Adam Savage Going Ape**** on AT&T [Editorial]

I've got nothing but respect for the creativity and ingenuity that Adam Savage (co-host of the Mythbusters) possesses.  The guy is simply amazing with his obsessive creations and his passion for his work.  But today, Adam Savage complained about something via Twitter (@donttrythis) that took the wind out of my sails.

He apparently came to Canada recently and decided to surf the net with his AT&T connection (via cellphone or modem wasn't specified) for a few hours.  Those of us not living in the US knows about cellular carriers and their exorberent charges when it comes to roaming, especially when it's data roaming.  When you sign your contract, your data and voice plans only covers you for local (and sometimes national) use but unless you've previously signed up for an international plan, you are going to have to deal with roaming charges.

For full disclosure, I have worked in the past for Rogers here in Canada and have had experience trying to explain the business logic behind roaming.  I no longer work for them and I don't defend their pricing practices but, as a consumer, you had the choice to accept or decline their terms of service.  AT&T didn't "all of a sudden" change their prices for roaming so, assuming that Savage was in a contract with AT&T and that his roaming policy pertaining to his plan did not change, there is no weight to his complaint of the $11,000 USD bill.

The price is ridiculous and no one in their right mind would think to charge someone an amount like that for a cell phone bill but, nonetheless, the writing was clear, you signed the contract and you have no one to blame but yourself.  If you took the time to find out the cost of data roaming before you did it, you wouldn't be venting on Twitter and asking for others to re-tweet your complaint!

Savage asking his 50,000+ followers to re-tweet his beef with a completely legitimate bill is borderline abuse of power (of his celebrity).  There has already been lots of re-tweets to his complaints and it's upsetting to know that so many people seem to believe his frustration is anything but his own doing.  This is the same as myself asking a judge to cancel my traffic violation for running a red light because there wasn't a sign that states "red means stop".  Except I knew that already when I took my drivers exam and obtained my driver's license.  My forgetting that fact doesn't absolve my responsibility for the actions I commit.

There's no one else to blame except for yourself, Adam.  You're the one that accessed the internet using your cellular connection and you're responsible for the bill.  As long as your bill is correctly tallying your usage and your signature appears on the contract you signed when you got your phone, you've not no leg to stand on.  Suck it up and foot the bill, I'm sure you can write it off as a Mythbusters expense.  Hell, maybe even try and bust the myth that contracts are actually non-binding!

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[The Daily Parr]

[...] I want this. I assume there is somewhere to plug in a power source. (via soupsoup : nerdology ) Adam Savage Going Ape**** on AT&T - gamerwok.com 06/26/2009 I’ve got nothing but respect for the creativity and ingenuity that Adam [...]