One unlucky Reddit user is breathing a sigh of relief after AT&T accidentally charged him more than $6,000 in a single day—because apparently, in 2025, using data for 24 hours can still cost as much as a used Honda.
The user, who goes by the handle Usual-Guava-8899, took to Reddit to share his billing nightmare, which began shortly after switching to FirstNet, AT&T’s supposedly specialized network for first responders. A longtime AT&T customer, he said he was used to paying about $250 to $266 per month for an unlimited plan—reasonable enough in the bloated world of U.S. wireless carriers.
But his December 15 bill rang in at a casual $6,223.60—which, by any standard, is a bit high for watching a few YouTube clips and checking email. Naturally, Usual-Guava-8899 assumed there had been a mistake. Spoiler: there had been. But not before a delightful game of corporate pinball commenced.
When he first called AT&T’s customer service, he was told the bill wasn’t $6,000 at all—it was only $205. Crisis averted? Not quite. That amount apparently didn’t reflect the full reality of the billing glitch, and so the user took the next logical step: he showed up at a Dallas corporate store to seek answers in person.
The culprit, as it turned out, was AT&T’s handling of his transition to FirstNet. In the shuffle, his account was mistakenly switched to a pay-per-use plan for a single day. During that 24-hour window of doom, he used 3,097 megabytes of data—roughly three gigs—and was billed accordingly. For those keeping score at home, that’s about $2 per megabyte, or the kind of math that makes you nostalgic for dial-up.
Despite the absurdity of it all, the resolution was not immediate. A store employee told him the matter had to be escalated to the “office of the president”—because clearly, only someone with a presidential title can comprehend a phone bill over $6K.
In the meantime, the user kept Reddit updated with a series of posts that captured both the absurdity and frustration of the situation. “I was told the office of the president sent it back to the store to take care of,” he wrote on December 16. “Not sure if this is good or bad but a store manager is working on it from what I hear.”
The saga continued with more updates, including contact from AT&T Help on Reddit and clarification that he had not, in fact, been on a cruise or gallivanting internationally during the billing period. (“Thank you,” he politely added.)
Finally, on December 17, salvation arrived. “Resolution update!! I just got off the phone with the office of the president,” he wrote. “The gentleman I spoke with was excellent and told me they have credited my account and I should see a 0 balance in 24–48 hours.”
With the balance wiped clean and an added goodwill credit tossed in for good measure, the Redditor declared the issue “100% resolved.” He also gave a nod of appreciation to the Reddit community, stating he was “convinced” that without their help, the situation would have dragged on.
So if you ever wake up to a phone bill the size of a mortgage payment, just remember: sometimes all it takes is a viral post, some digital solidarity, and a nudge to the president’s office to set things right.