Curse you AT&T

Slightly unexpected billing from my friends at AT&T (my wireless company of no-choice, since I let my preference for the iPhone platform decide my provider for me) after my recent trip North of the border...  I say slightly unexpected because I wasn't that surprised at getting dinged for roaming charges for using the phone to make voice calls while North of the border.  That part I expected.  Another country and all that.

The phone and/or AT&T even warned me as I got close to the border that international data rates would be ridiculously expensive, and the phone had that option disabled for me already, so I was good there.  And again, I didn't mind the international roaming charges (they could/should be lower, but it is another country, using a different carrier, has to be negotiated with, etc.), but...  I wasn't expecting the charges that they've recently been dinging me for: International Texting.

My friend in Canada had started sending me TXT messages, and I was returning them *assuming* that since I pay for unlimited TXTing, that I'd be covered.  Uh, yeah, sure.  I have unlimited TXTing in the U.S., to domestic numbers, but to international numbers?  Not so fast!  Those carry surcharges.  D'oh!

Oh well, thankfully I can cover the bill, and it wasn't *that* bad, but, I did send my friend an e-mail noting please cease texting to me and stop expecting any text messages back from me as they were costing me additional fees.  IM still works.  Hah! take that you greedy AT&T bastages, since I'm still overpaying to be on the "old" unlimited data plan I can use as much data as I like.  Though I'm not using all that much, any place I can use data instead of anything that would cost me additional fees is good by me, so I think I'll start IM'ing the world...

Maybe I should sign up for Twitter so I can start tweeting constantly.  That might use a few megabytes over the course of the day.

Nah, I think I'll just fire up my Slingplayer app and run it 24x7 until AT&T sends me a nasty-gram saying I have to stop doing so.  That would most definitely use up a bunch of data bandwidth, and actually, I think I'm still entitled to use it for a heavy amount of data if needed/desired.  Not 24x7, but still can be used for a hearty amount.

Oh how I look forward to a future with even more competition amongst the cellular/data providers.  Maybe at some point down the road we'll really get (back?) to a land where data charges and other similar charges make sense for us -- the consumers -- rather than making many, many, many cents for the carriers.