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Topic: Hardware

Mythbusters' Adam Savage hit with $11,000 AT&T bill

Summary: It seems that Mythbusters' Adam Savage was doing a spot of traveling in Canada and made the mistake of taking his AT&T USB Connect Mercury modem with him. A spot of web surfing ended up with him getting a eye-watering $11,000 bill for roaming from AT&T.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

It seems that Mythbusters' Adam Savage was doing a spot of traveling in Canada and made the mistake of taking his AT&T USB Connect Mercury modem with him. A spot of web surfing ended up with him getting a eye-watering $11,000 bill for roaming from AT&T.

Note: Some media outlets are reporting that he racked up the massive bill using his iPhone, this is incorrect.

Savage broke the news via Twitter:

Sorry, bit of explanation: device in question wasn't my phone, it was the AT&T usb connect Mercury modem. 12 minutes ago from web

And I got the "data is charged at .015 cents, or a penny and a half, per kb". About to try to explain the difference to them. Sigh. 18 minutes ago from web

They're claiming I uploaded/downloaded 9 million kilobytes (9 gigs) while in Canada. Frakking impossible. 19 minutes ago from web

@sleepingbri you read it right. $11,000.00 about 2 hours ago from web in reply to sleepingbri

Did I mention they've turned off my phone until I pay? #attsucks about 2 hours ago from web

Almost forgot: Hey AT&T! I will fight this bullshit. about 2 hours ago from web

Text messaging fees are stupid robbery? (they are), AT&T is attempting to charge me 11k for a few hours of web surfing in Canada. Pls RT! about 2 hours ago from web

If this is a mistake, AT&T need to sort out its act. If it's not a mistake and it's possible to rack up insane charges while roaming then there needs to be some sort of mechanism in place to prevent people from digging such a deep hole for themselves.

Data transfer charges while roaming are a rip off? Myth confirmed!

[UPDATE: Looks like AT&T have sorted this out for Savage.

"Today the tweeps became twoops. Just got off the phone with AT&T and they've taken care of everything to my great satisfaction."

Still, there's a deeper issue here, since not everyone is Adam Savage, and not everyone has nearly 60,000 Twitter followers that catch AT&T's eye ...]

Topics: Hardware, Browser, AT&T

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98 comments
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  • AT&T Your World, Delivered

    Just don't forget to bend over and lube up before they deliver it.

    AT&T is a flipping joke. Hurry up and some other carrier offer the IPhone so I can leave them, my contract is up.
    itanalyst2@...
    Reply Vote

    • ROLF ...

      ... OK, that was too funny ...
      Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
      Reply Vote

      • What is ROLF?

        nt
        transposeIT
        Reply Vote

        • Smart people can interpret simple typos

          Try it - it's not that hard.
          ejhonda
          Reply Vote

          • ok

            dad without education i wont get the point
            splitaravine
            Reply Vote

        • The sound of a dog laughing

          -nt-
          Dr_Zinj
          Reply Vote

          • haha! -nt

             
            midenginedrift
            Reply Vote

          • Oh, That's GOOD, Dr. Zinj!

            High-Five!
            drprodny
            Reply Vote

        • I think it stands for...

          'Rogering Our Little Folk'

          I can only guess it's part of AT&T's Customer Service policy .. or more likely Mission Statement.

          Oh to be ...
          thx-1138_
          Reply Vote

        • What is ROLF?

          "Can you see what it is yet?"
          Timothy (TRiG)
          Reply Vote

        • Roll on Floor Laughing

          The longer version is ROLFMAO

          Roll on Floor Laughing my A$$ off.

          Cheers.
          mjm5
          Reply Vote

        • The black muppett.

          nt
          Spiritusindomit@...
          Reply Vote

        • Duh!

          Rolling On Laughing Floor, of course! ;)
          Isocrates
          Reply Vote

        • Rolf Benirschke

          Former kicker for the SD Chargers and one time host of Wheel of Fortune.
          Salonikios
          Reply Vote

    • You deserve props for that one.

      AT&T sucks but all of the telcos are rogues anyway. I used to think Sprint was bad but now I may get a Pre just to leave AT&T.
      T1Oracle
      Reply Vote

    • AT&T Our world, you just live in it.

      I actually have nothing against AT&T Wireless... I have had no trouble from them really. I did once get a $2000 bill, but it was quickly straightened out.

      However, I have had to deal with them for T1 and phone lines for corporations and local governments I worked for in IT, and that is a pain in the butt. Anytime they get involved, be ready to go behind them and make sure they even in the right place. They had our point-to-point mapped to another company. Considering this was a FEMA contract, I imagine the other company was having a nice time trying to get those routers access to the internet. Everything routed back to a central bank of servers that controlled access to anything and everything. Talk about blowing up a phone though... my FEMA issued cell phone nearly overheated from the hotheaded calls coming in about that one. I had one answer that quickly drew a sigh and "oh... them again." Of course... AT&T personnel are trained to never admit it is their fault, so we spent hours batting ti back and forth until according to them "it just mysteriously started working again, but it wasn't their fault."

      Oh well... in my opinion, they all suck.
      ShadowGIATL
      Reply Vote

    • Restraint of Trade?

      Isn't there a law relating to restraint of trade (or some similar phrase) whereby a retailer cannot dictate to you where you should buy something related to his products? I'm not a lawyer so I don't know, but if there isn't such a law, there certainly ought to be. I refuse to buy any product - including the iPhone - if the manufacturer forces me to buy services from a provider of their choice. In France, there is such a law so the iPhone can be bought to use with any network in France. It surprises me how many people ARE willing to be dictated to by Apple.
      JohnOfStony
      Reply Vote

    • Get it right...

      AT&T Your world, our way
      iMouse
      Reply Vote

    • Well ya got that one right on the money.. out 1800USD here..

      Yep some years back 1800 bucks for their FREE 1 800 online sevice number because I live in rural Missouri. Less then a week later their FREE service had reamed me a new a _ _ hole to the tune of 1800USD and they shut off my landline phone, cell phone, and my internet. Shot my credit to H_ll and made it impossible for me to get another land line. Ended up with Alltel and that suits me fine. Bet think ever did was piss off the landline to AT&T.
      To bad my last name ain't Savage....
      widdybear
      Reply Vote

  • Verizon Wireless

    just another shining example of why I switched to Verizon...forget the Iphone, it's not worth putting up with AT&T to have one.
    endorphine44
    Reply Vote
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