charged $60 for a youtube video

[rh71]

So my 11mo. old was being extra cranky and my wife decided to give him my phone to play with, which was playing a video with music on my miniSD card. A minute later I hear talking coming out of my phone so I grabbed it and found a Luigi video playing in my video player which can also go to internet sites - yup he pushed a few buttons and magically found a cartoon character from youtube. I check at home and... 4MB... I check the rate... yup $0.015 per KB... I've just been charged $60 for a 3min video.

It's a good thing VZW is good about credits and they will only be charging me 25% of that instead of the whole thing. I've blocked text messaging before because of spammers (I must be the only one not doing the txt msging thing) and now I've blocked internet altogether. Thanks kid!

EDIT>> oops I meant credited me 75%, not charged me 75%. Not bad.

 

[Safeway]

That. Sucks. Cellular phone rates and fees are so high, they verge on extortion.

 

[SunSamurai]

If you knew how often this happens youd be a bit more pissed at the phone companies. $0.015 per KB is extortion no matter how you slice it.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
If you knew how often this happens youd be a bit more pissed at the phone companies. $0.015 per KB is extortion no matter how you slice it.

It's as bad as $.20/text or whatever they cost now.

 

[SonnyDaze]

That's cheaper then daycare. Don't complain.

 

[hanoverphist]

under the "new, better" plan vzw just switched me to, its 1.99 a mb so that would only cost me 8 bucks. i had the interwebz blocked on my daughters phone due to the change, mine has a data plan anyway. i still think that 30 bucks should cover data for the account, not one specific phone.

 

[halik]

That's why DOJ is doing a probe on their business. No way can that industry be competitive when the data rates have 1000000% margin. Text messages cost virtually no money, yet they charge 10 cents.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: SonnyDaze
That's cheaper then daycare. Don't complain.

:thumbsup:

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
If you knew how often this happens youd be a bit more pissed at the phone companies. $0.015 per KB is extortion no matter how you slice it.

It's as bad as $.20/text or whatever they cost now.

The worst part about texts is that you get charged for sending and receiving. That is double charging for every text!

FURTHER, you have to pay for unsolicited texts sent from spammers and the Obama campaign!

Charge for sent texts only: Fair.
Charge for received texts only: Unfair.
CHARGE FOR BOTH?! WHAT THE FUCK. SUE.

 

[Ns1]

in <10 days I've put 300mb on my phone =X

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: halik
That's why DOJ is doing a probe on their business. No way can that industry be competitive when the data rates have 1000000% margin. Text messages cost virtually no money, yet they charge 10 cents.

Isn't it 20 cents now? 10 cents was a dream before. I wouldn't get a texting plan because on average I used just shy of 50 texts. After the jacked up rate to 15 cents I dove in but I also texted a lot more. Now at 20 cents, $5 for 200 is a steal.

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
If you knew how often this happens youd be a bit more pissed at the phone companies. $0.015 per KB is extortion no matter how you slice it.

It's as bad as $.20/text or whatever they cost now.

The worst part about texts is that you get charged for sending and receiving. That is double charging for every text!

FURTHER, you have to pay for unsolicited texts sent from spammers and the Obama campaign!

Charge for sent texts only: Fair.
Charge for received texts only: Unfair.
CHARGE FOR BOTH?! WHAT THE FUCK. SUE.

Makes sense to me though. It's just like calls. You get charged for incoming and outgoing calls (in terms of minutes). I suppose it would be nice if you could reject texts easily and NOT get charged, but charging both ways.... it's logical. Not all texts deserve a reply. You can text someone saying meet noon @ starbucks and that's all or whatever. The idea of a text was like a pager. Short message. People are turning it into massive conversations though so yeah...

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
under the "new, better" plan vzw just switched me to, its 1.99 a mb so that would only cost me 8 bucks. i had the interwebz blocked on my daughters phone due to the change, mine has a data plan anyway. i still think that 30 bucks should cover data for the account, not one specific phone.

What gets me about data plans is, you cough up $30 a month for "unlimited" data, but you STILL have to have a frigging text messaging plan to not get raped over text charges. I have a blackberry, but I still text a few friends that don't have smartphones, drives me nuts that I have to pay for texts on top of my Blackberry plan.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: SonnyDaze
That's cheaper then daycare. Don't complain.

lol at $60/3 minutes, I better open up a daycare in your part of town if you're willing to pay those rates

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: rh71
So my 11mo. old was being extra cranky and my wife decided to give him my phone to play with, which was playing a video with music on my miniSD card. A minute later I hear talking coming out of my phone so I grabbed it and found a Luigi video playing in my video player which can also go to internet sites - yup he pushed a few buttons and magically found a cartoon character from youtube. I check at home and... 4MB... I check the rate... yup $0.015 per KB... I've just been charged $60 for a 3min video.

It's a good thing VZW is good about credits and they will only be charging me 25% of that instead of the whole thing. I've blocked text messaging before because of spammers (I must be the only one not doing the txt msging thing) and now I've blocked internet altogether. Thanks kid!

EDIT>> oops I meant credited me 75%, not charged me 75%. Not bad.

i don't txt at all either. 1 - too expensive, 2 - no one to txt, 3 - if i want to talk to someone, i'll call them.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: halik
That's why DOJ is doing a probe on their business. No way can that industry be competitive when the data rates have 1000000% margin. Text messages cost virtually no money, yet they charge 10 cents.

