CHEYENNE — In one month, a Cheyenne teenager sent 10,000 text messages and received about the same — all while her family’s plan did not include texting.
That means the family’s provider — Verizon — charged them for each incoming and outgoing text message.
The girl’s parents, Gregg and Jaylene Christoffersen, thought texting had been disabled, so one can imagine their surprise when they got the monthly phone bill and it asked for $4,756.25.
“It just hit us like a rock, like you’re stepping into a bus,” Gregg Christoffersen said.
The bill was legit. Dena Christoffersen, 13, had apparently been sending most of these messages at school. That’s more than 300 texts within an eight-hour period every day for the whole month.
Needless to say, it drew attention away from what she should have been doing: paying attention in class.
“She went from A’s and B’s one semester to F’s in two months,” Dena’s dad said.
Hours after the enormous bill arrived, Gregg Christoffersen took a hammer to his daughter’s phone.
He and Jaylene also grounded Dena until the end of school.
“I felt really bad, and I have learned my lesson,” Dena said, with her head down.
Since she lost her phone, Dena’s grades have gone up, and the texting is down to zero.
As for the phone bill, the family says Verizon has been willing to knock it down to a reasonable level. The Christoffersens are asking school administrators at Johnson Junior High School to crack down on cellphone use during school.
i ve not txt that much for the past 5 yeals lol ..
daam i wana meet this kid ..how did she do it whats the trick lol…
same time, serves the parents damm right ..what is girl at 13 doing with a fone anyways. koi busness meeting mein to jaa nahi rahi, koi high profile job to hai nahi ..apart from her studies at this age ..too much freedom has now cost em .. changa hoya eh unnah naal.
OMG that is not that alot lol … but a person should becareful about what plans they have and what the bill would be lol…
I remember when I went to meri jaan Lahore in summer of 2007 I got the Warid ZoomU package that allowed 250 free sms to any network in a day and by the time I came back to Dubai after staying 19 days in Lahore I had done about 8700 text messages.
That was because I used the Warid Anonymous Chat to find people to talk to and then got their numbers and texted them like anything:cb: and also when I was there I used to text message Stylobabe and ASA alot:cb: like ALOT. Also Decent_Felow…
Some parents are using cell phone as a safety device for kids, thinking in case of emergency the kids will be able to seek help by using that cellphone.
Some parents are using cell phone as a safety device for kids, thinking in case of emergency the kids will be able to seek help by using that cellphone.
Thats right I see lot of kids holding cell phones in Zafi's class just for safety.
so isnt there an option where you can limit services on the phone i.e. no international, no long distance, no text msgs, no web surfing. or to limit it so text msgs can only be sent to approved numbers, web surfing can only be to approved sites?
I dont disagree with the need for a phone, but lets look at it as what is the primary purpose and limit it to that.
i ve not txt that much for the past 5 yeals lol ..
