I did something stupid - how do I fix it?
 

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?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1448408901.jpg

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!

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

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

Put her on her own plan.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Put her on her own plan.

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.

WiFi router and phone set to WiFi all day long.

Put her on her own plan.

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?

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

Step 1. Go get the phone back.

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

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!

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.

Put her on her own plan.

Unfortunately, she is dirt poor and can't afford internet. As it is, I don't know how she pays the rent and I'm afraid to ask.

Sounds like you cant afford her not to have internet at home. With the genie out of the bottle I'm not sure how to go back. Has she found chocolate rain yet? Good luck.

No, but she did mention something called two girls one cup or something like that.

You need to get her internet at her apartment and a flip phone that can't access the internet. You can't afford for her not to have internet.

Does she live in those apartments on Manzanita, across from where the bowling alley used to be? There is a group of chain smokers that I see there, every time I walk past the bus stop.

Sounds like you have made an old and possibly lonely person happy and that is a good thing to do. Sounds like all the replies are negative and want to stop this, change that, etc, etc so I'd say let her be and enjoy herself.

Maybe two girls, two shirts?

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PvpAgJZctps" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Cut off the smartphone. Get her internet at home.

No, she lives in San Diego

Move her to a prepaid plan that throttles her connection speed.

Internet at her apartment will almost certainly cost more than simply moving her to her own plan.

WiFi

We paid for a relative's phone in San Diego for 2 years.
Sprint plan with unlimited data.
Our relative has since been able to afford her own phone.

Fwiw after years of lousy Sprint coverage we switched to Verizon.
Phone works much better now.

Ok - I would talk to her and tell her that you are getting her a tablet and WiFi and she will trade the smart phone for a flip.

It will cost you a little up front, but will be the right choice in the long run. She mothered your wife, so chip in! :)

G

Does she have WiFi? If so, make sure she's connecting her phone to it automatically. Data usage will drop exponentially.

This!

I know you say she has little tech savvy but internet + a smart TV, I have do not have much experience with smart TV's but I helped my wifes tech challenged friend set hers up, I installed the wall mount and expected to walk away... wife and her friend stood there with blank faces... me: "sigh... where is the remote?"
Within five minutes I had them logged on and live streaming (then I ran away).

If your mom is smart enough to burn that much data on a smart phone she should be able to work a tablet of smart TV I would think (Just my opinion, I have been wrong before and reserve the right to be wrong in the future).

Yup. Basic internet and a cheap router is the ticket. Sub $100 in equipment costs, and $20-30/month for service will be way cheaper than overages!



And they still make dumb phones?

Why not just cancel the data element of her plan?

She can still make/take calls like she did on her old phone but she will only be able to access data when on WiFi.

if she wants to do the data .... she can leave the apartment and go to a free hotspot.

Clearly the correct solution is to divorce your wife.

As an added bonus this would resolve your feline infestation.

Perfect:D

I would welcome your problem: My MIL is a gigantic sump of negativity that sucks the happiness out of kittens and puppies, Christmas and a babies smile.

If only it was a data plan at issue.

I'd figure out what you and Mrs. WB are willing to spend to keep her happy and find the right combo of phone and internet access.