14,528 sms in one month

[titanstattman]

A Californian father was left speechless when he discovered his teenage daughter had sent an astonishing 14,528 text messages in one month.


Greg Hardesty thought there was a mistake with his 13-year-old daughter Reina's online phone bill when it stretched for 440 pages.

"First, I laughed: I thought, 'That's insane, that's impossible'," the New York Post reported the 45-year-old father as saying.

"And I immediately whipped out the calculator to see if it was humanly possible."

Reina's freakish month of texting equates to over 480 messages sent a day ? or around one every two minutes for every waking hour.

Thankfully for Mr Hardesty's hip pocket, he had signed his daughter to an unlimited texting plan for $30 [A$42] a month ? otherwise he figures AT&T would have slugged him with a $2,905.60 [A$4,113.13] bill.

"A lot of my friends have unlimited texting ? I just text them pretty much all the time," Reina explained to her parents.

She said her texting had skyrocketed because she was bored on winter break and admitted to sending a bunch of messages to brag about her enormous effort.

The student has since been banned from sending SMS after dinner.


www.ninemsn.com

[titanstattman]

I knew i was bad but smurf me that is alot

[Cowboy Titan]

My 14 year old wants a mobile phone but these sort of stories scare me off getting her one. I have a bit of a dilemma in that there were only 2 kids in her class last year that didn't have their own mobile. If I don't get her one, she'll feel alienated. If I do - scary things could happen.

[Ryan]

My 14 year old wants a mobile phone but these sort of stories scare me off getting her one. I have a bit of a dilemma in that there were only 2 kids in her class last year that didn't have their own mobile. If I don't get her one, she'll feel alienated. If I do - scary things could happen.
Go pre-paid, or get a capped or unlimited plan.

I don't see a drama with the above story. She obviously knew she was on an unlimited plan, she tried to send as many sms' as she could - and she got to 14,528. Congratulations, but whoop-d-f-kn-dooo! In saying that she'll probably get prime time tv when Today Tonight pick up the story........

[hicksey]

My 14 year old wants a mobile phone but these sort of stories scare me off getting her one. I have a bit of a dilemma in that there were only 2 kids in her class last year that didn't have their own mobile. If I don't get her one, she'll feel alienated. If I do - scary things could happen.

get her a pre paid one so once she uses that money that it

[DIEHARD]

Amazing. She'd be such an annoying friend to have. She'd drive them crazy with updates on her boring life every 3minutes.

No doubt she wrote SMS then sent them out to everyone on her contact list.

:ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

[Steve]

I reckon DIEHARD's got it. Send out to everyone on your contact list at once, it'd be easy to rack it up.

I think a prepaid is the way to go with teenagers. And stick to only buying them credit once a month.
If they blow the credit in only a couple days and have to wait a month for more, they'll (hopefully) learn about moderating their use. Either that or have to start spending their own money on credit, which will get them thinking about it when they could be spending the money on something else.

[Timmy Titans]

I'm 14 and i only use about $30 dollars a month

Yet my brother who is 16 uses about $60

So how much credit would you by her for a month

[daveyk]

my usage is up around or over the $800 mark each month

thank god i am on 3 with a $99 cap

[Capital_Shark]

My 14 year old wants a mobile phone but these sort of stories scare me off getting her one. I have a bit of a dilemma in that there were only 2 kids in her class last year that didn't have their own mobile. If I don't get her one, she'll feel alienated. If I do - scary things could happen.

She'll feel alienated? I'd reckon she would already.

I got a mobile when I was like 13, that was nearly 10 years ago. Fair enough I paid for the lot myself, but I have no idea how a teenager (or anyone really) can live in 2009 without a mobile.

Get your kid a pre-paid cap package. Like $29 a month and you get a couple hundred dollars worth of calls and SMS. Once that credit is gone, its gone until you top it back up. Its impossible for you to get slugged with a monster of a bill as you don't even receive bills.

[GCT_89]

She'll feel alienated? I'd reckon she would already.

I got a mobile when I was like 13, that was nearly 10 years ago. Fair enough I paid for the lot myself, but I have no idea how a teenager (or anyone really) can live in 2009 without a mobile.

Get your kid a pre-paid cap package. Like $29 a month and you get a couple hundred dollars worth of calls and SMS. Once that credit is gone, its gone until you top it back up. Its impossible for you to get slugged with a monster of a bill as you don't even receive bills.

lol yea this is the best idea......any teenager with a plan has too much power in their hands.........lol

but when i was 13 and had my trusty 3310 or 3315....it was a prepaid and how ever much i put on it, is how much i could spend.............none of this $49 and get over $300 worth of calls ect........lol

i feel ripped off..............lol

[daveyk]

lol yea this is the best idea......any teenager with a plan has too much power in their hands.........lol

but when i was 13 and had my trusty 3310 or 3315....it was a prepaid and how ever much i put on it, is how much i could spend.............none of this $49 and get over $300 worth of calls ect........lol

i feel ripped off..............lol

dude.... count yourself lucky that u had a fone that wasnt the size of a brick... mine was a nokia 100 i think and that was the age of 14.... many many many years ago :laugh:

[Paul]

lol Dave,You sound like a grandfather


"when I was a kid...."

:D

[daveyk]

hahahha....

yeh a little long in the tooth paul.....