AT&T's Bad Math Strikes MythBusters' Savage 305
etherlad writes "MythBusters' Adam Savage got a bill charging him $11,000 for 'a few hours' of Web surfing while in Canada, using his AT&T USB Mercury modem. AT&T gave him a quote on the data rate: '.015 cents, or a penny and a half, per kb.' Looks like AT&T didn't learn from Verizon's inability to do math. AT&T is also claiming Savage downloaded over 9 GB, which he calls 'frakking impossible.' Savage's huge following on twitter got him a speedy response by AT&T."
He should'a known... (Score:5, Funny)
".015 cents, or a penny and a half"
Let me guess... whichever is larger?
Re:Soz this mean we get a cellphone special now? (Score:4, Funny)
Lucky for them (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not sure what a crowd of angry MythBusters fans would do, but I'm sure that it would involve large amounts of kinetic energy.
no way in hell! (Score:4, Funny)
from the people who brought you this commercial... (Score:5, Funny)
IDK MY BFF JILL DOZ MTH 4 ATT
Celebrity status? (Score:5, Funny)
I wish I could have a mass following behind me that I could use to blackmail evil corporations.... Instead, here I am just clicking away at every Microsoft ad I see hoping that it'll eventually rack up some respectable cost to them.
-bitterness, sad face-
Re:from the people who brought you this commercial (Score:5, Funny)
Let's not be cynical (Score:5, Funny)
Savage's huge following on twitter got him a speedy response by AT&T."
I'm sure the response would have been just as fast if he wasn't famous and wasn't using Twitter. These large companies have professional Human Resource departments to make sure that the customer service experience is good.
Verizon? (Score:3, Funny)
Well, *THERE'S* your problem.
Re:Celebrity status? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, when I was young, man moons ago, we used to have these things called "consumer protection laws". You could walk over to your phone and call a government hotline for help. Of course, you'd get a massive shock when you picked up the phone because of the electrostatic action of your polyester leisure suit, so I'd have to conclude that on the whole things aren't any better or worse than they used to be.
Re:Soz this mean we get a cellphone special now? (Score:1, Funny)
A proper myth should have at least some people believing it's true, although the Mythbusters have been kinda loose with that rule.
First response... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Celebrity status? (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, he's got 55,000 and growing followers on twitter. In the last 7 hours he's sent out a dozen or so tweets. To 55,000 people. 25 cents (.25 dollars) per text == AT&T making a lot of money off Adam's outrage.
He just got commision =)
Re:from the people who brought you this commercial (Score:5, Funny)
Math busted.
Re:Celebrity status? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:from the people who brought you this commercial (Score:2, Funny)
and this [tinypic.com] is what I think of her math skillz
Re:Celebrity status? (Score:1, Funny)
>> I'm a 30 year old Nude Photographer, Comics/Gaming Geek, and Tech Check out my Photography - http://ian-x.com/ [ian-x.com]
Pardon the OT, but... don't people get upset when you strip down and start photographing things?
Re:First response... (Score:5, Funny)
Or Michael Jackson when they told him he was black.
Or alive.
Re:Lucky for them (Score:5, Funny)
Even if they're nerds.
You don't even mess with pissed off nerds. [userfriendly.org]
Re:Let's not be cynical (Score:5, Funny)
You forgot the part about him having in depth knowledge of explosives.
Re:First response... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:He should'a known... (Score:5, Funny)
Ok! Ok! I must have, I must have put a decimal point in the wrong place or something. Shit. I always do that. I always mess up some mundane detail.
Re:He should'a known... (Score:5, Funny)
Its ok, you can take your agression out on the printer.
Re:Famous power (Score:3, Funny)
They don't offer any lube.
Re:Lucky for them (Score:3, Funny)
The cause of, and answer to all lifes problems.
Re:Let's not be cynical (Score:3, Funny)
"I agree with everyone: it shouldn't just work for me. The data carriers MUST stop thinking in kilobytes and start thinking in customers."
Why would they? What are you going to do if they screw you, anyway [youtube.com]?
Re:He should'a known... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:First response... (Score:1, Funny)
I'm sure that somewhere, Elvis is kicking Michael's ass for marrying Lisa Marie...
Re:He should'a known... (Score:5, Funny)
No, no, no... You do it like this [youtube.com]!
Re:Let's not be cynical (Score:5, Funny)
The data carriers MUST stop thinking in kilobytes and start thinking in customers."
Aaaaaah! Get out of my head! You're not allowed to think in me! ... why do I have a sudden urge to buy Lightspeed Briefs?
Re:You're fucking stupid (Score:5, Funny)
Sir, you get one "fuck" per post for free on the Basic Slashdot PricePlan(tm) as you can see on page 2539 of your contract. We assumed from your post that you've decided to take advantage or automatic update process to the Slashdot Super High Enterprise Class Ultra Premium PricePlan(tm) as described in page 1845 of your contract. Yes, that is $199.99 per month plus sale tax and there's a $9599.99 plus sales tax service charge if you change to a plan with a lower monthly price in the first 48 months. Page 3453 of the contract. Well then your copy is updated. I've got the latest contract here, dated 29th of June. Yes 29th of June 2009. Um Sir, there's no need for that language ... Sir the audio quality on this line is kind of bad and I can't hear you very well, and I'll need to change to my headset. CLICK. BRRRR.
My favorite quotes from the article (Score:5, Funny)
Myth CONFIRMED (Score:1, Funny)
And what about the myth that Ma'Bell can rape you over a wireless phone connection: CONFIRMED.
Re:Its 1.5 cents per KB (Score:3, Funny)
It clearly states in the contract that the rates... are subject to change and new rates can be published by AT&T at any time.
Re:Celebrity status? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh America! :(
Being charged money to RECEIVE SMS and phone calls, absoloutely apalling, my condolences.
- The rest of the world.
Re:Soz this mean we get a cellphone special now? (Score:5, Funny)
I have seen this before - what is it about saying 0.02 cent when you mean 2 cent or 0.02 dollar?
One time in science class, grade 10, we had to do something where we were given some basic info about an object made out of aluminum and the market cost of aluminum. We had to figure out the raw-material cost of the object, assuming no loss during construction. So we had to use our lessons on density and whatnot to figure out the exact mass of the object and then simply multiply by price.
Problem is, most of us screwed up the ".02 cents per gram" (or whatever) part and did .02 dollars, so we were off by a factor of 100.
Class response was... informative. The few observant students who got it looked smug. Some smacked their heads at missing that. A few were severely pissed that they got the question wrong over the one part of the question that had nothing to do with science. One got that part right but botched the density part of the problem. The underachievers were either confused by the whole thing or glad they didn't even try.
And one guy... one guy spent ten minutes arguing with the teacher that .02 dollars and .02 cents were the same thing. Half a blackboard of diagrams later and she gave up trying to explain it.
Now I know where that guy works.
Re:You're fucking stupid (Score:4, Funny)
Sir, you get one "fuck" per post for free on the Basic Slashdot PricePlan(tm)
Slashdot is pimping?