Why do I believe AT&T regularly defrauds iPhone users? Because checking my email cost me more than my entire golf trip to Mexico.

Earlier this year I had the incredible pleasure of playing in the pro-am at the Mayakoba Classic, the only PGA Tour event in Mexico, on the Greg Norman designed El Camaleon course. I also played some other great courses in the Rivera Maya, stayed at posh hotels like the Fairmont Mayakoba, and drank lots of beers and margaritas. In short I had a wonderful time.

Until AT&T stepped in.

A couple of days after I got home, I got a text from AT&T telling me that the International Data plan on my iPhone had been suspended due to overuse. I was, frankly shocked. I was further shocked when they told me I had an incurred a bill that was more expensive than my entire golf trip to Mexico.

Why was I so surprised? Because I had diligently used exactly the method AT&T had told me to use to prevent this kind of thing from happening. It did not seem possible or reasonable. You see, there is a function built into the iPhone called My Wireless. When you hit it, it connects you for free directly with your AT&T account and shows your usage, how much you have used in the way of calls, texts and data, domestic and international, and how much is remaining. I checked this regularly while I was in Mexico, a relatively short trip, and was not even close to my limits. In fact, after I got the text from AT&T, two days after I had left Mexico, I checked it again from home and it showed that I had used less than 20 of my available – and prepaid – international data. I could not see what the problem was.

The problem was a cruel truth of the iPhone user: AT&T lies, and they lie a lot, and while I am sure their lawyers would see it differently, from where I sit, they intentionally defraud their customers and are complicit in criminal frauds perpetrated by their business partners outside the US.

That’s a pretty strong accusation, so let’s back up a minute.

As I mentioned in my last post about why the iPhone is not a good choice even for domestic travelers (it’s much worse internationally), I used to have a Blackberry. I had AT&T also, but I had an unlimited international data plan. I paid a hefty monthly fee, but I travel aboard a lot, and it gave me the piece of mind of knowing that I would never wake up to a totally illogical and implausible bill, like the more than $1300 AT&T said I owed them when I got home from Mexico, despite having evidence that I had used less than 20% of my data plan.

For years I was happy with my Blackberry, got my emails overseas, and in fact, it worked much better, regardless of billing plan, than the iPhone ever has. But after years of the same old Blackberry, I got seduced by the sexy iPhone and all its fun applications. Since I was already a longtime AT&T customer, switching was no problem. But first, I called AT&T to ask about international data, and was specifically transferred to their International office. I then asked if I would be able to get the same unlimited data plan I currently had once I switched to the iPhone.

Yep, no problem, same price, same unlimited data plan. Only thing was, I was buying my phone at Best Buy (no AT&T store in my rural neck of the woods at the time) and they can’t activate international plans. So the nice AT&T guy told me, buy the phone, switch the number, get it all set up and then call me back and we’ll activate your data plan.

So I did.

Big Lie Number One.

I called back, and the response was “what unlimited data plan. We don’t offer that for the iPhone.”

“But I called the other day…”

“Who did you speak to?”

I quickly learned that is business as usual with AT&T. They tell you things, promise things, then deny they ever having said them, apparently having expected you to tape the conversation.

It’s worth noting that AT&T also recently abolished its domestic unlimited plans, presumably because billing for usage is more profitable. Since these plans are grandfathered in current accounts, the only way to get existing users off of them is to have them switch devices, or should I say bait and switch. The fact that it was beneficial to them to have me leave my unlimited plan, and they lied to get me to do so, raises more suspicions.

Honestly, you would think someone whose job it is sell only international data plans for the iPhone would know what plans existed. So this time I was told that I could buy my choice of 20MB, 50MB, 100MB or some such array of international plan at various prices, most of which that were much higher than my old Blackberry unlimited plan. At this point I have already bought the phone for hundreds of dollars, switched my service and cancelled my Blackberry.

Now for the silver lining, or as I call it, Big Lie Number Two. The man told me that after reviewing my years of extensive international history with AT&T, I had never, on any trip, some up to two weeks long, approached even the lowest level of usage they offered, the 20MB plan, so I should just get that one. And he added, by using the My Wireless feature I could make sure I was not going over, and if it looked like I would, I call and up my data plan just for that month. Seemed like a good deal, huh?

