New phone

The cell phone switch has occurred!

As of yesterday, I am now a Verizon customer. I was with T-Mobile for about 8 years, and I really gave them a lot of time to iron out the issues I had with them, but apparently they didn't feel compelled to plug the iron in, so I have finally moved on.

For anyone who doesn't call me on my cell phone on a regular basis, here's the low-down on my T-Mobile experience. For several years, when I lived in an apartment, all was well. The number of minutes I got for the price I paid with T-Mobile was better than anyone else around. I had nationwide roaming, so I never paid long-distance, even when I traveled. And I was in a long-distance relationship for most of that time, so cell minutes and a nationwide "home area" was prime. I was satisfied.

Oh sure, I noticed when I would travel that I was frequently without service. Much of that travel was with my long-distance boyfriend who had Verizon, and he always seemed to have a signal, even when I didn't. But hey - I was home more than I traveled, so no big deal. And if I was in the mountains in New Mexico or something, I could use a calling card. Really - no big deal.

Then I moved into my house. When I first moved in, my phone had virtually no signal inside the house. I had to stand in the backyard, which was a dirt pit for the first 6 months, when I wanted enough signal to talk to anyone. Did I mention I moved into my house in December? You try standing outside in January for any length of time and see how satisfying your phone calls are.

Suddenly, though, after the first 6 months, I had a full signal. Voila! Okay, good. That's overwith. I had that fine signal for about a year. And then, as suddenly as it appeared, it went away. Poof! No more signal. I called T-Mobile - asked what was going on, what could we do? Oh, they had new towers coming online - sometime in the next 6 months! All would be well again! And in the meantime, they'd give me extra minutes! "But I can't use the ones I have now. You seem to be missing the point - I can't use the phone when I'm home."

They were not to be swayed, though. After all, it costs them nothing to offer me minutes they know I can't use. The seeds of discontent were now officially planted. I waited 6 months. I never used the extra minutes. I never got a new signal.

Why, you must be asking, did I wait, then, another 3 years to switch? Laziness - pure and simple. I did try upgrading my phone about a year and a half ago. Maybe a better unit would solve the problem, they told me. They lied. The new phone did nothing to solve it and just locked me into another year with them.

That year was up at the end of March. Unfortunately, I was planning on quitting my job at that time and didn't want to obligate myself to any new bills. I could go month-to-month with TM until I was sure I'd settled somewhere, and then I could get a new phone and new service. And that's what finally happened.

After a few months of not being sure about my new job, things finally settled down, and I decided I was ready to commit to a new contract with a new company. So, Verizon it is! I kept my old phone number, so no need to learn a new number. I'll pay about $10 more with my new plan, but I get more bells and whistles and my new phone rocks the free world. This is it. Mine is black. It's not one of the free phones, but I love it. I may decide to have its babies. You never know about me.