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Angry Birds Toons caused large data bill..

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  • 21-12-2013 10:49pm
    #1
    senorG
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭


    Just wanted to post this as a warning to others, not sure if this is best forum...

    I exceeded my data allowance (15gb) by 6gb last month which resulted in a €100 charge from my 3g operator. Didn't know how it happened at first but turns out it was the kids watching mini angry birds cartoons which are accessed as part of the newer angry bird apps. I had wrongly assumed that these were a couple of trailers or something that were installed as part of the app, but that's not the case. I think there are around 50 2.5min episodes which are 22mb each, so a kid watching them for 30mins is going to use 260mb of your allowance. If they watch the same episode again it is not stored locally but downloaded again.

    To me it seems irresponsible of the developers to include this feature on an app played mostly by kids on mobile devices which generally have very limited data allowances that come with extortionate penalties for any over run. lesson learned for me anyway, all angry bird apps deleted.


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    #2
    Fresh Pots
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,234 ✭✭✭Fresh Pots


    senorG wrote: »
    Just wanted to post this as a warning to others, not sure if this is best forum...

    I exceeded my data allowance (15gb) by 6gb last month which resulted in a €100 charge from my 3g operator. Didn't know how it happened at first but turns out it was the kids watching mini angry birds cartoons which are accessed as part of the newer angry bird apps. I had wrongly assumed that these were a couple of trailers or something that were installed as part of the app, but that's not the case. I think there are around 50 2.5min episodes which are 22mb each, so a kid watching them for 30mins is going to use 260mb of your allowance. If they watch the same episode again it is not stored locally but downloaded again.

    To me it seems irresponsible of the developers to include this feature on an app played mostly by kids on mobile devices which generally have very limited data allowances that come with extortionate penalties for any over run. lesson learned for me anyway, all angry bird apps deleted.
    Tbh I wouldn't expect any videos to be included in the app. If the videos only amounted to 260mb,you must have downloaded another 15100mb to exceed your limit. Must be something else eating your data.


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    #3
    senorG
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭senorG


    TheTechGuy wrote: »
    Tbh I wouldn't expect any videos to be included in the app. If the videos only amounted to 260mb,you must have downloaded another 15100mb to exceed your limit. Must be something else eating your data.

    260mb is for 1 hour.. with 4 kids +friends playing on phones/tablets through the wifi one hour a day is nothing. 1hr a day = 8gb a month. I normally use 10-12gb a month myself.

    There are plenty of people out there with mobile devices with data allowances of 1gb-10gb per month, a few hours playing/watching angry birds on christmas day could land them with big bills. The videos are just short cartoons that look like they are playing as part of the app, while you are obviously tech minded the majority of kids and their parents are not. There is no warning in the app about data usage and as far as i can see no simple way to disable the online content.


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    #4
    ct5amr2ig1nfhp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,019 ✭✭✭ct5amr2ig1nfhp


    There is a warning in the description of the game. Did you read it before you installed the game?

    "This application may require internet connectivity and subsequent data transfer charges may apply.

    Important Message for Parents
    This game may include:
    - Direct links to social networking websites that are intended for an audience over the age of 13.
    - Direct links to the internet that can take players away from the game with the potential to browse any web page.
    - Advertising of Rovio products and also products from select partners.
    - The option to make in-app purchases. The bill payer should always be consulted beforehand"


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    #5
    roboshatner
    Registered Users Posts: 775 ✭✭✭roboshatner


    Sure isnt this not what happened to someone in england and it was in the papers the kid downloads apps that cost tons of money..


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    #6
    Mimikyu
    Registered Users Posts: 18,907 ✭✭✭✭Mimikyu


    This post has been deleted.


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    #7
    Will I Amnt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,222 ✭✭✭✭Will I Amnt


    If you're going to give a phone to a kid unsupervised, disable cellular data/WiFi. It's only a swipe of your finger on most phones.

    The game developers have nothing to gain from you using extra data so there's nothing really underhanded going on in fairness. Anyway, don't give young kids a device with internet access would be my advice.


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    #8
    senorG
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭senorG


    Howard Dazzling Mockingbird wrote: »
    There is a warning in the description of the game. Did you read it before you installed the game?

    "This application may require internet connectivity and subsequent data transfer charges may apply.

    Important Message for Parents
    This game may include:
    - Direct links to social networking websites that are intended for an audience over the age of 13.
    - Direct links to the internet that can take players away from the game with the potential to browse any web page.
    - Advertising of Rovio products and also products from select partners.
    - The option to make in-app purchases. The bill payer should always be consulted beforehand"

    Not saying it wasn't my own fault, ... Just a warning to others. I had downloaded plenty of angry birds before and had no problems, when this is the case there is a natural tendency to skip past the warnings.

    Anyone know a way to set up permissions to block the app connecting to the Internet ?


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    #9
    John mac
    Registered Users Posts: 5,111 ✭✭✭John mac


    stick the phone into aeroplane mode.
    2 clicks,

    then no adverts, no data charges..


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    #10
    roboshatner
    Registered Users Posts: 775 ✭✭✭roboshatner


    Only cause there was a big deal in the papers about it and they were shamed into it.
    Captain Morgan wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.


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