Fun, sun and a $3,000 bill for hardly using an iPhone

What you don't know about your iPhone can cost you in substantial roaming fees. Deciphering your bill is another matter.
The New York Times

The story "Fun, sun and a $3,000 bill for hardly using an iPhone" published September 10, 2007 at 5:37 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.

[sanenazok]

Surprise!

AT&T Sucks! But everyone knew that already...

[McPlot]

The reason I left AT&T is the billing

I left AT&T for billing reasons. I loved the service, but they kept messing up my bill. At one point, I got a $650 bill for NORMAL usage. Not being over my minutes, no international roaming. Nothing out of the ordinary. My point is, if you dig deeper, you will find this is not just limited to iPhone users. AT&T's billing system needs some major work.

[mgarc1125]

ATT's billing does suck

I myself have also had errors in my billing a few times, not as bad, but errors none the less. That is one reason why I don't use their automatic bill payment feature. I never know what kind of errors there may be in my bill so I always check it before I pay it.

[MCOjerry]

This is why I am with Verizon

I have RARELY had a billing error, and when i do, it's some small
charge and they remove it immediately.

I, too, wonder what on earth Apple was thinking in this
partnership with AT&T/Cingular!

What I really don't get is why they would even consider hooking
up with only one provider?? Could AT&T have really put up that
much money to be exclusive?

I am a HUGE Apple fan, but will never buy an iPhone because I'd
have to switch to AT&T. Perhaps when the contract is up, and
they broaden their choices, but ONLY then. If I could get one
with Verizon, I would have paid $599 for one!

Does anyone REALLY know why they only chose one provider?

[MrMe003]

huoh...

"re unaware that they need to disable the e-mail feature..."

LOL.. well these guys are stupid then.

[disco-legend-zeke]

AT&T has consistantly screwed customers.

Somehow the powers that be over there never got over the monopolistic excesses of the past.

Maybe they realize that their days are numbered as Mesh Wi-Fi builds out.

All the new news about municipal wi-fi buildouts failing are proof that the big carriers are working overtime to stifle competition.

Meanwhile, in some areas of californina where next-generation 802.11N+ meshes are deployed, data rates of 500 Megabits are being delivered.

Google gets it, and especially with the death of Net Neutrality, can be expected to bid aggresively on 700 MHz.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Why did Apple choose this company again?

With such horrible customer service and every attempt made make the experience as horrible as possible, I'm dumbfounded as to why Apple would choose Cingular/AT&T for their carrier.

Doesn't Apple care about their customers at all? Is it all about making money only and ignoring their customers?

I wish they had waited six months and released the 3G phones instead. This would avoid the bad press and reputation the 'iPhone' experience gained through AT&T's bungling.

[KTLA_knew]

Welcome to the late 90s

This is an ANCINT "problem". This is NOTHING new to iPhone, it's just that Apple has finally entered a market that's been humming along for years now.

If you'd written this story in 1999, it might have been fresh, but the "smartphone" population has dealt with this as long as we can remember.

Just turn your data services off, or tell it not to sync while roaming, as is now the defult on Windows devices. Claiming ignorance that it costs moneyfor a US company to buy data services in Europe is just stupid.

[georgescott]

This is why...

Apple is going to buy the spectrum at this upcoming auction. This won't help international callers but in the USA it should be great.

[SilverbackRK]

Wireless Carriers sucking Bank Accounts Dry

The essence of the problem is very simple.

Most utilities that people use everyday have predictable, obvious pricing systems.

ie Electric bill --- yes, it can fluctuate seasonally from month-to-month depending on the amount of heating / cooling etc. but it is largely predictable.

Same goes for most services, like cable TV, water, sewage, etc.

Off hand, with the exception of telecommunications, I know of no service where a significant % of users can see a 10X or more increase in their bills just from a spike in usage.

It is virtually impossible for that to happen with water, sewer, garbage (ie unless you are renovating a house), electricity, natural gas, heating oil, cable, etc. Indeed, most electric utilities and other utilities like gas / fuel oil companies offer 'budget billing' that lets users have predictable bills.