10 cents? thats cheap. Its 25 for me.

 

[AstroManLuca]

When I give my phone to a kid to play with, I just turn on airplane mode. Boom, no accidental calls, texts, or web browsing.

This is, of course, assuming the kid is at an age where they're simply amused by pushing buttons and seeing it light up.

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
If you knew how often this happens youd be a bit more pissed at the phone companies. $0.015 per KB is extortion no matter how you slice it.

It's as bad as $.20/text or whatever they cost now.

it's all pretty bad... I really wish people could stick it to all these greedy ass cell phone compaies

 

[nonameo]

Pageplus has a deal where you can get 2,000 texts for 10$. Put it on NAM2 and you're set to go.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: Ns1
in <10 days I've put 300mb on my phone =X

That's the best you can do?

I've hit the GB range before...

 

[funkymatt]

Originally posted by: halik
That's why DOJ is doing a probe on their business. No way can that industry be competitive when the data rates have 1000000% margin. Text messages cost virtually no money, yet they charge 10 cents.

don't forget the receiver gets charged as well!

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: trmiv

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
under the "new, better" plan vzw just switched me to, its 1.99 a mb so that would only cost me 8 bucks. i had the interwebz blocked on my daughters phone due to the change, mine has a data plan anyway. i still think that 30 bucks should cover data for the account, not one specific phone.

What gets me about data plans is, you cough up $30 a month for "unlimited" data, but you STILL have to have a frigging text messaging plan to not get raped over text charges. I have a blackberry, but I still text a few friends that don't have smartphones, drives me nuts that I have to pay for texts on top of my Blackberry plan.

mine is included in my nationwide family plan. unlimited texts for all my lines, the monthly actually went down, since i had 20 added on for 3 lines to get unlimited texts before that. they also added the 10 frequent called too, which could save me minutes given i can enter all the tech support numbers i call regularly, which is why my minutes usually gets pretty high every month.

i hate that their unlimited plan is capped at 5gb

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: trmiv

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
under the "new, better" plan vzw just switched me to, its 1.99 a mb so that would only cost me 8 bucks. i had the interwebz blocked on my daughters phone due to the change, mine has a data plan anyway. i still think that 30 bucks should cover data for the account, not one specific phone.

What gets me about data plans is, you cough up $30 a month for "unlimited" data, but you STILL have to have a frigging text messaging plan to not get raped over text charges. I have a blackberry, but I still text a few friends that don't have smartphones, drives me nuts that I have to pay for texts on top of my Blackberry plan.

What carrier do you have? I'm with AT&T and I could pay $35/month for ulimited data AND messaging.

 

[WelshBloke]

My data is capped at £1 a day max, no matter how much I use.

No contract either.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: hanoverphist

Originally posted by: trmiv

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
under the "new, better" plan vzw just switched me to, its 1.99 a mb so that would only cost me 8 bucks. i had the interwebz blocked on my daughters phone due to the change, mine has a data plan anyway. i still think that 30 bucks should cover data for the account, not one specific phone.

What gets me about data plans is, you cough up $30 a month for "unlimited" data, but you STILL have to have a frigging text messaging plan to not get raped over text charges. I have a blackberry, but I still text a few friends that don't have smartphones, drives me nuts that I have to pay for texts on top of my Blackberry plan.

mine is included in my nationwide family plan. unlimited texts for all my lines, the monthly actually went down, since i had 20 added on for 3 lines to get unlimited texts before that. they also added the 10 frequent called too, which could save me minutes given i can enter all the tech support numbers i call regularly, which is why my minutes usually gets pretty high every month.

i hate that their unlimited plan is capped at 5gb

Well yea I'm on Verizon so I have that too, but the plans without unlimited texting are cheaper. Since have a dataplan I think the damn texting should be included with data. That way I can get the cheaper overall plan since I have unlimited data.

Originally posted by: Xanis

What carrier do you have? I'm with AT&T and I could pay $35/month for ulimited data AND messaging.

Verizon. They have great service but they get you coming and going.

 

[WelshBloke]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: halik
That's why DOJ is doing a probe on their business. No way can that industry be competitive when the data rates have 1000000% margin. Text messages cost virtually no money, yet they charge 10 cents.

Isn't it 20 cents now? 10 cents was a dream before. I wouldn't get a texting plan because on average I used just shy of 50 texts. After the jacked up rate to 15 cents I dove in but I also texted a lot more. Now at 20 cents, $5 for 200 is a steal.

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
If you knew how often this happens youd be a bit more pissed at the phone companies. $0.015 per KB is extortion no matter how you slice it.

It's as bad as $.20/text or whatever they cost now.

The worst part about texts is that you get charged for sending and receiving. That is double charging for every text!

FURTHER, you have to pay for unsolicited texts sent from spammers and the Obama campaign!

Charge for sent texts only: Fair.
Charge for received texts only: Unfair.
CHARGE FOR BOTH?! WHAT THE FUCK. SUE.

Makes sense to me though. It's just like calls. You get charged for incoming and outgoing calls (in terms of minutes). I suppose it would be nice if you could reject texts easily and NOT get charged, but charging both ways.... it's logical. Not all texts deserve a reply. You can text someone saying meet noon @ starbucks and that's all or whatever. The idea of a text was like a pager. Short message. People are turning it into massive conversations though so yeah...

Hold on, you get charged for incoming texts and call? :shocked:

Is that normal in the States?