Make that Big Lie Number Two and Three.

First off, the iPhone works different than the Blackberry and uses much more data, just connecting with the network and checking for emails. Even if you don’t receive or send any, just having it turned on churns through lots of data. AT&T knows this, so comparing a Blackberry user history the iPhone is like Apples to Oranges. Maybe not a big lie, a small one by their standards.

The big problem is that My Wireless does not work. Again AT&T knows this. By the way, this is not an application like Shazam or Fandango. This is an intrinsic built in function of the iPhone that comes whether you want it or not, a collaboration between Apple and AT&T, the only company it lets customers use for the phone. When I got the $1300+  bill and protested that I had religiously checked the My Wireless and that in fact it still showed plenty of available data days after my return from Mexico, AT&T was happy to explain why: it does not work. I was told it can take several weeks for the My Wireless to accurately reflect usage, by which time almost every customer will be back home, making it useless.

Not only does it not work, but by telling customers to use it to protect themselves against very onerous overcharges, knowing it will not give them remotely accurate information, AT&T is actively encouraging its customers to run up costly data bills. To me this is nothing less than fraud, pure and simple. Imagine you bought a digital camera and it had a flash built in. You ask and the rep from Nikon or Canon or Sony tells you, yes it has a flash. You buy it and go to use it. The flash is there, built right into the front of camera, the button is there, you were told you could use it, but it doesn’t work. You complain and find out that the manufacturer knew the flash didn’t work, built it in anyway, claims it works until you discover they are lying – and then they bill you more for alleged flashes you never used

To do some research I called a relative who is a longtime telecom exec and industry expert and he told me that overseas, AT&T gets their data usage information directly from the owner of the nearby cell tower, which in Mexico, can and often is, just about anyone. The owner of the tower can manipulate the data and not coincidentally, the more they say you used and the more they bill, the more money they make, and there is basically no oversight of these practices. Not to disparage Mexico, but it is a country often synonymous with corruption – the other day prison officials let prisoners out of jail and lent them cars and guns to go do some drug gang enforcement hits and then returned them to their cells. If this goes on, it’s reasonable to assume so does cell phone fraud.

So reasonable in fact, that at the time of my issues there was class action suit being put together by a California law school professor against AT&T for what appears to be obvious complicity in this widespread fraud. Just Google something like “Mexico iPhone fraud AT&T” and you will get hundreds of hits, all with similar horror stories. One was of a couple on a honeymoon cruise who kept their phone locked in the safe and checked it once during their trip for messages from home. In exchange for turning their phone on for a few minutes, they got a four digit bill from AT&T. These stories are rampant and mostly similar. It goes like this: you turn you data enabled iPhone on and whether you use it or not, the local cell tower claims you did, and AT&T eagerly helps them bill you thousands, often many thousands, of dollars. Experienced travelers swear up and down that the data usage is off the charts, far more than they have ever used on similar trips, but AT&T does not care. Of course you say, that is preposterous, I never made those charges, I’m not going to pay but AT&T doesn’t care. In all of the cases I read about they refused to settle or reduce the bills at all, even when people offered to pay substantial portions of the several thousand dollar bills.  They can ruin your credit, sick a collection agency on you, whatever it takes. After all, the more some Mexican local telecom defrauds you, the more AT&T makes.

At this point I had used my data plan all over the world, often on trips three times as long as my Mexico jaunt and never used more than tiny fraction of the ludicrous amount of data they claimed I used. I had even taken the same, data sucking iPhone to Mexico for the same length trip, but to the west coast, just months before, and used it the same way – I don’t watch movies or download pictures, just check my mail – and as usual, used very little of my available data. But for some reason, AT&T believes I went hog wild in the Riviera Maya and basically downloaded an amount equal almost to my entire desktop computer to my iPhone. I told a rep straight up, “You have years and years of my frequent international data usage, I’m a valuable customer who spends thousands of dollars year in and out with AT&T, you have this well known and widely publicized fraud issue in Mexico, and you are going to believe some local cell phone tower owner over me?” The answer of course, was yes.

