Re: [PLUG] Through cell phone to Internet - perpetual mobile contract

[Jason <jason@nocks.com>]

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On Sunday 30 June 2002 22H:42, kaze wrote:
> Watch out, I have Cingular, and whenever you change or tweak your plan they
> restart the one year contract. I actually read the whole contract when I
> got it, but this was one of those additions they made later and sent with
> some junk mail. When I said I never agreed to renewing the contract they
> said that under PA law they could use my verbal agreement to the plan
> changes over the phone as contractually obligating. Also I believe for me
> to get out of it I have to notify them in writing just before the one year
> anniversary, then stop using the phone - otherwise it automatically renews
> for another year. Another frustrating thing is that not only can't you move
> numbers between networks, you can't always move perfectly good phones
> either.
>

I used to have Bell Atlantic Mobile / Verizon Wireless ANALOG service. I was 
with them for probably about 5-6 years. I had switched to a lower rate plan 
for the first time about 7 months prior to switching to another provider, 
with no indication of an early termination fee. They tried to nail me with a 
$175 cancellation fee. They even sent a collection agency, despite a 
manager's assurance that I was correct, and should not have been charged an 
early termination fee (whose name I had even written down :). It took about 
12 phone calls over 4 months to clear that all up. Can't say I'd ever use 
Verizon again in my lifetime. And, it was definitely NOT worth the hastle, 
but $175 seemed like a lot before the saga started.

I now use Voicestream (was Omnipoint - liked it much better then, maybe paid a 
dollar or two more a month, but got much better service). Have an Ericsson 
GSM World Phone with an IRDA connector. It's basically a 9600 bps data 
connection. Haven't been able to get coverage for the "World Phone" on 
several trips, including a Carribean Cruise (not a big deal, avoided some 
work-related activity) and Cincinatti, Ohio (more of a problem, my brother 
lives there), but it does work in Fulton (and St. Louis), Missouri as well as 
Chicago, IL (plus where I've been in FL, CA, NY, PA, DE, MD, NJ, etc.). I 
have to check the coverage when we're in Great Britain later this year, but 
if it doesn't work, I won't be terribly upset. Basically, a local GSM 
provider is not always available in a number of U.S. locations as well as 
U.S. territories and a few other parts of the world. At least my battery 
lasts longer...

Oh, and my Ericsson plays OK with most IRDA implementations (Win98, WinCE, 
Linux, etc.), but not Windows 2000. Ericsson released a firmware "upgrade" to 
make the phone work better with Win 2K (because M$ wouldn't fix their 
problem), but it is only allowed to be done by the service provider. But, the 
service provider does not have the the right Windows OS installed (the 
software only runs under Win 98/ME or Win 2K/ME, I forget which, but they 
only have the other one). And, good luck trying to discuss this with any of 
the "service" (no, they are "sales") people who work in the stores or answer 
the phone. I spent months trying to get that working (that was probably about 
1.5 years ago now). One more reason to use Free / Open Source Operating 
Systems...

What really bugs me is that you get much better prices and service by 
switching providers than you could possibly get from staying with the same 
provider. My wife wanted a new phone and had to go through all kinds of hoops 
to get close (but still higher) to the price a new customer would get on the 
same new Samsung phone. She just likes that it's small and has a handsfree 
accessory. Those were her only requirements. We even told them that that we 
would SIGN a new 1-year contract, just wanted to keep the same phone #. It's 
not on her business cards or anything, she just wanted to avoid giving out a 
new # to friends, family, etc.

Sorry for the lengthy rant, but the people who run most mobile phone companies 
can be extremely irritating. And, as others have pointed out, things don't 
seem to be looking any brighter. Longer contracts, etc....

> I plan to go to Working Assets wireless in 2 months when this contract with
> Cingular has a non-fee escape window.
>

Good luck,
Jason Nocks
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