Woman Steals SIM Card, Spends $193,000

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Could someone please explain what was going on here? I don't understand how power meters, downloading things onto sim cards, and power companies mix. What happened?
 

internetlad

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[citation][nom]crikey2[/nom]If you ask me the telco is the criminal here! $193,187.43 for 3 months of data usage?[/citation]

You surely are not.

Also, how is the woman the victim here? If anything she was doing this freeman fellow a favour, and she clearly didn't know the card was stolen, as she freaked out and destroyed it when she found out.

Yeah, she was downloading movies and junk but still, if anything she should be accused of clueless, and maybe a pirate, but 6 months in jail with good behaviour? yikes.
 

cookoy

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title should read "Woman unknowingly used stolen SIM card and chalked up $193,000 bill". But then nobody would read the article.
 

theLaminator

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[citation][nom]herpaderpa[/nom]Could someone please explain what was going on here? I don't understand how power meters, downloading things onto sim cards, and power companies mix. What happened?[/citation]

We use "cell phones" for data redundancy. If the land line goes down we can use the cellular data lines to remotely operate switches for instance. Its not actually a phone, you couldn't make a call on it but it does access the cell providers network for data transfers. It is also much less expensive than dedicated telco line.
 

Kileak

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It's probably $193,000 based on what the MPAA knows seeing a couple movies is worth. Or what the RIAA thinks listening to a song is worth also.

Considering you pay a theater maximum 10$ to view a movie, and absolutely nothing to hear a song on the radio (unless you're on satellite radio), I can never understand how they can come up with such huge fines for downloading a movie or a song...
 

dark_lord69

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Yeah, I don't completely get it.
What was the $193,187.43 charge actually for?
Was she able to buy movies using the SIM card? If so, could she buy other things?
Surely that price is not just data usage?
 

_Cubase_

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[citation][nom]dark_lord69[/nom]Yeah, I don't completely get it.What was the $193,187.43 charge actually for?Was she able to buy movies using the SIM card? If so, could she buy other things?Surely that price is not just data usage?[/citation]

It's the Telstra network. She probably only downloaded 12mb of data, and that price is after the off-peak discount! haha
 
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This is total madness. In my country telecom companies offer 3G internet between $0 and $30. One specific provider offers internet at 3,6Mbps speed for $8 monthly fee. Download is limited to 6GB/month, but they only lower the speed limit (to 128kbps) if you exceed the quota 2-3 months in a row. So if you own two of these SIM cards (2 x $8 per month) you practically have unlimited internet the whole year, using each card only for 1 month at a time.
 

NapoleonDK

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I think what isn't very clear to some people here is that the power meter uses the cellular network to transfer/update information related to power usage. It sounds as though the SIM card used to identify the meter on the network (just the same way it's used to identify your phone on the network) was pulled from the meter and inserted into the laptop. Most likely Aurora Energy has a low-usage contract with Telstra to bring all their meters online using the NextG network. Since the amount of data transferred is minuscule at best (30-40GB a month) could make for some incredible overage fees... The power company with their massive low-usage subscription is probably only billed quarterly, which would explain why the charges weren't noticed earlier. However, I'm at a loss as to why they didn't send a technician out immediately after their power meter lost communication with the network...

See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter#Technology
 

thaile4ever

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New Power Meter basically have a cell phone built in. Instead of hiring a person to go around and check all the meters once a month, the meter call in once a month. Not entirely accurate, but close enough.

Since these are only suppose to use the network once a month, they are not exactly unlimited lines. So the $200k is basically the cost of downloading data over the cell phone line.

Not that far off, considering some people have rung over $100k+ in one month bill alone.
 
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