When Ted Estarija of Hayward, Calif., added his 13-year-old son to his Verizon account, he thought it would cost him an additional $50 a month. He had the phone company restrict his son's calls and texts.

Dad forgot about downloads.

Estarija, who recently lost his job, now owes Verizon $21,917.59. His bill shows that his son downloaded 1.5 million kilobytes of data.

"I was completely caught off guard," Estarija told KTVU-TV in Oakland. "This is outrageous. It seems like it comes to almost $100 a minute. There's no way I can pay this, so [I'll do] whatever I can to get this resolved."

He said his son is not entirely at fault. "I put more blame on Verizon than anybody. They shouldn't allow this to happen."

A Verizon spokeswoman told the station the company would work with Estarija to resolve the bill.

But Estarija said he's more concerned about his son, who has become despondent over the financial trouble and emotional distress he's caused his father.

(Posted by Michael Winter)