I did something stupid - how do I fix it?

[widebody911]

My wife wanted to get her mother a new phone for her birthday; she had an ancient POS that wasn't loud enough for her to hear, and she had crappy service. The original plan was just to get her a new 'dumb' phone, but I had to open my big fat stupid mouth and said "Why don't we just get her a smartphone? It's just a few dollars more." Which is technically true - the price difference is negligible. However, it turns out this woman is a god damn data hog. She blew through our quota (3Gb) in about 4 days flat. We bumped it to 6Gb; that bought us a week-and-a-half. I use less than 1GB, the wife uses about 2.5GB

My question for the brain trust is, how can I fix this? My wife has explained to her innumerable times about the data limits, and the MIL claims she's not doing anything out of the ordinary, but I can see the usage stats by device and category. I think she simply doesn't GAFF - this phone has become her entertainment. From looking at the stats, I imagine she's chain-smoking and surfing all damn day long. She's not local, so I have no way of tweaking the phone. FWIW, our carrier is Verizon. VZW has a "parental control" plan for $5 more a month, but from what I've read online, it's useless and easy to defeat. VZW doesn't let you cap the data per device (and why would they? My MIL is making them extra money!)

Thoughts?

[vash]

oh chit.

i'm about to do the exact same thing for my mom. this friday. she wants a (GASP!) iphone6. thanks for the headsup.

set your MIL up with wifi at the house? my mom is about to leap feet-first into this century. new phone and wifi at her home. i am gonna hook her up with some chinese streaming TV. booyah!

[wdfifteen]

She went from no smart phone and no data usage to maxing it out? How did she survive before?

[Charles Freeborn]

If she's doing it from home the obvious solution is to enable wifi, and disable 4g when in wifi range.
-C

[stomachmonkey]

Put her on her own plan.

[Hugh R]

Wi-Fi is the solution at home. I think you can lock it into Wi-Fi only as well with a password. Maybe you can do that online if she is distant from you.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Charles Freeborn

If she's doing it from home the obvious solution is to enable wifi, and disable 4g when in wifi range.

Aye - there's the rub, and I should have mentioned this in my first post: she doesn't have Internet at home.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by widebody911

Aye - there's the rub, and I should have mentioned this in my first post: she doesn't have Internet at home.

that is a problem. How much to get basic internet? Any way to make her phone a hotspot?

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by widebody911

Aye - there's the rub, and I should have mentioned this in my first post: she doesn't have Internet at home.

My wife didn't understand Video=huge data usage, she has limited her video viewing and no more problems.

Is you mom a homebody? Starbucks, McDonalds, and others place she can camp out and use their free wifi.

[varmint]

i'm going through this with a 13 year old.

mary did not weep before the tomb with the anguish she did when i took the phone away.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Put her on her own plan.

Put her on her own plan.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

My wife didn't understand Video=huge data usage, she has limited her video viewing and no more problems.

Is you MIL a homebody? Starbucks, McDonalds, and others place she can camp out and use their free wifi.

She has no transportation other than the bus. She and her roommate literally site around the apartment all day and chain smoke. On top of that, she does not possess the technical acumen to connect to WiFi.

[RANDY P]

WiFi router and phone set to WiFi all day long.

[Icemaster]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Put her on her own plan.

Put her on her own plan.

[john70t]

Verizon sent some very suspicious bills.
$80/10GB went up to $200 a few months.

There were no difference in my habits that I could remember.
Had them for a long time. Dropped 'em like a stone. Never again will they get my money.

Sprint did the same thing with a shared usage plan.
Their own paperwork was fraudulently contradictory (percentage of minutes per phone vs. listed per phone).

Maybe there is an unlimited or a pre-paid plan available?
Or a coffee shop or library nearby?

[LeeH]

Is she on Facebook? Facebook auto-plays video unless you change the setting to wifi only.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by widebody911

Thoughts?

Step 1. Go get the phone back.

[aigel]

Mom, you are getting internet at home now, or the phone is no more ...

PLUS - you can buy a tablet and watch crap on a big screen all day!

G

[rattlsnak]

Just do what my 81 year old mother does.. she blasts through her data plan every single month and AT&T sends her a huge bill and every month she calls and complains and says she doenst understand what is going on and they reduce her bill to the normal rate. I kid you not, this has been going on for over two years now. Good for her! Ha!

[93nav]

Others have given you lots of options, wifi, no phone, her own plan, check setting. How about did she pick up a virus on her phone? Any way to tell what websites are being viewed?

Lets us know how it turns out.