Cell Phone Suicide: Could It Happen Here?

A 16-year-old Korean student committed suicide last week after receiving a cell phone bill for the equivalent of $3,811 in U.S. dollars. (And you think your cell phone bill is too high?) In response, Korean operators have capped the bill for data access at about $30 U.S. It's time for U.S. operators to follow suit. The China Post reports that the student racked up the bill for data while playing games on his mobile phone.

Here in the U.S., mobile games haven't caught on to the degree that they have in Korea and other places throughout the world. Partly that's due to culture. But money plays a role as well; people are leery of racking up too-high bills.

Cell phone companies would benefit by capping the rates for data, and make those rates reasonable. An all-you-can-eat data plan at a reasonable cost (and $30 seems about right) would be welcomed by business users as well as gamers. Eventually, we'll get there; sooner than later, I hope.