I love the Riviera Maya, with awesome ruins like this pyramid at Coba. I'll go back, but never again will I use an iPhone there!

I kept asking for supervisor after supervisor and one said they would check with their fraud unit, only to come back and tell me they had no reports of any fraud in Mexico. Apparently they don’t have access to the internet, or to the hundreds of complaints and the pending class action lawsuit.

Only the problem is not just Mexico. It is most common there, but also has been reported in other countries, even places you expect to be safe, like Canada.

So obviously I was not going to pay $1300 I believed to be pure larceny. I asked how to dispute the bill, but was told I could not because I had not yet been billed. In fact, all of this was still theoretical. AT&T had alerted me of my alleged overuse and told me that I had run up $1300 in extra charges, but since I had not yet been billed for it, I didn’t actually owe them any money, and online my balance showed zero. So I mulled my options.

Then they shut off my domestic service. I pay separately for this plan, it is unique from the international plan, and as I just mentioned, not only was I not late in paying them, I didn’t even owe them anything. So I called and said that.

“We shut it protect you form incurring any more charges.”

“I can’t incur anymore charges – my domestic plan is unlimited, I can use as much as I want, and my international plan is already shut off.”

“We shut it protect you form incurring any more charges.”

“But I can’t incur any more charges. It is not possible.”

“We shut it protect you form incurring any more charges.”

“You can’t shut my service. I’m not late and have zero balance.”

“If you prepay half of the estimated $1300 we will restore your service.”

“But I haven’t even been billed it yet.”

“I know.”

This sir what is known in Mafia parlance as a shakedown. It is also, according to my state Public Service Board, which regulates phone companies like AT&T, illegal. Again, AT&T knows this. In general, no utilities can shut service to customers easily, even customers who are behind in their bills, But certainly not to customers who don’t owe anything. It was blackmail, pure and simple to try to collect on the original, and I strongly believe, fraudulent international bill – which I hadn’t been billed yet.

Big Lie Number Five.

So I filed a complaint with my Public Service Board, and quickly got a call from some Vice President’s office at AT&T. In the end we were able to work out a settlement which substantially lowered my alleged bill, though I maintain that I should have owed nothing. In the end, it was easier to pay a smaller amount than to try to fight in court. To AT&T’s benefit, it always is.

So this is why I think AT&T basically operates as a criminal enterprise, routinely lying to its customers even on very specific points, using illegal termination of service, muscle, threats and blackmail to get paid and generally operating in gray areas of the law. If you’ve been following the WikiLeaks headlines, you know how unpoliceable international data and telecommunications are. I suspect AT&T knows that the vast majority of its customers will pay when faced with the threat of no liner beige able to buy a home or even get another phone account from a competitor once they ruin your credit, know that most people can’t fight them in court and know that rarely will government agency intercede on the consumer’s behalf. Had they not made the mistake of crossing from international to intrastate commerce in the very pro-consumer state I live in and earning a regulatory slap on the wrist, I might still be fighting them.

The bottom line is this – if you travel internationally and want to get emails or surf the web, do not buy an iPhone, no matter what. If you already own an iPhone, and you have international data service, cancel it. That’s’ what I did. I now have a very expensive toy that does not serve the purpose for which I bought it, and technologically, I’ve gone 8 years backwards to carrying a laptop around again to get email. Because no matter how diligent you are, no matter what you do, there is no way to protect yourself. Simply turning on the phone outside the US can cost you more than new car. That’s too much risk for any email or convenience.

The good news is that now you can buy a new set of clubs or book that Perry Golf trip to Scotland guilt free. If your spouse complains, just say “Honey, it was cheaper than using the iPhone.”

So I will either wait until my plan expires or get frustrated and pay yet another onerous fee to leave AT&T, then go back to Blackberry with another carrier and put this behind me as an unfortunate run in with society’s bad side, like getting mugged.

I highly recommend visiting the ancient Mayan city of Tulum, playing golf at Mayakoba, and boycotting AT&T!