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iPhone Bill a Whopping 52 Pages Long

PoliTech writes "iPhone bills are surprisingly large - 'Xbox Large', according to Ars technica: 'AT&T's iPhone bills are quite impressive in their own right. We're starting to get bills for the iPhone here at Ars, and while many of us have had smartphones for some time, we've never seen a bill like this. One of our bills is a whopping 52 pages long, and my own bill is 34 pages long. They're printed on both sides, too. What gives? The AT&T bill itemizes your data usage whenever you surf the Internet via EDGE, even if you're signed up for the unlimited data plan. AT&T also goes into an incredible amount of detail to tell you; well, almost nothing. For instance, I know that on July 27 at 3:21 p.m. I had some data use that, under the To/From heading, AT&T has helpfully listed as Data Transfer. The Type of file? Data. My total charge? $0.00. This mind-numbing detail goes on for 52 double-sided pages (for 104 printed pages!) with absolutely no variance except the size of the files.' You would think that a data company would have a more efficient billing process."

30 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. XO communcations by seanadams.com · · Score: 4, Funny

    Every month for the last six years, I have received a bill from XO communications for -$846.52, for a line that I canceled which had a billing error on the closing statement. I thought about calling them to try to get it fixed, but I figured that would probably take several hours of navigating phone trees and getting transferred from one retarded support rep to the next. Easier to just toss them.

    I also got a refund check one time from PacBell for $0.01.

    1. Re:XO communcations by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

      Holy shit! If you're receiving bills every month for -$846.52 I think you need to sick a collections agency on their ass!

      --
      This guy's the limit!
  2. They want you to know that they know by tzonic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe this is a subtle way of saying: yes, we keep track of everything. Your world delivered [to the NSA].

  3. Re:Paperless billing by sholden · · Score: 5, Funny

    But who'll be laughing when they have years worth of paper for the fireplace to see out the nuclear winter!

  4. The Truth Comes Out by AbsoluteXyro · · Score: 5, Funny

    AT&T hates trees.

  5. Re:Paperless billing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Easy: just log into your provider from your iPhone, COPY the personal code it'll give you and PASTE it over the page requesting authentication. BTW: you will need to leave a VOICE RECORDING of agreement, just for legal purporses.

  6. Re:Someone got $3000 bill for using iPhone in Euro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The rep quoted me $.005 per KB .005 dollars or .005 cents? :P
  7. Re:Someone got $3000 bill for using iPhone in Euro by soccer_Dude88888 · · Score: 1, Funny

    doesn't matter. According to Verizon's customer service rep.

  8. Maybe they just sent out the wrong copies.... by dyfet · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe those were the copies that were supposed to be sent to the NSA...

  9. Type of File? Data. by RealGrouchy · · Score: 4, Funny

    For instance, I know that on July 27 at 3:21 p.m. I had some data use that, under the To/From heading, AT&T has helpfully listed as Data Transfer. The Type of file? Data. Really? On my bill, every single line says "Porn"

    - RG>
    --
    Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
  10. The data is free by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    But the charge you $15/page for the bill!

    --
    Beep beep.
  11. Forward looking by griffjon · · Score: 3, Funny

    You see, ATT is preparing a new content delivery system, so soon your bill may include:

    Date - Transfer Method - Type
    08/07/2007 - Data Transfer - Data
    08/07/2007 - Tubes - An Internets
    08/08/2007 - Sneakernet - l33t w4r3zzz
    08/08/2007 - Quantum Entanglement - Welcome Basket of Oranges from The New ATT!

    and so on. So lay off, they're planning for a much wider array of services no doubt, and what seems contentless now will soon have great meaning!

    --
    Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
  12. Re:Someone got $3000 bill for using iPhone in Euro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    arent they the same?

  13. Re:Paperless billing by jb.hl.com · · Score: 5, Funny

    Somehow, in the event of global thermonuclear war, I don't think anybody'll be wishing there was more fire.

    --
    By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
  14. Re:Someone got $3000 bill for using iPhone in Euro by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    I *was* going to include MB for megabytes, just to get all the case modders going "Its MotherBoard, you f%@#tard!", but its not Tuesday :-)

  15. Re:'Kansas City Shuffle'.. by Tom9729 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Joke==>
            0
           -|-
           / \
           You

  16. Re:Someone got $3000 bill for using iPhone in Euro by edittard · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've seen php scripts that end up #including almost 100 other scripts ON EVERY PAGE LOAD!!!
    This is insane.
    I agree, nobody in their right mind uses PHP.
    --
    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
  17. An Onion article perfectly pictures that situation by unity100 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here :

    http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39486

    Just put any coffee cups etc you are holding away before reading.

