A Florida man returned from a trip to Switzerland with his wife last September to find he was facing a surprisingly high phone bill, ABC Action News of Tampa reported.
René Remund said that after returning home, he received his bill from T-Mobile. He initially thought he was being charged $143 for sending photos and text messages to family and friends in the Alps, according to local media.
But the actual amount was much higher: around $143,000 for 9.5 GB of data used abroad.
According to Forbes, the average annual salary in Florida is $55,980, which is more than double what the average worker earns each year in the state.
Remund had incurred thousands of dollars in daily roaming charges because his phone was not set up for international roaming, according to the report.
Most U.S. customers’ domestic plans don’t cover overseas use, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Remund said he contacted T-Mobile, who confirmed the bill was what he owed, according to ABC Action News.
T-Mobile and Remund did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Remund hired a lawyer, who wrote letters to the T-Mobile president in hopes of getting a response, the local media outlet reported. The attorney also contacted ABC Action News, which then contacted T-Mobiles corporate headquarters.
The local media outlet reported that the carrier finally agreed to credit Remund’s account for the entire month.
In a statement to ABC Action News, T-Mobile advised customers on older plans to check whether international roaming and data are included.
Remund reportedly said he always informed T-Mobile before leaving the United States for vacation, and this time he went to a T-Mobile store to inform them of his travels.
He also told the outlet that it was a huge relief to no longer have to pay the six-figure bill.
The amount of data used by Remund is not considered excessive. According to telecommunications company Ericsson, the average monthly data consumption per smartphone in North America was estimated at 25.9 gigabytes in 2023.
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