£27,000 phone bill for Vodafone customer

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 2 Jan 2008 at 10:33

A Vodafone customer has been charged £27,000 after using his mobile phone as a modem to download audio and video files to his laptop.

Ian Simpson, a 29 year old factory worker from Darlington, took out a £41.50 monthly contract that he believed offered unlimited internet access. However, the contract Simpson chose actually had a 120MB monthly limit.

Simpson told the Northern Echo that he downloaded "20 or 30" television episodes as well as four albums, which racked up charges of up to £18 per minute once he had exceeded the limits set out in the contract.

Vodafone says that it is sympathetic to Simpson's situation, and is currently considering reducing the charges.

"Customers are advised of the charges for data after the fair usage limit has been used as part of the terms and conditions. Very few of our customer exceed the fair usage," says a Vodafone spokesperson.

A similar case occurred last month in Canada, where 22 year old Piotr Staniaszek received a £40,000 phone bill for using his mobile phone as a modem to download movies to his laptop.

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