Consumers are always likely to be apprehensive when their monthly mobile broadband bill arrives, but one British man was left shocked after racking up charges of more than £20,000.

Will Pierce incurred costs of £21,716 after using his £25 Vodafone data card to gain mobile broadband access while abroad, the Daily Mail reports.

The 42-year-old downloaded a series of television shows to keep his family entertained in the evenings while on a skiing holiday in Meribel, only to return to find an "unbelievable" bill waiting.

He had been charged on a per-megabyte basis, resulting in a cost of more than £5,000 for one 18-minute show that would have been free to download under most broadband tariffs in Britain.

Mr Pierce said: "I'm amazed that Vodafone could allow an individual to run up such a huge bill without any warning or agreement of a credit limit. It's utterly staggering."

Vodafone agreed to waive the fee, despite initially refusing to back down, and assured consumers that an investigation was underway.

The shock bill comes just one week after the European Parliament voted in favour of a price cap on data roaming when overseas that would ensure consumers pay no more than €0.50 (46p) per megabyte.

According to an independent YouGov survey of almost 2,000 mobile broadband customers last week, T-Mobile offers the best and most consistent service.

The operator was ranked first in nine out of 13 categories, including value for money, download and upload speeds and ease of use.

Categories: Broadband

Related Articles

• Superfast broadband demand creates more Virgin jobs - Thursday 9th February 2012
• BT Wi-Fi hotspots surpass 3.5m - Wednesday 8th February 2012
• TalkTalk launches govt-backed 'active choice' parental controls - Wednesday 8th February 2012
• Broadband Support Scheme extended in Wales - Tuesday 7th February 2012
• BT holds trial of 'FTTP on demand' services - Monday 6th February 2012