This morning, at 7:10 am, I received a text message from AT&T that I had exceeded my 200 mb limit and would be charged an additional $15. Two minutes later, at 7:12 am, I received a text message informing me that I had used 90% of my data plan. AFTER I had been billed for exceeding my limit.

I had only once before reached the 90% level of my plan and dutifully cut back usage until my billing cycle date (which would be tomorrow in this case). In this case I never had a chance to do so since AT&T’s “system” did not send out a notice until after I had exceeded the limit. Looking at my daily usage limit it seems that I reached the 90% level on Monday, November 14, but AT&T’s self-vaunted customer service system waited until the morning of November 16 to notify me – after I had been charged the additional $15 for exceeding the limit. This behavior echos the practice of banks bouncing a customer’s largest check first, and then subsequently bouncing all the smaller ones that would actually have sufficient funds available, merely to rack up insufficient-funds charges.

If AT&T can not provide timely notification that a customer is reaching his usage limit, they should not claim to provide such notices at all. To provide untimely information under the guise of helping a customer manage his usage is deceptive, if not outright fraudulent.