Wireless carriers simply don't get it --- they are providing a essential service which most users cannot afford to have 'cut off'. Such a service cannot have basically 'open ended' access to services that can add whopping bills that are surprises to most users.

For example, roaming charges, fees for text messages, data, etc. that can --- surprise --- add one or more 'zeros' to the typical monthly bill of $60 or $70.

To allow this to happen by default (ie no lockout of the services that can trip these charges), is the best goodwill / customer destruction strategy an industry can undertake.

That is why I switched to a prepaid phone --- I sleep well knowing I can't make calls I don't want to pay for. Besides, the rate I pay of 9.5 cents per minute (1 year expiry) is actually lower than most actual mobile rates.

How many more customers do the industry have to lose before they get it?

[mkfwebb]

essential service

I remember the 1st guys carrying those Bricks with the huge antenna and it is no maore an essential service today as it was in the early 90's. If someone took away your phone how long would it take you to die??.

[tatepc]

woot

Thats why.. Im sticking with verizon and/or tmobile.

One call and they told me how much a text message to the US would be. and price per minute.

While abroad.. i only use text messaging on my cell phone, plug in my notebook and use yahoo, or msn instant messenger with a microphone.. its free people! common.. get a headset mic.. and buy one for your best friend, bro, sis, or mom and dad... that way you can all talk for free..., or theres skype voip.. but do we really need skype when talk through messenger programs (chat) is free??? either way.. att should be more honest and upfront about these fees.

Skype's calls are cheap if you want to get a phone number (in and out). seriously.

[zanely]

no problem, just pop the battery out...

oh, I forgot, you can't....LOL

[chuck_whealton]

You might think...

You know, if credit card companies are wise enough to call their customers when they're racking up suspicious charges, you might think a cellular company would give their customers the courtesy of a call that says "Hey, are you aware of what you're doing? You're bill is already at $500 when it's normally $49.95."

Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com

[The_Raven]

Pathetic!

If people would RTFM, this kind of crap wouldn't happen.

For every dunderhead that racks up a huge bill, there are a gazillion smart users that don't.

It's not AT&T's fault that some of it's customers haven't a clue how to disable features that may cause them bankruptcy while traveling.

[techweary]

data on a cell phone/pda

PDA's and Blackberry's have worked this way on international networks for years. Why do you think this is exclusive to an iPhone?
If you are too stupid to know what you signed up for, maybe you shouldn't have one to begin with. He probably has a variable rate mortgage and will be astounded when the payment goes up..."Gee, I actually had to READ, what an inconvenience"...

[seangum]

Sprint is just as bad - if not worse...

This sounds oh-so-familiar. These cell companies are in the business of GOUGING everyone for every last penny that they can. I've had to call them (Sprint) every month the last 6 months to get roaming charges removed from my bill even though roaming is supposed to be included. (Just for fun, I connected to UpSnap for an entire weekend on roaming just to mess with them. Sure enough, I got a roaming bill for over $2,000. You'd think they'd get the picture and fix the problem.... they haven't.) It really is pathetic. You almost always get a heavily foreign accented person trying to assist you which just makes it worse. I rank their customer service the worse I've ever encountered in any industry. Too bad their isn't any restitution for billing errors. (Wish I could bill them for MY TIME trying to straighten out THEIR billing errors.)
Ah well, what are ya gonna do?
Sean Gum
SeanGum.com

[waspnest]

Agree about Sprint

Customer service totally sucks from these people. Just be careful, if
you call customer service too often to straighten their screw ups,
and your call gets transferred around, each transfer counts as a call
and they'll drop you as a customer.

[boityler]

Should have used Windows Mobile

Funny - my HTC Touch is smart enough to only automatically check email when I am not roaming so there are no unexpected charges on my bill. Guess it's smething Apple never thought of ...

[geo_guillermo]

What is "smething"?

I guess a disabled spell checker costs one less than disabled e-mail
checking while in "Roam", eh?

[IBMSUCKS]

AT&T is a rip off and Apple is guilty too because they get a %

I was one of the early adopters and probably wouldn't have based on all the information out there now. The phone is great, minus the poor battery life (have to charge it every night and I hardly use it during the day).

