Canadian frost-byte of mobile fraudband


Posted on December 14, 2007  /  0 Comments

Calgary’s 22-year-old Piotr Staniaszek subscribed the Bell Mobility $10 unlimited mobile internet plan. But he was hammered with a whooping $85,000 bill in less than two months! 

Because Mr. Staniaszek plugged his mobile phone with a PC and happily downloaded high-definition movies using the “unlimited” mobile internet plan.  Bell says its “unlimited plan” is applicable for browsing internet from mobile device only – not using the gadget as a modem and browsing the net from PC. Therefore, it has decided to charge Mr. Staniaszek $85,000 for every bit of data he has downloaded. 

Baffled Mr. Staniaszek has refused to pay and Bell Mobility has shrunk the mammoth bill to $3,243 as “goodwill”. Yet the angry customer is reluctant to pay the “reduced amount” and decided to fight instead. Read more. 

Points to ponder: A notebook enabled with Wi-Fi instantly accesses the internet. An external Wi-Fi device is needed to wirelessly link a PC with internet. It is purely a user’s discretion. Similarly Mr. Staniaszek has accessed to internet using his mobile phone as a data modem. Bell Mobility has made itself a laughingstock by dictating the customer the gadget it should use to avail the service. Hopefully the Canadian government will avoid being the co-star of Bell Mobility in this hilarious regulatory show.

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