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**DC_Jessica** · 10-03-2007, 12:54 PM

Sorry, I guess this is a rant, but I'm ranty. And I welcome comments from all those who can commiserate.

You know that old schtick about needing scissors to open the package that scissors come in? Well, I just ordered a new phone (switched companies, blah blah), and I found a phone that Sprint charges $150 for from the manufacturer for free PLUS a memory card. So I order it. Jerkoffs (pardon) ACTIVATE it in Dallas before they ship it with two day shipping. Panicked emails from friends ensue because I never have my phone off. Then I freak a bit because I'm applying for jobs and nobody can reach me. Whatever, today's the big day and I was going up and down to the mail room so many times that my Building Manager just said "oh Jessica has a package!" to the woman who distributes them (probably to get me to stop looking anxious).

The phone is great, I set it up, go to call my mom (the primary reason I switched to Sprint...free mobile to mobile with mama!) and it says that I am welcome to pay "as little as" $0.25 a minute for any outgoing calls. Grrr. So I call customer service, have to repeat my phone number (just connect me to a person - they ask the SAME exact questions anyways!) and the automated biotch (pardon) on the other line gets it wrong three times in a row. (I have a cold!!!!!!! Enunciation is totally beyond me right now.) And when I finally reach a person (Sharona, a very nice person in or at least from the West Indies...) she tells me I need to call from a phone that's not mine. Uhhhhhhh.

Thank GOD my roommate went to his "stylist" today and is coming home early to shower before going out tonight. I'm going to pounce on him as soon as he gets in to use his phone.

Moral: you need a phone to get a phone!!!

I though that enough 20-somethings of my generation were moving up to positions of power at this point to enable the kind of mobile-only lifestyle that we've been accustomed to for the past decade-ish. I guess it will take a few more years. Until then...

**TheJake** · 10-03-2007, 01:01 PM

oh yeah...switching providers is crazy annoying. I just ditched sprint after 4 years, I would get way too frusterated with their customer service

**juliagulia** · 10-03-2007, 01:25 PM

sprint CS SUCKS ASS.

that's all i have to say about them.

i realized today that i dont think i could ever have a landline. we never answer our phone here, as it is. it's always a telemarketer, and if it's someone important, they try a cell phone two minutes afterwards, anyway.

i wonder if fifty years from now, we'll be telling our grandkids "oh yes, the days of the home phone..."

**TheJake** · 10-03-2007, 01:27 PM

I think less than 50 years to be honest....

**lauren313** · 10-03-2007, 02:03 PM

It's a load of shite, isn't it? I accidentally locked my SIM recently, so had to call up to get it reactivated. Um... how can I call customer services if I have locked my phone?! I don't have a landline, so tried from a payphone, except it's one of these stupid things that has "press 1 for... press 2 for..." so I press 1, and it hangs up the payphone as if I want to make a new call!!

I had to beg off a friend too! I feel for ya!

**pinknic38** · 10-03-2007, 02:10 PM

of all the companies in the world to piss me off, I think cell phone companies really take the cake. I had a long running issue with verizon wireless, and warranty issues with a phone and they told me if I wanted a new phone I could add a new line on my account and get a new phone there, otherwise no... I'm one person, why do I need 2 lines, for an additional amount a month, plus the inconvenience of changing my number AGAIN.

no. I've had the least problems with AT&T/cingular (whatever it is now).

the long and short of it is, I feel your pain.

**maracle** · 10-03-2007, 02:15 PM

The phone companies are not very smart, they're losing their customers one generation at a time with all the fees on landlines. I don't know anyone that I went to college with that still has a land line. $40 just to get a new line activated when you move (and students move a lot) is stupid, especially when activation just means they switch it on in their computer. No technician or anything. Meanwhile the cable company and the broadband providers are happy to come out and install service free.

Well, not surprisingly everyone just got used to their cellphone. Why go back to a landline? Most people grow up with a land line, then ditch it in college. Phone companies should be doing whatever they can to keep people hooked during that time.

