Paying per text can be expensive. 13-year-old Dena Christofferson's texting aggravated her father, Greg Christofferson of Cheyenne Wisconsin when her texting, sky-rocket the family's wireless bill to $4,756.25.
Dena's father purchased data plan from Verizon Wireless that excluded texting. Dena sent and received almost 20,000 messages in a month, or around 700 texts sent and received per day. Christofferson's reacted as any father might, he smashed the handset with a hammer.
Another dilemma, Dena had to deal with was that her principal called the family soon after the phone bill debacel and told her parents that the teenager was getting several Fs on her report card. Dena was grounded as well cell-less.
It appears Dena didn't have time to study or do her homework dealing
with 700 text messages a day. Some reports say that she was texting
during school classes, that's a great way to get a failing grade.
Verizon is, reportedly working with the family to try and have the phone bill reduced.
In some states it is illlegal to text while driving. Maybe parents
should make it illegible to text without a plan or block the texting
features from teen's phones. If you are trying to block all text
messaging entirely, you can call Verizon customer service (*611) and
have the feature completely blocked.
According to the Verizon website:
You have the option of selecting any of the text messaging plans
listed above or you may elect to have text messages blocked entirely.
Blocking text messages will also disable the ability to receive Mobile
Web alerts. Blocking text messages will not affect Voicemail
notifications or other related services.
I think that works out to be 30 text messages an hour. Whats crazy is that a lot of these folks could simply do an internet search and find sites that allow them to send free text messages. I use the web to send my messages and they are free to send. People out there don't realize that they can save money using these sites and can avoid being front page news all over the internet. eye opening sory, however.
Yes sending text from a computer can save a lot of money. The problem, however, with this family is that the girl most likely was texting during school....It's difficult to text from a computer if you are sneaking texting under a desk or in a purse.
I can't begin to imagine what it was like for the parents to get a $5K phone bill, especially if they thought that they had a texting plan that, while not unlimited, was at least comprehensive. Talk about shock! Without debating the appropriateness of the volume of the rampant texting, I get particularly riled when parents are stuck with huge bills.
Good luck to everyone trying to cut your wireless expenses in this rough economy.
Dylan