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Yes, I wrote a very expensive bug. In my defense I was only seven years old at the time
(www.theregister.com)
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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Racking up that large a phone bill with dialup internet is very impressive! Today if a 7 year old spends that kind of money it’s almost certainly because someone forgot to lock the app store/roblox account.
Trust me, it wasn’t. I did something similar as a kid, but only around $900… just needed to be located barely off zone (like, just a kilometer off) from your Internet provider, and use the Windows 95 dial up that’s a bit eager to add a "1" before the rest of the number… and voilà!
Grounded and cut for three months after the phone bill came in.
The computers I remember in my libraries back in the early 90s didn't use internet, but a private dial-in network with a text/menu-driven interface sort of like a BBS.
Eventually, when they moved to the internet, there was a bit when it was reachable over telnet...I don't know if that was intended or not but it made it very easy for me to search the catalog from home. It was never advertised, I just happened to notice the address on the terminals at the library and figured I'd give it a shot.
It wasn't that hard. Don't ask how I know. 5 cents a minute doesn't seem like a lot even in 80s dollars, but...well, time flies... And it's true, that bill only shows up once a month, by then the damage is done.
Parent wouldn't want to change from 56k to cable.
Parent was shown the wonders of IRC.
One phone bill later... We'd better get cable.
You'd have to be calling all hours of the day (except the 6 hours of school during school days) for five weeks to reach $2,100 at that rate.