If you want to see how insanely out of touch with reality the phone companies are, check this out:
"85-year-old Hermon man learns he needn't lease his phone"
Lloyd Overlock never had much reason to think about his telephone. The 85-year-old Hermon resident just paid his bills and knew the service was there if he needed it. But Overlock, who for five decades has been paying a monthly fee to lease his phone, found out recently that the arrangement is a pricey, outmoded throwback to the days of telephone industry monopoly.
http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/...540&zoneid=176

Just another industry desperately clutching onto an outdated business model.

**DC_Jessica** · 10-03-2007, 07:00 PM

Soooo my phone is all set up! After swearing to my roommate a penalty of death if he got sick from me using his cell. And I dazzled my dinner partners with my slick phone and my new Feist ringtone! (I've never had a ringtone that doesn't come with the phone before - I splurged.)

All I have to say is damn the man.

...and I've called my mom twice without dipping into my minutes! :D

**Sijuki** · 10-04-2007, 01:25 AM

Quite honestly, I hated Sprint with a passion, and when my beloved Nextel merged with Sprint... well there went the neighborhood. 3 weeks of intermittent service ended that relationship.

I always hated that you had to call from another phone to activate your phone. I hate dealing with customer service, if I can avoid it by any cost I will.

**mbo108** · 10-04-2007, 05:39 AM

I would never get another landline again but Wired Magazine (and for the life of my i can't find the link online) had a feature on a new gadget this month. Its like a cordless phone with a traditional base charger and whatnot. Anyways, it works off of your cell phone. So you can leave your cell anywhere in the house and have this base station somewhere else and answer or make calls from either one. Thought that was pretty neat. I know it was around $180 US for two base stations and phones. And there are no other fees other than your normal cell phone service fees.

**simply_angelic** · 10-04-2007, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by juliagulia

sprint CS SUCKS ASS.

that's all i have to say about them.

i realized today that i dont think i could ever have a landline. we never answer our phone here, as it is. it's always a telemarketer, and if it's someone important, they try a cell phone two minutes afterwards, anyway.

i wonder if fifty years from now, we'll be telling our grandkids "oh yes, the days of the home phone..."

just ask the telemarketer to be taken off the "call list", and you'll stop getting calls...I know...I used to be a telemarketer....

for a week

wong name · 10-04-2007, 06:56 AM

i heard there stopping the do-not call list next year. i hope they pass some type of law to replace it.

**pinknic38** · 10-04-2007, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simply_angelic

just ask the telemarketer to be taken off the "call list", and you'll stop getting calls...I know...I used to be a telemarketer....

for a week

I think everyone has been a telemarketer for a week. they woo us in by promoising crazy things likw 5K a month or something but then you realize you actually have to sell the stuff and quit. haha.

**simply_angelic** · 10-04-2007, 11:13 AM

Or you realize the MTF's say that you'll have at least 3 hr shifts but if you dont sell within their "quota" for the 1st hour you'll be sent home...

**maracle** · 10-04-2007, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wong name

i heard there stopping the do-not call list next year. i hope they pass some type of law to replace it.

They're not stopping it, but when you get on it only puts you on for a few years. Then you have to sign up again. So if you have a landline go enter yourself on the list again and you're set for a few more years.

**lauren313** · 10-04-2007, 11:58 AM

I was never a telemarketer, not even for a week. Whenever I was applying for temp jobs, I always was very firm on the whole "NO TELESALES/TELEMARKETING JOBS!" thing. I was always too scared to cold-call people!

**DC_Jessica** · 10-04-2007, 02:51 PM

I was a telemarketer for my university for one shift. Only one. I don't even think I picked up my paycheck.

**Legitikick** · 10-17-2007, 09:49 AM

What really drives me nuts is how the cell phone companies lock features on the phones, forcing us to pay. My phone plays music but I have to pay to unlock that feature. And why do I only have demo version games? Damn, in Europe all my phones, and I had plenty, came with cool full-version games. Damn Verizon.

**Sijuki** · 10-17-2007, 11:34 AM

My current phone didn't come with any games. The other thing I hate is when you upgrade or change phones, you can't take your ringtones or games with you, so you have to hack them.