Roaming Charges and the Short Leash

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Today’s Blog Post
Roaming Charges and the Short Leash
The miracle of the Cell Phone is something that I take for granted now. I can go anywhere and be in touch any time with anyone. With one flip of my hand now I can dial into someone’s telephone and begin a conversation. Or with a few taps of my finger send off a text message – or an email to anyone that can receive it.

My how things have changed! It hasn’t been that many years since I have had access to this ability. In fact the first Cell Phone I had was only 12 years ago! My Chinese friends had enjoyed them much earlier than that. 12 years ago I was given one to use by the church – “so they could keep in touch with me or get me wherever”.

When I first started using it… I felt like I was tethered to the door step… or when my master took me for a walk I was connected to him. But then I got used to it and even carried it by myself – like the dog down the street does with his leash in his teeth while walking beside his master.

My how my world has changed!

A guy in Aidrie, Alberta just found out that his “leash”, which was held by the Virgin Mobile company, cost him a bundle when he rapidly found out what roaming charges are.

Roaming charges are delivered to your Cell Phone when you are outside your normal territory offered by your contract. The Kaching gets a little expensive if you try to act like a movie star with your phone.

His name is Jason Boutang and he used his I-Phone in France for three days to stay connected with his home area.

Now in my Cell Phone use I also got caught one time having to pay extra charges for Cell Phone Roaming. I was in the middle of North Dakota on my vacation and one idiot in Peterborough called me to tell me that he had just bought a great book that he would loan me when I got home. Then he went on to ask me what the weather was like, yadda, yadda, yadda. Kaching! That Kaching was $22 for his nothingness!

Jason was a little different. He did a little more than just take one call or place one call.

The Virgin Mobile folk stated that, “Boutang used about 130 megabytes over the three days, which is the equivalent of sending 5,000 emails, loading 600 web pages or viewing 100 minutes worth of video.”

Now remember that was only in three days.

It seems that Jason needed to listen to his favourite Rock n Roll Radio station in Calgary – from France. And he also just had to send some Text Messages as well. Kaching! Kaching! And his bill was only $7,763.70. It would have been more but Virgin Mobile cut him off after three days of usage.

Imagine three days and the great need to stay connected.

It seems that Jason could have paid only $2000 for a special Roaming Package that would have allowed him to stay connected… but he failed to get one before he left… and they nailed him for all he was worth.

The final outcome to it all was that they did reduce his bill to $2000 from the near $8000 and he is switching to another company.

For me the story points to the radical way that our world has changed from the good old days when we were less connected. When we didn’t need that constant tug on our lives… When we had no leash held by our Master…

Can you remember that time?

Last week because of events unrolling with our family, our daughter needed to get a hold of us immediately. She started calling in the evening and the phone was busy. That is not unusual in that lots of people call at all times. It was still busy when she went to bed.

She called in the morning early and it was still busy. She called and called and called… still busy. The Cell Phones were all shut off too.

So at 10 AM she jumped in her car and drove to our home. One telephone was off the hook… not hung up properly… (I think it was me that committed the foul). OUCH!

It pointed to how much our own family needs that connection – constantly. So much of our planning and our life is connected closely to others.

I was away that morning and when I returned I found a message on my Facebook from my daughter, “Dad, are you there… I have tried to call by the phone is always busy…?”

Yikes! I was disconnected for too many hours and it showed.

This morning I will be sitting in a cool Mall – demonstrating tatting again. I will have a Cell Phone but no one knows the number. I am connected but also disconnected… I have the leash and have run away from my Master. In fact I will run away for a while.

As I reflect on this today… I realize that I need to unplug a little and run on my own. It is completely liberating to do so.

How connected are you? Who holds your leash? How fast do you have to answer the one that calls?

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/  

Source:
http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/07/06/%E2%80%9Ci-opened-my-e-bill-and-fell-over%E2%80%9D%E2%80%A6-calgary-man-racks-up-8k-wireless-bill-while-visiting-france/
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/07/04/14610266.html