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Letter to the editor

Downloads ring up a $59,000 bill

The Canadian, who used his cell phone as a modem, gets an even bigger surprise.

CALGARY, Alberta - Piotr Staniaszek normally pays $147 a month for his cell phone. So he was more than a little surprised to learn his November bill had ballooned to $59,000.

And then it got worse.

When he called to inquire about the high figure, he was told that his bill this month was $83,000.

Staniaszek, 22, said he used his cell phone to download music and movies onto a computer, an unwise move in a country where mobile carriers charge expensive fees for data.

Staniaszek said his mobile carrier, Bell Mobility, should have alerted him and not have allowed his bill to rise to a "ridiculously huge" amount in six weeks.

"They should have let me know when my phone bill started going up," he said. "I thought it was the same thing when I plugged it into the computer and used it as a modem - I guess not."

Staniaszek, an oil field worker, said he signed up with Bell to pay $10 a month to use a mobile browser on his cell phone.

Bell Canada official Jeffrey Meerman said that Staniaszek's cell phone plan is not intended for downloading files to a computer, and that is in his contract.

Bell and Staniaszek have since negotiated the bill to $3,195.

[Last modified December 14, 2007, 23:25:12]