AT&T however is another story. I've spent countless hours on the phone with them contesting erroneous charges (and I thought Sprint was bad!). Their customer service reps are incompetent and you can't trust what they say to be true. My first bill was over $350 and I have the basic plan with internet that should be $60 plus tax. After 3 calls and 5 hours on the phone they still haven't figured it out.

Apple doesn't care because they negotiated a % of AT&T's subscriber fees as part of the ransom for exclusive rights to the iPhone. Clearly they don't care based on the quick price cuts. The $100 rebate was only a half hearted response to customer outrage.

Anyway, I do like the phone, but for all the technology issues and the AT&T exclusivity... either wait until the next generation phone or get a cracked version and use another provider.

PS mine is on sale for $300 if you take my AT&T contract off my hands! lol heck you can have it for free if you do that!

[ounkeo]

New "Smartphone" users

While the article was actually funny to me, in a lot of ways we can't really blame the networks.

The smartphone/PDA market has been around for a while now and most that are in that market know the basics of the use of their devices.

It truly is the fault of the consumers for not knowing or trying to find out. The information is easily available and plentiful from millions who have been using smartphones and PDAs.

iPhone has brought a lot of people who know next to nothing about smartphones and usage patterns that they get into these kinds of jams. Sure, sometimes there are errounous billings (it happens) but they shouldn't happen because of a lack of knowledge on the end-users part (such as your device racking up charges without your knowledge). Hence why these people think the phone is so revolutionary... heck it's so revolutionary, they unwittingly got charged with 800$ bills...which when you look at it, is not funny at all.

Welcome to the world of smartphones & the mobile industry. Hopefully with more experience, these users will wise up to things some of us with so called "old-gen, crappy phones lolers!!11!!" having learned a long time ago.

At the moment, Iphone is looking to be a little bit TOO "advanced" for some of it's owners.

Here's some useful tips:

1. Turn off data on your phone unless you're willing to pay the charges. That means do not open your browser as most smartphone browsers will auto connect to a compatible data network. Checking an unread, previously downloaded email header in your handset will also likely connect you to international data if you're not careful or it's been set to "auto connect". If that email has mp3s or video file attachements, you're pretty much screwed.

2. Turn off auto-receive SMS from mobile providers. Believe me, in Asia where mobile signals overlap other countries borders, you get sent "welcome to our random network" messages that get billed to you as an international charge. You want to turn that stuff off if your phone allows it. Otherwise be prepared to rack up hefty international SMS charges over time.

3. No matter how great the user experience is on the iPhone, you still need to learn about what you just purchased. It may not be a very advanced device, comparatively, but it's still plenty advanced over the normal phones most people are accustomed to. IF you don't know the ins and outs of owning a smartphone, you're going to get HAD somewhere along the line...say ..to the itune of $800 data charges!

Please please please do not let ease of use blind you to the way things work in this industry. As an end-user, it's your obligation to understand your tools and it's resulting environment of use aye?

[R.Jefferson]

I love these stores about ignorant iPhone customers

Comon? honestly, how do cell phone carriers make money?. Ill wait?.

By selling you services?.!

Nothing in the cell phone world is free. Watch 3 MTV commercials or a high youth demographic station. Ill guarantee over half of the commercials are for stupid ring tones or jokes or some subscription to leech on your cell bill.

I read my sprint contract, I know I pay per kilobyte for downloads.I don?t have an overpriced data plan that?s why I don?t download, but upload from my computer to my Motorola Q.

I would love to read a story about how an Iphone user didn?t know that texting for a cute and worthless joke or horoscope results in an $8 per week charge for a pointless service that can be found for free. If you leave the country its pretty fair to assume that you?re going off ?your? network and into a foreign network, and that ?foreign? charges most likely will result.

Bottom-line: Cell carriers overcharge and charge for things that have not and should not be charged for. AND, there are people who don?t know how to use their phones and purchase the overpriced and frivolous services.

[hieulk]

Always check your bill

I have had this billing problem with AT&T (and Cingular too) so many times. I don't know if they did that on purpose or their billing system is so bad.

[tedtks]

phone charges

And people look at ME weird when I say I
dont even have a cell phone LOL
ted