iPhone bills?!?

[TNTDevil]

Have any of our DBR posters/lurkers with iPhones actually received a bill similar to the ones mentioned in this article (http://www.newsobserver.com/nation_world/story/672208.html)?

Justine Ezarik, a graphic designer and blogger from Pittsburgh, posted a video of herself unpacking a 300-page iPhone bill that came in a cardboard box. Her video, set to the music used in iPhone TV commercials, has been viewed more than 196,000 times through the video sharing sites Revver and Google's YouTube.

Her video ends with the note: "Use e-billing. Save a forest."

Ben Kuchera, gaming editor for the technology Web site Ars Technica in Chicago, said he received a 34-page double-sided bill. He describes himself as a "light" iPhone user and said his bill is likely typical.
Daayyy-ummm! Now that's a bill. And why does AT&T do this? I'm an AT&T customer and use ebilling and am alway amazed when I look at the whole bill on-line to see all that wasted effort logging "no-charge" calls.

[hurleyfor3]

There may be some sort of state or federal law that requires them to itemize calls. My cell provider does this too, even when I'm under my allotted minutes for the month, which is almost always.

[Olympic Fan]

I saw the story about this and the video. The question I had as a non-iphone user, is what was the bill?

Do i-phone users pay a set fee each month -- in which case, all these itemized no-charge calls are just a waste of space? Or are these billed calls in which case the 300-page phone bill could be monstrous?

I am about as low-tech a cell phone user as possible (no text, no video, no games ... but a lot of simple phone calls) and my bill usually pretty reasonable ($20-$40 a month). But one month I must have unknowing crossed a threashhold because I got a bill for $300-plus (no other bill has been over $50 in my 10 years of cell phone use).

When I saw that 300-page bill, my thought was that she was going to owe something equal to the national debt!

[cspan37421]

I am about as low-tech a cell phone user as possible (no text, no video, no games ... but a lot of simple phone calls) and my bill usually pretty reasonable ($20-$40 a month).

Not quite - get in line. :)

Virgin Mobile service is prepay and you only have to add $20 to your account once every 90 days - about $6.67/mo. Their cheap candy-bar phone costs $20 and the battery lasts 2-3 years (after that it is cheaper to get a new phone than replace the battery). Calls are charged against your balance at $0.25/min for the first 10 minutes each day, and $0.10/min after that. Text messaging is only $0.05/msg (I use, but rarely). Perfect for an ultralight user like me - I hate cellphones but have to have one.

So I pay about $7.33/mo for mine. But I confess, you didn't claim to be a low cost user, exactly, but a low-tech user.

[Bluedawg]

Have any of our DBR posters/lurkers with iPhones actually received a bill similar to the ones mentioned in this article (http://www.newsobserver.com/nation_world/story/672208.html)?

Daayyy-ummm! Now that's a bill. And why does AT&T do this? I'm an AT&T customer and use ebilling and am alway amazed when I look at the whole bill on-line to see all that wasted effort logging "no-charge" calls.

I'm an AT&T customer and my bill does not have itemized calls, and i which it would. All it lists is totals.

Have you noticed a drop in quality since Cingluar became AT&T?

[jimmymax]

FYI, with VirginMobile you can opt for an auto $15 deposit from a credit card every 90 days (rather than the usual $20) and get additional auto increments of $15 if your balance gets low, again charged to your card.
There is also a flat 18 cents a minute rate which I use as I rarely get beyond 10 minutes a day and the cheaper rate that starts with minute 11.
Their Nokia phone supports a data cable and you can use the free Nokia software to manage your contacts. That was the clincher for me as I refuse to ever again load phone contacts one at a time via the keypad...

[TillyGalore]

I'm an AT&T customer and my bill does not have itemized calls, and i which it would. All it lists is totals.

Have you noticed a drop in quality since Cingluar became AT&T?

I heard an AT&T representative on NPR yesterday indicate you can get an itemized bill, you only need to ask for one.

[TNTDevil]

...Have you noticed a drop in quality since Cingluar became AT&T?...my call quality is very good. As for customer (no)service- never use them for technical or billing issues.

By some strange twist of fate I was an AT&T Cellular customer about 4-5 years ago (my memory is failing in my old age) when AT&T sold out to Cingular/Suncom. North Carolina became a Suncom area. But wait, it gets more strange. I use PDA phones (i.e. HTC 8525 PocketPC phone is what I have now) and Sumcom's network couldn't support my phone service so I was forced to drop them and go Cingular.

Cingular was very nice, as a good friend of mine owns about 30 franchise stores. So he got me a great deal on a new phone/PPC and set me up, all without hassle, on Cingular's service. Now, if I have any issues with billing, I just call him and he calls one of his minions who then call me to tell me it's all straightened out. SWEET!

Back with the old AT&T their customer (no)service was the worst, technical (no)support even more so, therefore I learned how to do a lot of the technical issues myself and never even visit an AT&T site except to view/pay my bill.

[DevilAlumna]

I too was an old AT&TW customer (Blue) who was switched into Cingular after the buyout (Orange) and am now back to AT&T (Blue again.)

Previously, the Cingular bills were a max of 3 pages, detailing my calls, texts, and noting my unlimited data plan.

My new AT&T bills are out of control; my first was about 35 pages, because not only did it list out calls and texts, but every single time my phone connected and downloaded data. It tracked EVERY SINGLE KILOBYTE. Umm, hello, it's an unlimited plan - why would I care? I synch my phone with my email manually; I can't imagine what the bills are like for people who have their email pushed to them -- probably in the hundreds of pages, like this iPhone chick.

BTW, TNTDevil -- nice phone! I'm waiting for the new WM6 models, but that one's an eyecatcher.

[Duvall]

Not quite - get in line. :)

Virgin Mobile service is prepay and you only have to add $20 to your account once every 90 days - about $6.67/mo. Their cheap candy-bar phone costs $20 and the battery lasts 2-3 years (after that it is cheaper to get a new phone than replace the battery). Calls are charged against your balance at $0.25/min for the first 10 minutes each day, and $0.10/min after that. Text messaging is only $0.05/msg (I use, but rarely). Perfect for an ultralight user like me - I hate cellphones but have to have one.

So I pay about $7.33/mo for mine. But I confess, you didn't claim to be a low cost user, exactly, but a low-tech user.

What's the coverage like?