  18. Re:Paperless billing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You've obviously never lived through a global thermonuclear war before.

  19. Re:Paperless billing by Firethorn · · Score: 3, Funny

    Common mistake. The fuel is for the thermonuclear winter that's scheduled after the war.

    Wait a minute...

    HEY GUYS!!!! I've found the cure for global warming!

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
  20. Re:Paperless billing by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just don't try to download the bill onto your phone.

  21. Reminds me of... by ChePibe · · Score: 4, Funny

    That reminds me of something a professor of mine used to say.

    He required that all assignments be turned in to him in both paper and PDF format. When asked why, he simply responded: "because I love convenience and hate trees."

    One day I had pink eye and requested to turn it in only via PDF. He responded by saying "my love of convenience outweighs my hatred of the dirty trees. PDF only, you sicko."

  22. Re:Part of the softening-up process by Belacgod · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

  23. Sure it's 52 pages long ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... but just look at the industrial design of the bill ... the shapes and curves and subtle accents ... it's gorgeous

  24. Re:Paperless billing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Listen here whippersnapper.

    Don't try to tell me about global thermonuclear holocaust. When I was a kid, EVERY NUCLEAR WINTER I had to walk FIVE MILES to school, UPHILL, through two feet of radioactive fallout. Then I had to walk FIVE MILES back home, UPHILL again, with even more fallout.

    I did that every day. With no shoes.

  25. Re:Cingular Billing Systems Are a Mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This is really 'Offtopic', not so much 'Troll'. I wish the average ontopic post was this informative.

  26. Re:Cingular Billing Systems Are a Mess by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    They were never able to get my bill correct for the 6 months I was with them after the initial AT&T merger. I left, went with TMobile for a year, and I am now back as an iPhone customer. I probably should review my bill.

    After I left them I kept getting bills for $0.0 for several years. I called a few times but the folks at the other end said they couldn't stop them.

    --
    I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  27. Re:Cingular Billing Systems Are a Mess by samkass · · Score: 4, Funny

    This happened to a friend of mine. He sent them a check for $0.00 and it seemed to make the problem go away.

    I got a bill once for $0.22 in college, so I taped a quarter I found on the floor to the bill and sent it in. Since that was the last bill of the year, they sent me mail at home over the summer that I'd over-paid my last phone bill and would receive a check for the difference in a few days. Sure enough, a few days later came a check for $0.03.

    That's not nearly as bad as my credit card company with whom I canceled an account, though. They had a final balance which was an annual fee (the existence of which was why I'd canceled.) So I sent in a check for the balance and canceled the account. Well, some nice lady had apparently removed the annual fee charge, so when the check arrived there, I had a positive balance and they couldn't close the account until it was corrected. So at the beginning of the next billing cycle, their computer automatically cut me a check for the difference, then noted that I hadn't paid the annual fee and added that to my account again... so I was back to my original state with the balance on my card but a check for that amount in my hand. It took me months to get that darn card canceled, and in the meantime when I hadn't paid attention to the fact that it was still open they called me delinquent and the APR went up on all my cards. Sigh.

    --
    E pluribus unum
  28. Happens in all kinds of industries. by Shag · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a 401(k) somewhere. I don't remember which investment company it was with, or what former employer of mine it correlated to, or anything. Anyway, I rolled it into an IRA I had, along with some other old accounts. It went well - except for the investment company leaving a balance of about $0.11 in the 401(k) account.

    They now spend about $0.75 every quarter to mail me a thick statement telling me whether my balance has fallen to $0.10, risen to $0.12, or whatever.

    I realize that informing them would be the merciful thing to do, but my sense of ethics isn't that overdeveloped, so I let nature take its course.

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    1. Re:Happens in all kinds of industries. by Kahm-Hime · · Score: 5, Funny

      A friend of mine really disliked his former cellular provider, so when he changed companies he overpaid his last bill by 2 cents. He's received a bill from that company every month for three years now, cheerfully informing him that he has a 2 cent credit.

      I keep telling him that if he ever moves, he should make sure that they receive his change-of-address notification. :)