Canadian oil worker Piotr Staniaszek says he "thought there was probably a mistake" when he opened his mobile phone bill for the month of November to find charges totaling nearly $85,000.

Turns out he'd signed up for a $10 unlimited mobile browsing plan, and then had connected his Motorola KRZR mobile phone to his computer and used it as a wireless modem, thinking the data traffic would be covered by the mobile plan...

Bell Mobility says it's decided to reduce his bill to $5,000 as a "measure of goodwill." That's as generous as they can get?

According to CBC News, Staniaszek says Bell really should have given him a warning. "The thing is, they've cut me off for being like $100 over," he says. "Here's I'm $85,000 over, and nobody bothered to give me a call and tell me what was going on."

More here from CrunchGear ... more here from Electronista ... more here from the Globe and Mail ... more here from BBC News ... more here from The Register ... and more here from Reuters.