U.S. Soldier in Afghanistan Slapped with $16,000 Cell Phone Bill

Soldiers (non coms) should be able to call home free for a limitted amount of time each week!

Are you kidding me; this young man is fighting for our freedom

Absolutely. It's the least we can do for our military who put their lives on the line every day to protect our freedoms. What the heck wrong with you bfharddriver? Maybe you should enlist and get a taste of the hard sacrificing they endure day to day and maybe then you could empathize with their situation.

bf, don't worry. ATT is not out $16k that you need to pay for this guy. I would be surprised if ATT is out anything at all, if they are it is pennies not dollars.

The company I used to work for took customer service calls for ATT and no one's bill ever went up because someone's large bill was waived. Waiving this soldier's bill isn't unusual for ATT though the amount waived is higher than most. We routinely waived large bills for people everyday for a variety of reasons, such as their kids ran up a big bill texting, they went over their minutes and needed a higher plan, or they'd accidentally hit the internet button, did not realize it was on and ran up a huge charge. I remember when 1 time, the grandkids to save granny money put her on their cellphone plan and dropped granny's landline. They didn't realize granny spent all day on the phone and thought that like on the landline there wasn't a limit to the service and they had a huge bill. ATT routinely waived overseas bills for people who like this soldier didn't realize he was being charged international rates. Bills have, also, been waived for people on cruises unaware of cruise ship rates once out of US tower range. ATT waives way more than $16,000 in charges everyday and no one's rates have ever gone up because of it. In fact, several years ago the highest texting plan used to be for 3000 texts and a charge for each text over. Now, they offer unlimited text for a flat rate which is a lot cheaper for parents whose kids are text-nuts. Also, if the phone bill is in a soldier's name, the soldier is eligible for a military discount and if stationed overseas or aboard ship; upon notification, ATT will suspend service and all fees until the military man returns stateside and calls them to restore his service. This way he keeps his number and has immediate service upon his return. I never worked for ATT but I do know how they do business and this is typical of how they do business. I've had 2 sons in the military and one thing they always appreciated were calling cards when stationed overseas. There are several organizations that put together Care packages for our soldiers. It's a little late for Christmas but these groups send packages year round and they are so appreciated. We can always say thank you to our troops by having a Care package sent for us.

How right you are. Our soldiers should have free access to call their families. Anyone who doesn't think so should be in their shoes.

I would not want to be in that soldiers shoes. young guy new baby, wife sick and over there fighting for people bfharddriver. maybe you could go over there I would be willing to pay you're cell phobne bill just to see how long you would last. Thank god for these soldiers and for At&T for doing the right thing. This young kid had so many things on his plate im sure he was thinking it was an AT&T deal for soldiers. If nothing else we should be smiling that we live here with the freedoms we have and that young guys like that soldier are remembered. Good luck BFHARDDRIVER hopefully nobody you know is over there I pray all the time the young people I know all come back safe

Dude, you are a freaking idiot. Just because one person gets their $16k phone bill waived doesn't mean the cost will be placed on AT&T's other customers. AT&T is not losing any money off of this. They are not providing actual items. They are providing a service. The only reason AT&T is charging so much is because they suck so much that they are trying to make up for the money they are losing because their customer's are getting plans with other phone companies. AT&T is the worst phone service out their. It could be in part because they don't provide clear information on their plans. I went to an AT&T store and asked them a question if using AIM goes off my unlimited internet or if each IM uses my text messages. They told me it uses unlimited internet, then at the end of the month, my girlfriend and I had over $180 overage charges because the retards at AT&t do not even understand their plans.

bfharddriver...total bigot. there was no fine print . it was on the phone conversation with him and att about adding 4dollars plus for international calls. Thats why it is importan tnot to accept anything over the phone casue you are missing out 101 fine prints. Almost all credit cards do it and almost al company into making money business. Most companies will pull this crap in hope u the customer will not do anyhthing and pay up. Im guessing u are a republican scam bagg

Yeah! Whatever happened to MARS?

ATT ic the only calling card soldiers can use and at $5.00 per min what good are they doing????

that dumbass cant read a contract and THEY GAVE HIM A GUN,HOPE HE PAID MORE ATTENTION WHEN THEY SHOWED HIM HOW TO USE IT ,MISS A DETAIL AND HE MIGHT DO SOMETHING STUPID LIKE HOLD IT BACKWARDS AND SHOOT HIMSELF IN THE FACE
I DONT FEEL SORRY FOR HIM,LEARN TO READ AND UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE READING.CONTRACTS,ARE LEGAL AND A WHINNY GUYS WITH GUNS IS DANGEROUS

And YOU should learn that typing in all caps is stupid!

bf, you are the biggest piece of &*()% that ever opened his mouth. I hope someone close to you goes to war and doesen't come back. Maybe then you wont be so quick to say something as stupid as you have. You are a real piece of shit