AT&T starts charging prepaid iPhone users by the kilobyte — by mistake

Last week, after the Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld, my iPhone stopped downloading Web pages and sending text messages. I thought it was just a temporary glitch, but after two days, I realized there was a serious problem. I tracked down a thread on AT&T's help forums, and learned that the problem was my prepaid plan:

Finally he came back and told me that the system has a glitch and is dropping all iPhone data plans (whether this is only for GoPhone or whether this is a general iPhone problem he didnt say). He reversed the charge. He said they have no ETA for the fix, but are working on it. He said the next time i use the web I will be charged at the same rate until they fix the glitch.

My texting and Internet came back, as if by magic. But now I'm being "charged" $0.15 for every text message and $0.20 per kilobyte of downloaded data. I use Google Maps for 3 minutes to get directions to a restaurant and then I get a notice telling me that I'm being charged $15.75 in data. Nice. An AT&T spokesman tells me that they're working on it and affected customers should contact customer service. That would be easier if they were open 24 hours. "Our call center is currently closed ..." For $80/mo., AT&T should really be around to answer for its own mistakes.

(Photo by oskay)

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