Think it’s a joke? We have video proof.

Finishing Off the Rainforest, One iPhone at a Time

When describing iPhone bills at his company, Ben Kuchera says, on the Ars Technica blog,

[W]hile the iPhone may be master of the digital mobile experience (for now), … AT&T’s iPhone bills are quite impressive in their own right. We’re starting to get bills for the iPhone here at Ars, and while many of us have had smartphones for some time, we’ve never seen a bill like this. (“iPhone bill is surprisingly Xbox HUGE (lol),” Aug. 11, 2007)

The mind-boggling size of these bills has struck so many people as overkill that USA Today has picked up the story and Charlie Gibson of ABC News will even be airing a piece on it tonight.

And in This Corner, the Heavyweight Champ …

Kuchera claims that one of the iPhone bills received at Ars Technica is “a whopping 52 pages long,” while his own personal bill is 34 pages (and that’s double-sided).

Gibson’s ABC news story will highlight examples of similarly unbelievable bills received by New York City residents.

So far, the prize for the most voluminous bill goes to Justine Ezarik, a graphic designer and “active Internet blogger” from Pittsburgh whose first bill, according to Jefferson Graham of USA Today, was so large it arrived in a box (“How Many Trees Did Your iPhone Bill Kill?,” Aug. 14, 2007).

It was an incredible 300 pages.

“This is so silly,” Ezarik is quoted as saying. “There’s no reason they need to send you this much information.”

Ezarik’s YouTube video of her current record-holding iPhone bill has already received well over 20,000 views.

The Story of Your iPhone in 600 Pages: Unabridged and Just Not That Interesting

What iPhone users are getting is essentially a mountain of pages of useless details, itemizing—without actually sourcing—every bit of data downloaded, every single text message sent or received, and basically every kilobyte of information their iPhone has ever come into contact with.

Many customers are describing this nondescriptive tracking of information minutiae as not only a waste of paper (since there’s no charge associated with most of the itemizations), but highly annoying.

Rod Enderle, a consultant with the Enderle Group, characterizes the “finely detailed bills” as “stupid,” Graham writes. “Not only does it cost AT&T more to do this, it just upsets customers. It’s bad business,” Enderle says.

iPhone users can end the paper parade by requesting summary bills or by switching to online billing. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel claims that sending boxes of bills to customers is not a widespread practice.

“We don’t want to presume for the customer that they want detail or don’t want detail. That needs to be up to them,” he says in Graham’s article.

So when you get your next iPhone bill and it’s three or more pounds of basically wanton data of questionable value in a big, not-so-beautiful box, don’t claim you never saw it coming.

For all the information you need about student loans, go to www.nextstudent.com.

Student Loan Girl