Alltel "billing"

I got a bill in the mail today from Alltel:







Now, I'll be honest, my first reaction to this was to be a bit panicked -- and then I started laughing. What kind of billing screw-up results in a $1,000 phone bill? A very simple one, apparently. I pay $25 a month for a service they have called "Axcess Data Connection", which is just a marketing monkier for "Unlimited internet tethering to my laptop via my cell phone". I pay this to plug my phone into my PC and get as much broadband as I want for free. Well, half their billing system forgot that I had this on my account, and so my bill reflects what I'd be paying if I *weren't* paying $25 a month for unlimited internet. Quite a bargain, I'd say.



I thought I had it bad until I read this post over on Stormtrack by Mike (click the image to enlarge it in a new window to read -- I'd link to it directly, but that particular forum requires registration):







WHOA!! I'm pretty sure if I'd gotten *that* bill, there would have been no laughter involved. :)



For what it's worth, the Alltel tethering service is, in my opinion, one of the greatest deals out there right now for internet connectivity. At least when they're billing you correctly.