I've Been Had
Jul. 3rd, 2006 05:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brynndragonor The Cell Phone Saga: All the Ickiness of Used Car Dealers in the Palm of Your Hand
Saturday![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wsmith, Skaven, and I went off to try to find me a new cell phone and new plan to go with it. After much pondering and deliberation (and thank you guys for your assistance) I'd determined that I was probably going with either the Nokia 5140 (which is a tri-band GSM phone that's been yuppie-durabilized) or the Motorola i530, one of Nextel's rugged mil-spec phones (which means it's IDEN, which will eventually be phased out by Sprint-Nextel but my contract will be long over by then). My research caused me to conclude that the Nokia 5140 would be a T-Mobile offering; we'll get to that in a second.
The first two places we went looking for a cell phone place were a bust. One is now a Cingular shop rather than a Sprint-Nextel place (we looked it up on the website and all, although now I wonder if maybe "I know where that is" without further ado might've been the problem there), the other is apparently perpetually closed (it's an independent shop on Moody that supposedly carries Sprint-Nextel and T-Mobile). Finally we gave up on real stores and went to the Arsenal to see what they had.
Turns out they had all the major players represented. The Radio Shack had the i530 on display but no useful info on plans. Next was the T-Mobile store, where they avowed no knowledge of the Nokia 5140 and tried to get me to get something else instead ("one of our gys uses it as a hacky-sack"). He was rather used-car-dealer-like, and really rubbed Skaven the wrong way (wsmith didn't like him either). Regardless, the plans he had available were not to my liking (too much money for too many minutes, he suggested a pre-pay plan but it would be a bunch up front and such things are generally more of a hassle than they're worth for me - finding a store had been hard enough, I didn't want to have to refind one every time I needed more minutes). So we went down the way, stopping in at a Verizon store to see if they carried the Nokia 5140 - which they did not. I can't for the life of me figure out who has this phone, although I'm starting to suspect it's either a Cingular phone (and since Skaven has had nothing but problems with them I'm *really* hesitant) or I'd need to buy it as an unlocked GSM phone and just get a SIM from whichever provider suits my fancy (and is GSM compatible).
But finally I found a Sprint-Nextel kiosk, where they had the i530. Oops, actually they no longer sell it (but have one around for some reason. . .), but instead they have the i670. I asked if it was rugged, if it was mil-spec, and was assured that it was ("they took out the ID screen on the outside because it wouldn't pass testing"). It was $20 more after the rebate than the i530, but it was a bit prettier and had some additional features (like a color screen) so that was acceptable. Plus they had a $29.99 plan with 200 minutes (that "no one ever gets. . . no, I sold it to a little old lady once" - that was when I should've walked, but I'm too fucking nice or something), which is far less expensive than my current plan. I was sold.
I later discovered I'd been taken for a ride - the i670 is *not* one of Nextel's rugged mil-spec phones. Meaning I paid $20 extra and didn't even get the one thing I actually wanted. I'm pissed off. I'm going to call Nextel this morning and see if I can keep them from shipping me the phone (apparently when one is switching from Sprint to Nextel they need to ship the phone directly - the excuse "it's so they have control over who handles the phone, for security purposes" sounded OK when I thought it was a mil-spec phone that everyone from EMTs to cops often use, now it sounds like a bunch of bullshit and I'm going to see what the actual Nextel rep has to say about it). Then I'm going to get a bloody refund because it wasn't what I specifically asked for. Then I'm either going to see if Cingular can give me a deal on a Nokia 5140 (yes, I know, but I'm limited in my options because I want something really weird, a phone that doesn't fucking break when I get some water on it or feed it after midnight) or I'll order the i530 off Nextel's website, because I'm so sick of dealing with these people. Normally I prefer to patronize B&M shops for major things, but I'm really sick of it at the moment for some strange reason. . .
Saturday
wsmith, Skaven, and I went off to try to find me a new cell phone and new plan to go with it. After much pondering and deliberation (and thank you guys for your assistance) I'd determined that I was probably going with either the Nokia 5140 (which is a tri-band GSM phone that's been yuppie-durabilized) or the Motorola i530, one of Nextel's rugged mil-spec phones (which means it's IDEN, which will eventually be phased out by Sprint-Nextel but my contract will be long over by then). My research caused me to conclude that the Nokia 5140 would be a T-Mobile offering; we'll get to that in a second.The first two places we went looking for a cell phone place were a bust. One is now a Cingular shop rather than a Sprint-Nextel place (we looked it up on the website and all, although now I wonder if maybe "I know where that is" without further ado might've been the problem there), the other is apparently perpetually closed (it's an independent shop on Moody that supposedly carries Sprint-Nextel and T-Mobile). Finally we gave up on real stores and went to the Arsenal to see what they had.
Turns out they had all the major players represented. The Radio Shack had the i530 on display but no useful info on plans. Next was the T-Mobile store, where they avowed no knowledge of the Nokia 5140 and tried to get me to get something else instead ("one of our gys uses it as a hacky-sack"). He was rather used-car-dealer-like, and really rubbed Skaven the wrong way (wsmith didn't like him either). Regardless, the plans he had available were not to my liking (too much money for too many minutes, he suggested a pre-pay plan but it would be a bunch up front and such things are generally more of a hassle than they're worth for me - finding a store had been hard enough, I didn't want to have to refind one every time I needed more minutes). So we went down the way, stopping in at a Verizon store to see if they carried the Nokia 5140 - which they did not. I can't for the life of me figure out who has this phone, although I'm starting to suspect it's either a Cingular phone (and since Skaven has had nothing but problems with them I'm *really* hesitant) or I'd need to buy it as an unlocked GSM phone and just get a SIM from whichever provider suits my fancy (and is GSM compatible).
But finally I found a Sprint-Nextel kiosk, where they had the i530. Oops, actually they no longer sell it (but have one around for some reason. . .), but instead they have the i670. I asked if it was rugged, if it was mil-spec, and was assured that it was ("they took out the ID screen on the outside because it wouldn't pass testing"). It was $20 more after the rebate than the i530, but it was a bit prettier and had some additional features (like a color screen) so that was acceptable. Plus they had a $29.99 plan with 200 minutes (that "no one ever gets. . . no, I sold it to a little old lady once" - that was when I should've walked, but I'm too fucking nice or something), which is far less expensive than my current plan. I was sold.
I later discovered I'd been taken for a ride - the i670 is *not* one of Nextel's rugged mil-spec phones. Meaning I paid $20 extra and didn't even get the one thing I actually wanted. I'm pissed off. I'm going to call Nextel this morning and see if I can keep them from shipping me the phone (apparently when one is switching from Sprint to Nextel they need to ship the phone directly - the excuse "it's so they have control over who handles the phone, for security purposes" sounded OK when I thought it was a mil-spec phone that everyone from EMTs to cops often use, now it sounds like a bunch of bullshit and I'm going to see what the actual Nextel rep has to say about it). Then I'm going to get a bloody refund because it wasn't what I specifically asked for. Then I'm either going to see if Cingular can give me a deal on a Nokia 5140 (yes, I know, but I'm limited in my options because I want something really weird, a phone that doesn't fucking break when I get some water on it or feed it after midnight) or I'll order the i530 off Nextel's website, because I'm so sick of dealing with these people. Normally I prefer to patronize B&M shops for major things, but I'm really sick of it at the moment for some strange reason. . .
