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Monday November 23, 2009 6:55 AM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > News > College duo's text messaging record blunder nets them US$26,000 bill
College duo's text messaging record blunder nets them US$26,000 bill
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College duo's text messaging record blunder nets them US$26,000 bill

by Daniel Long  on Apr 23, 2009
Two college buddies were handed a $26,000 bill for trying to break the world record for text messaging by sending 217,000 messages in a month on a supposedly "unlimited" plan.

In an amusing report coming out of the AP, old college mates Nick Andes, 29, and Doug Klinger, 30 from Philadelphia had decided that their exciting lives just weren't exciting enough.

While searching for a unique way to get into the Guinness Book of Records, the two settled on trying to smash the world record for the most text messages sent in one month.

click to view full size imageArmed with a budget priced T-mobile phone purchased for US$27.55, the duo's training for the feat consisted of scouring the internet for previous text record attempts - and figured that the 182,000 text messages sent in 2005 by Deepak Sharma in India was the likely one to beat.

Andes and Klinger rigged up their phones to send multiple messages and in a February test run, managed to get out as many as 6-7000 messages in a day, according to the AP report.

 

But it didn't take long for the panic to set in: Andes was later sent a T-Mobile bill for US$26,000 - the kind of massive bill you don't usually expect on an 'unlimited plan'.

It's worth noting that if you tried the same ploy in Australia, you'd probably get done for violating numerous 'fair go' clauses listed on most unlimited plans, usually hidden deep in the fine print. Fortunately for Andes and Klinger, T-Mobile shelved the bill, credited the account and swore to investigate the mix-up.

As for the Guinness acknowledgment?  According to the AP story, the two are still waiting for their ticket to fame.

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