MP hit with $10,000 mobile bill
by edit@cnet.com.au (AAP)South Australian member of parliament Russell Wortley who was hit with a $10,000 bill on his taxpayer-funded phone after his son downloaded football games.
The Upper House MP, whose bills normally total about $200, was told the news on Friday.
“I was in shock, I only use my phone for mobile calls, so I knew there was a problem [with the bill],” Wortley told AAP.
His 13-year-old son had downloaded free games on his father’s new taxpayer-funded iPhone without permission.
Wortley didn’t understand that while the smartphone had the capacity to download the applications, his phone plan didn’t. According to South Australian media outlet Adelaide Now, Wortley’s carrier was Telstra.
It is not yet clear if the charges are from the actual download, or for the time his son spent playing the free games.
“I can’t believe somebody would be charged $4000 for playing a game for one hour,” he said.
“It sounds mind-boggling.
“People should know that they, or their children, could be innocently downloading games which they think are free, but at the end of the day they end up costing thousands of dollars,” he said.
Wortley said he will pay that bill himself.
But his brush with “bill shock” comes with a plea for other smartphone users to check their plans.
He’s even taken the complaint to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who said he’d follow it up with the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA).
AMTA chief executive Chris Althaus told AAP the industry group had contacted Senator Conroy’s office after the publicity over the SA MP’s phone bill.
But Althaus said there were basic steps consumers can take to avoid bill shock.
Pre-paid plans can help people who are starting out to determine how much data they are downloading without a surprise bill at the end of the month.
Data monitoring can provide alerts to those on plans when they are reaching the end of their data limits.
“We’re very anxious that people get a sense of what their consumption might be because it’s a new format, (there are) new applications and new ways of downloading content,” he said.
“The mobile data scene is going to be incredibly valuable to consumers, the economy and all manner of sectors … but we’ve all got to get a little educated along the way.
“It’s in nobody’s interest to have people in debt.”
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