A Chicago Sun Times reader wrote he needed help from "The Fixer" with a really big cell phone wireless card bill. The traveler received $28,067.31 wireless phone bill after a recent trip for watching a Bears game on his laptop computer via a wireless card.
He was in Miami on Nov. 2, getting ready to go on a Caribbean cruise. He wanted to catch the Bears game before he left port. He had a Slingbox connected to his cable box, that fed into his modem.
It sent his cable signal through the Internet to his computer via an
AT&T wireless card.
Hew was in the Port of Miami at 1 p.m. Florida time when
Bears game started and the ship did not leaveMiami until 4 p.m. He watched the game for 2½ hours. Then he shut down the computer and cell
phone,.
When he got his phone/wireless card bill, which is usually about $220, it was for $28,067.31.
He called AT&T and told them there was either a mistake or fraud
and asked them to please take this off the bill. They
told him that the bill was correct and somehow he was charged
international rates for Internet use, which wass 2 cents per kb.
That came out to $27,788.93.
He explained that he was not at sea but in port and his cell phone was
still working without roaming, and that he should have still been on his unlimited wireless card. He was in contact with five or six
different people at AT&T, and the best they could do, even though he was not at fault, is to bring the bill down to $6,000.
The Fixer replied "Good thing you had the proof that you were still in port during the
game. Team Fixer pleaded your case with AT&T, and the good news is
they've agreed to credit your bill for $27,776.66."