone needs to stop being a victim and take some personal responsibility. For AT&T to send any notification at all is a courtesy to the customer. You know what your terms of service are. You know what the cost is if you go above the limit. That's not their problem. They offer the service and you pay them for what you use. That's where it ends. If you can't be bothered to pay attention and monitor your own use of the service that you alone are responsible to pay for, why is it their job to be your babysitter?
I agree with this in general - the problem I have with this is that in general in our current society, we don't have limits. Your ISP at home, there's no limit for the standard consumer, cable TV, you're not limited on how much TV you can watch (or how long your TV is on), phone calls from landlines - when making local calls there are no limits on how long you can be on the phone.
We're presented with a situation where primarily we are unlimited. The cellular companies use this 'normal' behavior against it's customers to cause ridiculous bills like this.
While I can't think of a specific situation off the top of my head, I'm sure I have been in many situations where there are clear and defined limits, and when you reach them you are stopped, service closes, fails to work until you respond with how you would like to proceed. Thereby preventing you from screwing yourself with a ridiculous bill.
All that said, yes you still need to man up and take personal responsibility for the agreements you get into.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
@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.
But I can do all of that with my phone now, right? It would be a redundant service?
You can, but with the exception of T-mobile, the rest of the major carriers are shared data plans and your phone only knows about the data that YOUR phone has used.
I want this same system too.
Frankly, from a child perspective, I would like to be able to limit how much data they can use per day.
Really? Even my wireless provider tells me all other phone's usage on the same account. I'm on one of those Wifi carriers.
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@Dashrender my issue with that is that there are capped and there are unlimited plans and the customers get to decide how this works. They can get prepaid and have it just shut off. They can get unlimited (like I do.) They can get soft capped where the speed just drops. They can get "pay for overages" like these people opted to do. They had choices. They CHOSE this plan knowing the risks. No one forced them. They had other options. So that they are used to other things at home (which we don't know is true, my family in Texas has capped plans) doesn't really apply here.
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@BRRABill said:
@art_of_shred said:
Fine. But, if you hand a device to a kid, you just owned the responsibility for whatever they do with it. Of course there are limitations to that statement, but I'm sure you get what I mean.
Have you ever been with a screaming kid in a restaurant?
I'll take the $2K bill.
Or you could discipline your children... needs of the many, bro, needs of the many (the many being everyone else in said restaurant who hates you and your screaming, undisciplined child).
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@RojoLoco said:
Or you could discipline your children... needs of the many, bro, needs of the many (the many being everyone else in said restaurant who hates you and your screaming, undisciplined child).
Giving them the phone is much, much quicker.
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@BRRABill said:
@RojoLoco said:
Or you could discipline your children... needs of the many, bro, needs of the many (the many being everyone else in said restaurant who hates you and your screaming, undisciplined child).
Giving them the phone is much, much quicker.
Do you really not remove your screaming, petulant children from restaurants with great haste??? Glad I don't live in your town. Know that non-breeders despise such behavior.
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@RojoLoco said:
Do you really not remove your screaming, petulant children from restaurants with great haste??? Glad I don't live in your town. Know that non-breeders despise such behavior.
Hey if you are eating dinner at Check E. Cheese, you get what you deserve.
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@BRRABill I eat at good restaurants exclusively.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender my issue with that is that there are capped and there are unlimited plans and the customers get to decide how this works. They can get prepaid and have it just shut off. They can get unlimited (like I do.) They can get soft capped where the speed just drops. They can get "pay for overages" like these people opted to do. They had choices. They CHOSE this plan knowing the risks. No one forced them. They had other options. So that they are used to other things at home (which we don't know is true, my family in Texas has capped plans) doesn't really apply here.
You approach this from a lawyer's point of view. Sure they made the choice, but I'm willing to bet that the carrier (Best Buy flunky, AT&T store flunky, etc) never told them about those other two options. I know I've never been told about an AT&T unlimited option (pretty sure they didn't have one when I signed up with them 2+ years ago), and even if they did have a plan, I put my hand on any deity's book and swear that they never told me about a plan that would put a hard stop to data once I reach my pre agreed upon amount per month.
The sales persons only tell you about the plan they are trying to push. Only if you ask do they offer any additional information.
Now your lawyer side says, well to bad, that's your problem, you were the idiot who didn't research your options, and I have to concede this point. But you mentioned that AT&T has already suffered this bad press - but they keep suffering it. So I have to ask, is AT&T making more money off the overage fees they ARE collecting to overcome the regular bad press vs just making a global change to eradicate this simple to solve problem? I'm going to have to assume YES they are making more than the bad press is taking away. i.e. let's just guess that 5% of customers have overages, but reasonable overages - those customers just pay the bill. Now, if AT&T had a hard stop with a Press her to Pay $10 to continue it's almost assured that those customers would change their habits and those overage fees would go away completely.
