No New Phone Today
Jul. 28th, 2007 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewanJoe's been having problems with dropped calls while using his cell phone at home. He's had this phone for three to four years, so I think it's time for him to get a new one.
We went to the nearby AT&T Wireless store today (over at Southdale Mall). We walked around looking at all the different options, including the iPhone. We finally settled on a BlackJack, because the syncing features seemed really nice.
We started to ring up the BlackJack when we hit a snag. They wanted to confirm that we wanted the $39.99 data plan. Umm... no. We don't want to pay that much for data. I had previously asked a different sales guy there what the data plans cost, he said $39.99, but that there was also a $19.99 plan. So I told the cashier that I wanted the $19.99 plan. She told me that our only option was the $39.99 PDA plan.
After calling over another sales person (manager???), who told us again that our only option was the $39.99 PDA plan, which we also needed to get in order to get the $100 rebate on the phone (which we hadn't even noticed), we decided to not get a phone today.
That was really disappointing. I was so proud of Joe for choosing a more advance phone, but then AT&T slapped us with the heavy data plan charge. They have a $19.99 "smartphone" data plan. The BlackJack *is* a smartphone. But because it has a keyboard, they consider it a PDA and make us get the big PDA plan.
I don't have the pda plan on my 8525. I have an old Media Max bundled on my 8525, which I've carried over from an old non-pda phone. It works just fine, and I only pay $19.99 a month for it. I've never been charged extra.
And what really sucks is that there is an unlimited internet plan for the iPhone that only costs $19.99.
I think this is going to result in Joe just getting a basic phone.
His coworker Josh got an iPhone last month, so maybe he'll see what happened to Josh's old phone.
We went to the nearby AT&T Wireless store today (over at Southdale Mall). We walked around looking at all the different options, including the iPhone. We finally settled on a BlackJack, because the syncing features seemed really nice.
We started to ring up the BlackJack when we hit a snag. They wanted to confirm that we wanted the $39.99 data plan. Umm... no. We don't want to pay that much for data. I had previously asked a different sales guy there what the data plans cost, he said $39.99, but that there was also a $19.99 plan. So I told the cashier that I wanted the $19.99 plan. She told me that our only option was the $39.99 PDA plan.
After calling over another sales person (manager???), who told us again that our only option was the $39.99 PDA plan, which we also needed to get in order to get the $100 rebate on the phone (which we hadn't even noticed), we decided to not get a phone today.
That was really disappointing. I was so proud of Joe for choosing a more advance phone, but then AT&T slapped us with the heavy data plan charge. They have a $19.99 "smartphone" data plan. The BlackJack *is* a smartphone. But because it has a keyboard, they consider it a PDA and make us get the big PDA plan.
I don't have the pda plan on my 8525. I have an old Media Max bundled on my 8525, which I've carried over from an old non-pda phone. It works just fine, and I only pay $19.99 a month for it. I've never been charged extra.
And what really sucks is that there is an unlimited internet plan for the iPhone that only costs $19.99.
I think this is going to result in Joe just getting a basic phone.
His coworker Josh got an iPhone last month, so maybe he'll see what happened to Josh's old phone.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-29 01:40 pm (UTC)1. Drive to Chicago
2. Go to Western and Devon
3. Walk West, stopping in the many stores (I know of at least 5) that sell completely unlocked GSM phones. None are The Very Latest, but some are Not Sold In The US
4. Buy the phone your heart desires. Expect to pay a couple hundred bucks.
5. Sign up for whatever plan you like with whatever GSM carrier you like.
There may be a similar area in MSP, but I don't know where.