Why Do Cell Phone Companies Do This To Us?
Read more articles on Science and Technology and Let Me Share With You.February 5, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
February 5, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
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Over the weekend, my cell phone met with an untimely accident. I call it untimely because my contract has exactly 6 weeks left on it. Oh, this is great news for my provider, since salesmen have told me I can renegotiate for a free or discounted phone in another 11 days, but the verdict isn’t in yet as to whether I want to continue that particular relationship. So my choices are to either go phone less (although my plan continues), buy a phone outright for at least $200, or get a pay as I go model, which kind of defeats the purpose of the plan in the first place, does it not? I tell you, these cell phone companies have us where they want us, just like the old telephone monopoly did.
Now, I had a stroke of luck yesterday, when a salesman gave me a reconditioned phone that had been returned. I charged it up, installed my SIMS card, entered the default code-and no go. Since my company does not offer 24/7 customer support, and it was 6:01 Sunday night, I had to wait until today to find out it’s useless…either the past owner put an unbreakable restriction lock on the phone, or it was originally intended for an AT&T phone, which, although Cingular is now AT&T, there is still no compatibility. So now I’m back to where I was before. I think I know which way I’m leaning, but everything associated with cell phones is a major annoyance.
One of the most frustrating things (besides the myriad of plans) is the fact that texting cannot be restricted, so there sits another battle with teens, as if they don’t do enough IM’ing already. When a vendor starts charging for incoming texts, an entire new problem is waiting to happen, and at a cost of some ridiculous amount with text plans (regardless of the number of words in a message), they have us over a barrel.
Another galling aspect is that now with Iphone and Sidekick, internet access can be literally anytime, anywhere, and trying to keep kids off the computer is now futile. Any kid with one of these can access Myspace, which schools still rigorously block, as do some parents. So rather than enjoying the company of friends or events, a kid who’s already addicted to computers can IM and text and read emails regardless of what is going on around him or her-yep, that’s progress.
There are two other things I’ve always been astonished by: the fact that with so much technology, people still don’t communicate well-and who the heck celebrities are talking to all the time on their phones. In just about every photo of Paris Hilton, she’s got that phone to her ear-what on earth can she be talking about while she’s strolling in the surf of the French Riviera with her sister and carrying shopping bags? I mean, just how much can you enjoy a vacation if you’re spending most of the time on the phone?
As you may have deduced from some of my previous articles, I have a love/hate relationship with my computer-and with cell phones as well. I love knowing I have my cell in case I need it for an emergency, but hate the thought that it’s being made invaluable as camera, camcorder, mp3 and computer. It’s bad enough to have lost what I did, but to lose so much, then to have such limited choices for replacement, can cause a consumer to realize that technology is just a very expensive toy on which we are now dependent. Is anyone else scared of that?
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