My Resolve is Weakening…

Almost three years ago, I dropped service on my land line phone. Most of that time, I have been happy with the decision. And I’ve saved about $1800 off what I had been paying. But…

Unfortunately, my cellular service has really detioriated. My old tri-mode phone was many years old and I was having some reception problems with it so I decided to get a new phone. I got a Windows Mobile/Pocket PC type phone. Once I got used to it, it was great and the reception was better. Not to mention that I can now google from anywhere. However, within the last few months, my reception has gone downhill. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of towers or what. I broke my phone and had to buy a new one (ouch… $600) and the new one was no better on reception so I don’t think it’s the phone that is the problem. I really think it’s a tower related thing.

And what’s worse, other carriers are having problems as well. My phone is Alltel. My roommate is Verizon and his service has gone downhill too. He can no longer get a signal in the den downstairs.

To make matters worse, Adam has a Sprint phone and the phone itself is horrible. So my bad reception, plus his bad reception and crappy phone means a lot of frustration when we try to talk. At this point, it is useless for me to even try to talk to him while I’m driving because the road noise drowns out about 75% of what he says.

I’m really starting to miss the days of land line phones. I have still refused to go back to BellSouth… err AT&T… err at&t… Anyone notice how the old ma bell is gradually putting itself back together?

I have purchased a VOIP solution. It’s called Magic Jack and it cost me about $40 for the first year of service and then $20 per year after that. Unlike other VOIP, it connects to my computer instead of my router. This means it only works if my computer is on. I don’t use it a whole lot, but when I’m having a bad cell day, it comes in handy.