Holidaymaker charged £31,500 for downloading episode of favourite TV show while in Portugal

Thanks to the latest Internet technology, we can now watch our favourite television programmes while on holiday without so much as moving from the sun lounger.
But Iayn Dobsyn's pleasure at being able to catch an episode of his favourite drama while staying in Portugal turned to horror when he returned home to a bill of... £31,500.
The 34-year-old had downloaded the finale of U.S. series Prison Break onto his laptop computer using his monthly mobile broadband contract, but despite working in IT he had no idea of the costs he was racking up.

Actor Wentworth Miller in Prison Break. Iayn Dobsyn received a bill for £31,500 for downloading an episode of the U.S. TV drama while in Portugal

After Mr Dobsyn instructed a solicitor, his provider, a subsidiary of Vodafone, agreed to reduce the bill to a rather more manageable £229.
But the case, which comes after the Daily Mail told how a customer of the same firm was charged £4,900 for watching an episode of The Apprentice during a trip to France, will renew fears that mobile phone companies have found another way of ripping off holidaymakers.
Mr Dobsyn, of Salford, Greater Manchester, has a mobile broadband contract with Yes Telecom, based in Manchester, which usually costs him around £150-a-month.
He was on holiday in Portugal when he used his Vodafone data card to download the final episode of Sky One show Prison Break as well as a number of songs.
But because of the high rate of using mobile broadband abroad, he received an astronomical bill on his return home.
'The figures looked like they had come down from the moon,' he said yesterday. 'I just laughed. There had to be some mistake.
'I knew I had used a lot of data while abroad, but not to the tune of £31,000. The figures just didn't make sense.
'It was ludicrous, but I was going to take this all the way to the end.'
Mr Dobsyn contacted a solicitor, arguing that the on-screen information on his laptop had suggested he was being charged a far smaller amount.
In an email to his lawyer, Yes wrote: 'We accept the bill was very high compared to Mr Dobsyn's normal usage, but we would have expected him to make himself fully aware of the charges associated with using his data card abroad before he went.'
However after negotiations, a figure of £229 was agreed based on the lowest available rate for the data he had downloaded.
Yesterday his solicitor, Danielle Mestraud, from Farleys, said customers should know exactly what charges they faced before attempting to access television programmes while abroad.
'They need to read the small-print in their agreements otherwise these sort of bills can be the result,' she said.
'But service providers also have a responsibility - it would be better if subscribers were given a monthly maximum spend so they could be notified if they had breached it, rather than only finding out when the bill arrives.'
Earlier this year the Mail told how an Oxfordshire solicitor was charged £4,900 after downloading an episode of The Apprentice and two other shows using the BBC iPlayer facility while in France.
The 46-year-old, who would only give her name as Janet, also used a Vodafone 3G card through a contract with Yes Telecom.
Mobile phone companies have long come under fire for their high 'roaming' charges for making calls while abroad, but the spotlight is increasingly on mobile broadband use as well.
Ofcom, the communications watchdog, said companies were obliged to ensure customers were aware of the cost of using phones abroad.
A spokesman said: 'We think the industry should reduce its roaming charges, and if it doesn't then we will discuss with the EC how to reduce the charges.'