Woman charged $201,000 for phone bill

Cue the outrage button. A South Florida woman got a shock when she opened a recent cell phone bill: she owed $201,000.

Say what!

It was no mistake.

Celina Aarons has her two deaf-mute brothers on her plan. They communicate by texting and use their phones to watch videos. Normally, that's not a problem. Aarons has the appropriate data plan, and her bill is about $175.

But her brothers spent two weeks in Canada and Aarons never changed to an international plan. Her brothers sent over 2,000 texts and also downloaded videos, sometimes racking up $2,000 in data charges.

T-Mobile told Aarons the bill was correct. She called Miami TV station WSVN, which contacted T-Mobile. The station reports that T-Mobile cut Aarons' bill to $2,500 -- and gave her six months to pay.

The disclosure comes the same week that phone companies got in line behind an industry proposal to send alerts out to customers as they approach monthly limits on voice, text and data services. The same warning would go out before they get nailed for international roaming charges. This was a preemptive move against the threat of heavier regulation. Earlier, the Federal Communications Commission had floated a similar idea.

[Bojax39]

I know the newest smart phone with the go-faster stripes is the thing to have these days if for nothing else than the WOW factor you get from friends.

In my case I use a cellphone for all my needs at home and on the street. It's a prepaid model and I buy a year's service at the price of a whopping $180. It's good to swap a once a year payment of $180 for a $70 a month phone bill and saves me a packet in a years time.

But even though my phone is capable of many things I know a phone is not a typewriter, a camera, a TV, a movie screen, a computer, an internet browser, a music player or a voice recorder. At the end of the day it's a freaking PHONE.

These phones are a Godsend but if you want to use one for your entire electronic existence then be prepared to suck it up pay the price for all the extra features you burn, without complaint.

[Smayv]

2500 is still pretty darn pricey. Did their system really get so over-taxed that it caused greater overhead to justify such an amount? Even T-Mobile agrees that's the case with the first figure.