Streaming 411

A family vacation to Arizona for Saskatchewan province residents, the Gibson family, turned into an expensive endeavor when they received a huge bill from their internet provider.  It seems the Gibson kids enjoyed streaming movies and tv shows the entire trip without realizing that they were racking up huge roaming charges.  Clearly, the mobile broadband industry is doing a huge disservice to their subscribers in not giving them clear warnings that roaming charges could become costly.  Apparently FCC chairman Julius Genachowski agrees, calling for new rules to alert customers prior to and as they incur charges, for all wireless carriers to follow.  Good news for the Gibsons too.  SaskTel, the Gibson's cellular provider, has discounted the bill down to $1,000.  That's still a pretty big pill to swallow to watch a few movies.  It's a good reminder for everyone to understand the terms of service of their internet connections, especially costly wireless spectrum. 

SaskTel's director of Corporate Affairs, Michelle Englot, told ABC News in an email "We are finding that our customers are using an increasing amount of bandwidth.  We have had some instances of customers exceeding the data usage that is included within their plans but for the most part, our customers do understand what is included in their data plans and it is not typically this dramatic.  it is very important that a customer understands what is included in their plan.  Also, we recommend that any customer who is travelling outside of Canada should turn off their data while they are roaming to avoid any unexpected charges."  A good reminder for all of us. 

Source:  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/02/vacation-nightmare-family-billed-11000-for-streaming-movies/