I currently have this crappy old phone from a couple of years ago. It doesn't do anything except make calls, store addresses (very poorly, I might add), play games, and surf the Web. (Why the hell I would ever want to surf the Web from a damn 1.5-inch cell phone screen is beyond me, especially when they charge you $40/month for access and 3� per kilobyte!) I've occasionally toyed with the idea of upgrading, but I never pursued the idea very far for two reasons: first, I use my cell phone only very seldom, and two, I share a plan with my family, so I have to make changes through my dad's account.
But recently, I discovered that the company I work for has a promotion plan with Cingular. (My family used to be on AT&T until we were grandfathered into Cingular with that big buyout.) So, I try to log in through the Cingular website from work. No can do � they want our billing number just to show me a list of damn phone prices! So I get home and get the bill number from my dad, but now I can't get access to the promo site, because that has to go through my company firewall! So I figure, okay, I know what the percentage discount is off of new equipment, so I'll just browse as a regular customer and then calculate the rough price for myself.
But no! First they want to know if I'm a new or existing. Existing. Am I regular Cingular or AT&T leftovers? AT&T. What's my current phone number? [You think I'd post that here?] What's the last four digits of your Social Security Number? ... The fuck? They want to know the last four digits of the customer's SSN just to browse for a new fucking phone?
I give up again. At least until I move to a new apartment and give up the land line entirely. God damn, I hate corporate America!
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Smaller companies are better. I went to Jersey 2 weeks ago & wanted to actually be able to have a phone that worked there. My plan for the past 2 years has been a very local "works in 5 counties only" one. I went to talk to them, they said, "Oh, man...you've paid on time religiously for like the past 2 years. Yeah, we can upgrade you no worries!" Boink! No problems or anything. And the kicker is, even thought it's not unlimited, with the few options I signed up for it's effectively unlimited AND only like $10 a month more than before.
Now to eventually get a Razr & see if I can make it emit communicator sounds when I flip it open.
Posted by LOA (Member # 49) on :
*just got a pink Razr today* It's pink. That makes me happy.
I use verizon, BTW, and I find their webiste to be very easy to sue, whether I log into my account, or not. Also, the employee discount part (my company does employee discounts through Verizon) is really easy to use, too.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"I find their webiste to be very easy to sue"
I guess that's an important consideration.
Posted by Chris (Member # 71) on :
I currently have a Motorola v551 through Rogers, which is Canada's GSM provider. I actually have two SIMs for it at the moment, which is odd, but my brother is the manager of a Rogers Plus! store so manages everything on the account for me... I find the phone is good and the website is pretty easy to use. For the most part, anyways.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
When sueing a webiste what do you get?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
error 400: bad request
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
quote:Originally posted by LOA: *just got a pink Razr today* It's pink. That makes me happy.
I think it's well understood that the pink Razr is by far the coolest phone on the planet. So manly it doesn't even use the letter "O" and yet... pink.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
I don't see why they need the last 4 digits of your SSN. Phone number, I understand. They need to know the hardware and the plan you're on right now to see what kind of upgrades you are eligible for. Existing customers usually don't get the promotions that they are targeting towards new members. Or maybe not. I too was with Rogers for 5 years. Last year, they gave me a Motorola V551 for the same price that they were giving new customers, plus 1 year off the contract (the V551 was being offered with a 3-year contract for that price). And a kickass plan to boot.
But yes, phone number, yes. SSN/SIN? I have no idea why.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Probably to keep your ex from fucking up your phone service.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
But I just wanted to browse their wares! Obviously there should be some greater protections around actually making changes to the plans... but why do they need such ridiculous identification just to look at their crap?
Posted by LOA (Member # 49) on :
As Shik said, it's probably to verify that you really belong to that account....
I mean, yes... you were only going to browse. But how did they know that? Many people browse, then buy, all in the same trip. And most of those people just have all of their new equipment charged to their account. So the company probably wanted to make sure that you belonged on that account before you started browsing with the potential to buy....
Why you can't browse without logging into any account though, I don't know... that's weird. you'd think they'd just let you look as if you aren't a customer, just for the hell of it.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
My wife has the pink RAZR. She's very pleased with it.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Because of service or colour?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Both, I guess. O2 are reputed to have the best coverage. But she really likes the colour. I just make do with a nice black SLVR. It's astonishingly PADD-like. . .
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I make do without one. I've no one I care to call all that much, except my son, and I use a land line to call him. Unlimited long distance helps with that a lot.
Fear me, I am a cellphoneless barbarian!!!!!
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
BUMMR.
Posted by LOA (Member # 49) on :
*could not live without her cell phone* Land lines are too restrictive. And more expensive than my cell phone is, at this point.
And now with the invention of bluetooth wireless headsets, I am unstoppable!
Though I talk on the phone only a fraction of the amount of time that I did before these damn migraines made me into the uber hermit of doom. 600 minutes a month, tops. I used to talk well over 3000. Ah, well. I still can't imagine life without one.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
A hundred minutes a day? Fuck. That's my MONTHLY free allowance and I rarely exceed it. And yet my lackey at work also has a 3000-minute monthly tariff. What do you lot have to talk about so much?
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Like the kids the local market hires, they yap to their friends all day at school, then get to work and yap while waiting on customers to the same people.
Well, they are learning to put the phone down when I get in to line. The one girl rang up my total and just held up her hand for the money, never stopping her yapping. After a minute she asked what my problem was, quite rudely, so I commenced to berating her for her attitude. They now know that I will not pay until they have ended the conversation, hung up, closed the phone, and put it away. Other customers are following my lead. I over heard one girl compain we were ruining her social life.
Lee, to answer your question, nothing.
Posted by LOA (Member # 49) on :
Umm... I have NEVER talked on my cell phone while being at work, for the record.... I work in a call center, so I'm too busy talking on real phones
I also don't talk on the cell phone while at school like other people I know.
Or while at family gatherings.
Or in doctor's office waiting rooms.
Or while driving, unless I'm wearing a hands free kit.
Really, I'm a very polite cell phone user.
I also don't use my phone when I'm being rung UP by someone, because when I worked retail it used to PISS me of when people would come to be checked out with a cell phone attached to their ears. Ugh!!!
Anyway, yeah. There's etiquette to follow. Some nitwits just choose not to. Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
Have they ruled out the cell phone as the CAUSE of your migraines from hell? 100 minutes a day!
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
That's only an hour & 40 minutes. I've spent 3 hours on the phone apiece with North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas, & British Columbia at times. Sometimes on the same day
Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :
Well try working for a mobile content firm where you're surrounded by hundreds of phones from Sprint, Verizon, Nextel, Boost, and Cingular. I can use whatever GSM phone I feel like today... but I don't have a data plan.
At least I can use the LG Fusic as my secondary work phone.
Posted by LOA (Member # 49) on :
As I said, I don't use my phone hardly as much anymore.
Furthermore, I've done a lot of research... there is absolutely NO evidence that I can find that cellphones trigger or even in any way contribute... I tried to make that correlation about a year ago. Even tried to talk my Neurologist into starting a study. He said it was a no-go. Too many failed studies already completed.
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