Texting Teens Generating OMG Phone Bills

theodp writes "Last month, Washington high school junior Sofia Rubenstein used 6,807 text messages, which, at a rate of 15 cents apiece for most of them, pushed her family's Verizon Wireless bill over $1,100. She and other teens are finding themselves in hot water after their families get blindsided with huge phone bills thanks to hefty a la carte text messaging charges." Use of SMS in the US doubled from 2005 to 2006.

A $1,100 phone bill? TSNF!

[Anonymous Coward]

Solution: forbid her from texting her bff Jill.

Re:227 texts a day?!

[carabela]

So hitting F5 on Slashdot regularly is better?

Re:Two words:

[ms1234]

Finger massage.

Re:Two words:

[chris_eineke]

That'll cost her family another 30c.

Re:Why text when you can talk?

[winmine]

Perhaps you should take advantage of the new and popular acronyms to save time and make texting easier. Here are some relevant to your interests:

GOML (get off my lawn)
IGAB (I got a bingo!)
DFOL (dentures fell out laughing)

Re:Not just kids ... talk to my wife

[Cheapy]

If you were honestly thinking about divorce over a paltry sum of $200, you really might wanna go over why you married in the first place. :)

Re:Two words:

[microAmp]

Don't you mean?

66666 666677733 7446666633

Re:SMS spamming?

[Anonymous Coward]

What was your number again?

Preemptive strike!

[simpleguy]

Durex.

Nuff said.

Re:Kids these days (?)

[aamcf]

Pretty much every parent in my office knows more about cells than their kids.

Of course, I do work for Openwave [openwave.com].

Re:15 cents each?!

[Anonymous Coward]

they used to be something like 5 to send free to recieve. Then it was 5 to send 5 to recieve, then it was 10 to send 5 to recieve. Now it is 15c each way. I dont see how they can justify charging that much for a tiny exchange of data.

And that is why you're not executive material.

Unlimited

[Kuvter]

And to think they could have gotten 'unlimited texting' for only $5 a month.

Re:Two words:

[stinerman]

A spanking is physical abuse.

Yes, its battery and/or assault and should be treated as such.

Re:Three letters: WTF ??!?

[rylin]

Each minute therefore costs $0.07.

Is that .07 dollars or .07 cents?

Re:Two words:

[mobby_6kl]

> But what if you're a good parent and your child is just plain evil?

I heard somewhere that Dr. Evil is looking for children to adopt, he's apparently not quite satisfied with "one calorie" Scott.

Re:Three letters: WTF ??!?

[tenton]

Is that .07 dollars or .07 cents?

Verizon: Yes.

Re:Two words:

[swillden]

Whatever happened to "Some people are just naturally selfish jerks?"

Everyone who said it was sent to timeout.

Re:Not just kids ... talk to my wife

[StikyPad]

that $200 bill almost spelled divorce.

That's a solid relationship you have there.

He was being literal. When he ripped the bill into shreds and threw it on the floor, the pieces spelled out D-I-V-O-R-E-C.

Re:Who's disciplining the parents?

[maadlucas]

The sentence is fine, it's Dow Chemical I'm worried about.

Re:Two words:

[operagost]

          <--- Joke

     O
    /|\   <--- You
    / \

Re:Two words:

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't need to plan that. You're posting on Slashdot, right?

I understand the feeling

[mschuyler]

which is why I'm holding my daughter's $2000 piano as hostage until she pays up. Hope it was worth it.

Re:It's about time texting caught on in the US

[Rob the Bold]

On the contrary, texting while driving would be so outrageously dangerous that even the morons who will talk while driving would probably balk at attempting to type.

So you would agree that texting while driving would be so stupid that even a moron would know not to, right? Unfortunately, I witness texting while driving about once a week, and I'm in the US where even our morons are dumber.

Re:A $1,100 phone bill? TSNF!

[mmortal03]

What's wrong with using "etc."? lol, j/k.

Re:Two words:

[Canordis]

Excuse me, but are you comparing misbehaving children to murderers, rapists and child molesters? Please report to your nearest reproductive health clinic for a swift and thorough removal of your ability to reproduce. Thank you.

Killer Mom ?

[freaker_TuC]

(I'm sure if she said "kill a man," I might have had some objections, but thankfully, such requests were rare).

Mommy, can I go out and kill tonight ... I feel, I feel like taking a life ...

this is how we spell itin europe:

[andr0meda]

n0 phn