So there I was, taking a nice study break while soaking in the bathtub. I was expecting a call, so had my mobile phone resting on the ledge of the tub. As I splish-splashed around a bit, admiring the backstroke of the rubber ducky, my phone plummeted into the bubbly depths only to disappear unseen. In a panic, I sat up and started fumbling around for it, retrieving it within five seconds. Immediately, bath time ended, and so began the arduous task of drying out the phone.
To give you a bit of background information, I've been through three other mobile phones. In each case, I either upgraded, or they stopped working, but I've had a great track record for the last seven or so years. I've never dropped a phone into water, and not so much as even broken any part of a phone.
On the other hand, I've been witness to several people who've dropped their phones into water. One guy, named Chris, had it in his swimming shorts when he dove into a pool. He realized he what he had done, and to his dismay, he found a whole pool of water behind the screen of his phone. It wasn't looking good. My father dropped his phone into a river while fly-fishing. There again, it wasn't looking good.
The great thing is that both of these phones were resurrected and are functioning well today. However, mine is not, even though it was submerged for less than five seconds.
The current status is that it works when it is plugged into my wall, which I should be grateful for, because at least I can retrieve my phone numbers from it. However, as soon as I unplug it, it says that I need to recharge it, and then shuts down.
I met Dave for lunch, and told him about my plight. He showed off his new fancy camera phone, which he said he got for $100 from Sprint. Admittedly, it's a pretty cool phone, but I have a digital camera, so I don't need a camera on my phone. For $100, I guess it seemed like a good idea, but I decided to do some research first.
Thinking that the water had simply short-circuited my battery, I made the trek to the Sprint store to hear what they thought. The girl at the counter opened my phone, noticed a white strip that had turned pink, and said, "This phone has been water damaged. We won't even hook it up to our machines because it could damage them. Also the water damage is what's causing your problems." I have a good feeling that the "damaging their machines" bit is horseshit, but I figure she's right about the water damage. Even if it's just the battery, they cost somewhere around $60.
The girl showed me her line of new phones, and the one that Dave had shown me retailed at $250. I asked her about the $100, and she said, "He must have been a new customer," which he was since he'd just recently switched over from Nextel. I asked her if she could do anything for me price wise and she said that she could not. However, she did recommend signing up for their insurance plan, which for $4, and a two-week wait, and a $35 deductible, would have me with a new phone. Does anything seem wrong to you about that? Yes you heard right, a Sprint employee asked me to defraud her own company. I found that unacceptable.
I've been looking for a good excuse to leave Sprint for some time now. The only problem is that I'd lose my number, which I've had for seven years now. However, with the new FCC ruling, I know that I can now keep my phone number even if I go to another carrier. Even telling her that I would gladly go to another carrier, she simply told me that she couldn't help me. Well, that made up my mind for me.
I decided to do the same thing that I did when I first bought a phone: research all the companies and their plans. On the way back home, I stopped at Bayshore Mall. Once inside, I stopped at all of the kiosks several times to compare pricing and plans. I was looking for the following features:
Speaker Phone (must have)
Free Long Distance
A plan the same price or cheaper than my current one
A phone smaller than the one I have now
A price tag of $100 or less
The vendors are as follows:
-Some guys in a camera shop who carry Sprint phones but only the camera ones at astronomical rates. If you don't want a camera phone, they don't even want to talk to you.
-A girl in a kiosk in the middle of the mall who carries U.S. Cellular and a few other companies, I think Verizon. She was flirting with a guy friend throughout most of our conversation, so I got annoyed and left after ten minutes and two unanswered questions.
-A small stall in a wall run by two middle-eastern guys who carry Nextel, Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint. One of the guys sounded like he knew what was going on. He was helping the cute girls that were there before me. I got the guy who had no idea WTF he was talking about. To my dismay, the competent guy left after talking with the girls.
-A T-Mobile store. This is where I ended up getting a phone. The guy I dealt with is the MAN, and if you are interested in a phone and new service, let me know and I'll refer you to him. After you read this, you'll know what I mean.
Upon my second stop at the T-Mobile store, my sales guy understood that I wanted a mobile that had speakerphone. He immediately showed me the Nokia 6610. I was skeptical about it having speaker-phone since I couldn't see any holes in the back, and it seemed so small compared to my current phone which Jim has dubbed 'the Snickers phone," because of it's resemblance in shape and size to a Snickers candy bar. Undaunted, the sales guy pulled out the SIM card from his own phone, popped it into the 6610, and asked me to try it out. I called Mom, and she reported that it sounded great on speaker. I could hear her very well also.
Apparently T-Mobile is the only carrier in America using GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), although allegedly other carriers are trying to get it. This is the same system that is used in Europe and Asian and a good part of the world where mobile phones and services are much cheaper. In contrast, most of America is still on the dual-band system. At any rate, what this means is that when I go to another country, I can simply pop out my SIM card and put another pre-paid one in which I would purchase overseas, and voila: I have a phone that I can use there. In addition to this, I can make international calls from the states, since that feature is built in for no additional charge.
Now the only problem was price. The price on the 6610 is $200. There is a $35 activation fee, and Sprint charges $150 to break your contract, which I am chained to for another five months. The total cost is $385, well over my $100 goal. Also, my current plan with Sprint is for 1000 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends for $80 per month.
Here's what happened:
The same calling plan with T-Mobile costs only $60 per month. That's a saving for me of $20 per month times 5 months, and I've effectively shaved $100 off. That brought me to $285.
There was an advertised $50 mail-in rebate on that model, which brought me to $235.
My sales guy offered to waive the $35 activation fee and sock and extra $50 off if I signed up that day. This brought me to $150.
At this point, I was sold. I knew that I was paying $50 more than I wanted, but I was very happy with what I was getting. Enter the random Filipino lady.
While I was filling out paperwork a short, older lady walked up to the store. My sales guy was on the phone with Sprint working out the details of the number transfer. I started chatting with her, and she mentioned that she was interested in the world phones because she wanted to use them in the Philippines. I mentioned that I was not sure if they worked there, but the sales guy would certainly know. She waited around a bit and we exchanged pleasantries about the poor food here, and cold weather, blah blah blah. At the end of my paperwork, my sales guy, donning a huge grin, gave me a slip of paper. It appeared to be a $50 voucher. I asked him what it was, and he said it's $50 off for referring the lady. I told him that I didn't even know her, but he assured me that it would be fine, and he thanked me. That brought me to $100, exactly what I wanted to spend.
I spent the next few days programming my phone with numbers, and haven't used it yet because it takes about a week to transfer the number over "due to high volume." However, I did get an unsolicited call from T-Mobile today assuring me that it was in the process. Also, the phone came with a free hand's free earpiece, in case I'm anticipating a long call and can't use speaker-phone.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results. I'll let you know if anything else develops, and should you decide you want one, let me know. He told me that if I refer anyone else, I'll get a kickback, and they'll get a discount.
