Cell phones

I have a Sony-Ericsson T68i that I use with T-Mobile. On our plan besides that are Jane's phone and her parents' phone. The T68i has some wonderful features, like Bluetooth and a fantastic battery life, but it's prone to dropping calls, turns itself off on occasion, and also misses inbound calls sometimes - even if the coverage is great.

Earlier this year, the T610 came out as a replacement model. It adds a camera (no biggie), but also fixes most of the things that were annoying about the T68. It's a hair smaller, and most dealers are offering it for prices between $0 and about $100. I decided I want one.

So I called T-Mobile this afternoon. The best they could offer me was this: they'd sell me the phone for $150, but once I was six months along they'd give me a free month of service. However, if I suck it up for a few more months, I can take my numbers with me to a different carrier, and get that phone (or the equivalent new model) for free. And phones for the other two lines, as well.

Makes it kind of a no-brainer. I'll keep on plugging away with the occasionally balky T68i, and then look into what the carriers will offer me for the whole package in a few months. I certainly am not going to beg T-Mobile. If they don't want it, someone else will.

Selfish? You bet. When it comes to cell phones, I want the good stuff, and I want it either free or next to it. And number portability is going to keep me a lot less loyal. Nyah.