Man Downloads TV Shows and Gets a $54,000 Cell Phone Bill
Written by enigmax on December 25, 2007A man who went on a TV show downloading spree after misunderstanding the terms of his cellphone contract has been hit with a bill for $54,000. The factory worker, 29, who fears being made bankrupt said: “I just laughed out loud. How on earth could I afford to pay that?” A loan, maybe? Santa?
Most people know that downloading TV shows doesn’t usually cost anything when you get them using BitTorrent.
However, Ian Simpson, a 29 year old factory worker found a way to make them cost - lots. After taking out a cell phone contract which he thought included ‘unlimited’ internet use (albeit with a ‘fair use’ clause), he got some advice from a friend who showed him how to connect his cell phone to his laptop.
According to a Stewart Maclean report in the UK’s Daily Mirror, Simpson said: “My mate told me how to wire my mobile to my laptop as a modem. It meant I could download faster than on the handset and get a proper internet connection in my flat.”
However, after downloading TV shows for a month, Simpson’s service was disconnected: “I probably downloaded 20 or 30 TV shows and four albums” he said. “I assumed it’d be OK, but they cut me off. I rang up and they said I owed them nearly £30,000.”
“If I’d known it would cost so much I wouldn’t have done it” he added.
A spokesman for the cellphone company, Vodafone in the UK said: “Few customers exceed the fair usage. But it seems clear Ian has run up these charges legitimately. The rules are clearly stated. Mobile web pages use fewer megabytes. That package is not designed for large-scale downloading or computer-speed web use.”
Simpson, who claims he can only afford to rent a room in which to live, lives in hope that the company will go easy on him: “Unless they take a sensible approach I don’t think I’ll have any choice but to go bankrupt.” he said.
Luckily for him it seems that Vodafone will “try to come to some sympathetic arrangement” despite being taken unawares by “the intensity of Ian’s downloading”. Intensity. On a cell phone. What a guy.
Always check the small print ;)
Previously: Shareaza.com Hijacked and Turned Into a Scam Site
Next: The Pirate Bay: Torrents and Peers Double in 2007
115 Responses
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all of this fucking shit is overprice on earth. i mean, fuck, internet should be free - it’s just bytes and shit!
hope satellite connection will come to mass some day near future
this guys a moron. Read your fucking contract, asehole.
I lol’d.
Usually i’d laugh my ass off and call this guy a complete idiot for not reading his contract but wtf. Its x-mas. Hope everything works out for you Ian :)
what did u expect? the guy’s a factory worker!
Using a mobile to connect to the internet FASTER ?
How stupid is THAT ?
What a moron.
LOL :)))
PS: Merry X-Mas to all
His picture says it all, LOL
Best laugh I had all day thanks torrentfreak
These fucking companies shouldn’t advertise ‘unlimited’ if in fact it’s actually limited through a bs fair use policy, which is usually written ambiguously enough that the company can change it’s mind and charge whenever it wants.
Just wait till the RIAA get on him for them 4 albums he admitted to downloading…
0wned
Read this a couple a days ago, still makes me laugh :D
[quote comment="247627"]Using a mobile to connect to the internet FASTER ?
How stupid is THAT ?
What a moron.[/quote]
You do know that mobile internet in Europe currently runs at 7.2Mbit/s meaning it can probably be faster then some DSL and Cable services, of course this guy just used his phone, meaning unless he had a new phone he probably did not get those speeds but a few Mbit/s is not unlikely.
Oh dear, is all i can say, i feel sorry for him, then i don’t, you really should read the contract to its entirety, but then ‘tor’ got it right, they write in the small print something not to defend them from people taking the piss, but so they can fuck people like this guy who is a bit gullible and/or naive.
Merry Christmas all, i got shaving oil, classic prezzy.
Peace, The *ENiGMA*
The bill got reduced to 3800.
Well… here in sweden almost every mobile contract with unlimited data says “Applies only to surfing on the mobile and not when used with computer”. (To use with computer you buy a special modem which a seperate contract).
I lol’d. Poor guy.
What a fucking n00b. I would make the retard pay.
[quote comment="247673"][quote comment="247627"]Using a mobile to connect to the internet FASTER ?
How stupid is THAT ?
What a moron.[/quote]
You do know that mobile internet in Europe currently runs at 7.2Mbit/s meaning it can probably be faster then some DSL and Cable services, of course this guy just used his phone, meaning unless he had a new phone he probably did not get those speeds but a few Mbit/s is not unlikely.[/quote]
you do know the fastest internet on a mobile(3g) runs at 3.6 Mbit/sec
This is sad, but the dude is an idiot.
He simply chose a wrong path for downloading what he needed and thats all. You were once newbies in computers.
I paid some time 850 Euro to my phone company for doing a similar thing. They have overpriced some kilobytes thats the problem.
DSL is the best way to connect to the internet.
This guy isn’t even original in his stupidity.
[quote]A Canadian man has been shocked to receive a mobile phone bill for nearly $85,000 (£41,000).
Piotr Staniaszek thought he could use his new phone as a modem for his computer under his $10 unlimited mobile browser plan from Bell Mobility.[/quote]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7141935.stm
Also:
[quote]They said that Rachel’s mobile phone had been connected to her laptop, which was connecting to the internet[/quote]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/x-ray/sites/allarticles/updates/6p13_troubleshooter.shtml
’tis the season to be retarded, fa la la la la, la la la la
[quote comment="247705"][quote comment="247673"][quote comment="247627"]Using a mobile to connect to the internet FASTER ?
How stupid is THAT ?
What a moron.[/quote]
You do know that mobile internet in Europe currently runs at 7.2Mbit/s meaning it can probably be faster then some DSL and Cable services, of course this guy just used his phone, meaning unless he had a new phone he probably did not get those speeds but a few Mbit/s is not unlikely.[/quote]
you do know the fastest internet on a mobile(3g) runs at 3.6 Mbit/sec[/quote]
Latest Turbo 3G atleast in operation in europe runs at 7.2Mbit/s.
Yeah, and since the average declared speed you can get in the USA is 6Mbit/s [tho' I've gotten to 12 in burst] then this guy’s reasoning looks a bit better.
Of course the USA lags behind EVERYONE these days. *sigh*
You guys say “owned” to this guy, but in the meanwhile all of you are happily downloading music and movies.
You’re a hypocrite, and you know it.
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