Lost phone reveals scary truth about mobile Web charges

I knew that mobile data charges - for those without an unlimited usage plan - could add up fast. But this is crazy.

My mother-in-law lost her phone - at the grocery store on Monday morning, she thinks - but didn't notice until she went to make a call on Tuesday morning that it was missing. So she did what any of us would do - she called her cell phone number from her house phone, hoping she'd hear it ringing from the bottom of her purse. Instead, someone answered it. (Idiots!)

Instead of turning the phone in to the store manager or something honest like that, this person went on a Web surfing binge and, in less than 24 hours, managed to use 56.67 megabytes worth of data. Is that a lot? I gotta be honest: that didn't sound like a lot of usage to me - until I heard how AT&T (her service provider) charges for it.

Let's do the math: AT&T charges 1 cent for every kilobyte that's used. (Again, that doesn't sound so bad initially). If there are 1024 kilobytes in a megabyte and this person used 56.67 megabytes, that means he used - gulp! - 58,030 kilobytes of data. At 1 cent each, that added up to $580.30 on her bill.

Luckily, AT&T was sympathetic to her situation and said it will reverse the charges. But, I can only imagine the shock that some parents must go through when they hand over a Web-capable phone to a teenager and don't realize how quickly these charges can add up. This person who used my mother-in-law's phone racked up $580 worth of charges in less than 24 hours. I can only imagine what sort of damage would have been done over a period of 30 days.