PHILADELPHIA — Their thumbs sure must be sore.
Two central Pennsylvania friends spent most of March in a text-messaging record attempt, exchanging a thumbs-flying total of 217,000.
For one of the two, that meant an inches-thick itemized bill for $26,000.
Nick Andes, 29, and Doug Klinger, 30, were relying on their unlimited text messaging plans to get them through the escapade, so Andes didn't expect such a big bill.
"It came in a box that cost $27.55 to send to me," he said Tuesday. He said he "panicked" and called T-Mobile, which told The Associated Press it had credited his account and was investigating the charges.
The two Lancaster-area residents have been practically nonstop texters for about a decade since they attended Berks Technical Institute together.
That led Andes to search for the largest monthly text message total he could find posted online: 182,000 sent in 2005 by Deepak Sharma in India.
Andes and Klinger were able to set up their phones to send multiple messages. During a February test run they found they could send 6,000 or 7,000 messages on some days, prompting the March messaging marathon.
"Most were either short phrases or one word, 'LOL' or 'Hello,' things like that, with tons and tons of repeats," said Andes, reached by phone.
Andes sent more than 140,000 messages, and Klinger sent more than 70,000 to end the month with a total of just over 217,000, he said.
A spokesman for Guinness World Records didn't immediately return messages asking whether it would be certified as a record.
April came as a relief to Andes' wife, Julie, who had found his phone tied up with texting when she tried to call him on lunch breaks.
"She was tired of it the first few days into it," Andes said.
The Daily Oddity
April 22, 2009
Record attempt reaps 217K texts, $26K phone bill
- The Daily Oddity
-
- Norwegian accused of skin-crawling snake smuggling A man has been arrested in Norway trying to smuggle two dozen snakes and geckos into the country by hiding them under his clothes.
- Man pleads guilty to DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk.
- Vick signing means no Eagles picks from NJ camel Philadelphia Eagles fans thirsty for predictions on whether their team will win or lose each week won't get them from a New Jersey pigskin-prognosticating camel.
- 'Moon rock' in Dutch museum is just petrified wood It's not green cheese, but it might as well be.
- Calif. man gets 2 more years for posing as lawyer A Southern California man sent to prison for seven years for falsely claiming to be an attorney has been sentenced to two more years for posing as a lawyer again days after he was released.
- Driver tells Conn. police snakes led to SUV crash Police say a driver blamed a car crash in Hartford, Conn., on two pet baby snakes that he said escaped from his pants pockets as he was driving.
- Dead shark left in Miami street after failed sale The body of a shark was left lying in the middle of a downtown Miami street after two men tried to sell it to several fish markets.
- Conn. cops: Man went naked to dental appointment Police say a Connecticut man has been arrested because he showed up at a dental office naked.
- Dimwitted thieves steal fake cell phones in Mexico Call it the case of the dead cells — both telephones and the ones in the brain.
- Thief view: Police nab twins snapped on Google Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday.
- More The Daily Oddity Headlines
