South Korea has joined the list of nations requiring mobile operators to warn their customers when they are approaching wireless data limits.
"Bill shock" has become a common term in the industry worldwide as consumers have reported getting bills for thousands of dollars because they either haven't read the fine print on their contracts or they've gone way over their allotted voice, text or data limits.
The government in South Korea has instituted a law that requires wireless carriers to warn customers when they are about to cross their plan's data threshold, according to the Korea Herald. It goes into effect in July. The European Union has had similar requirements in place for more than a year. The major U.S. carriers agreed to guidelines late last year that do the same, but aren't legally binding.
There are more than 21 million smartphone users in South Korea, and that number is increasing rapidly. The Herald says data use jumped more than 50-fold after the devices hit the Korean market for the first time two years ago.
