I hate T-Mobile, I hate cel phones (a rant)

ahnslaught · Post by **ahnslaught** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:48 am

Oh man, time to vent. I hate this company with a passion...first, they double bill me and run me around in circles, now they are experiencing frequent "service disruptions" which no one else seems to be plagued with, lasting a half a week and counting.

The last straw was their damned "customer service" line - it's bad enough that they have a machine woman telling me to talk naturally, now they are telling me that they'll give me a call back when they are not busy?

Give me a break. It's time to part with this horseshit company, I don't give a rat's ass if I have to pay to break the contract or whatever.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:19 am

I don't have a cellphone. Chatting online is soooooo much easier.

Cheaper too.

Eps · Post by **Eps** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:27 am

Hmm. Not looking forward to the mobile phone 'service', or lack of, in the US compared to the crystal-clear omnipresent reception and quite decent prices I'm used to here.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:40 am

Fudge. And I thought Sprint was bad. Wasn't T-Mobile using GSM technology which is superior to what everybody else is using? I'm glad I have a VOIP phone.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:48 am

I've been on Sprint now for about six years, and I've had no problems with the company at all. The reception on their phones tends to be spotty inside some office building, but I don't know if anyone else is any better in that regard (I've worked in some buildings where a cell phone won't get reception more than 3 feet from the window.) I really like the phone I have now (a Sprint PPC-6700 PocketPC Phone) and the EVDO connection is really nice as well.

As for cellphone technologies, there's two major ones in use in the US: GSM (T-Mobile, Cingular, and every carrier in Europe) and CDMA (Sprint, Verizon.) The main difference that a consumer would see between the two is that GSM uses a SIM card to program a phone (which allows you to swap your service between phones easily) where CDMA has the info programmed directly into the phone. If you're not ever planning to take your phone with you when you travel internationally, there would be no difference between the two for most users (you can get a faster data connection on CDMA with EVDO service right now, but GSM is catching up with EDGE\UMTS.) If you travel, you're probably better off with GSM, since it is far more widely used throughout the world than CDMA (which is rarely used outside the US, with the possible exception of South Korea.)

ahnslaught · Post by **ahnslaught** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:21 am

It totally sucks, but once you start using a cell phone, you're basically stuck (contractually and socially)... that being said, I despise these little bastards with a passion. Not to mention the large damage I'm sure the radiation is doing when the phone is in my pocket, antenna pointed right at my crotch.

That being said, I'm thinking of switching to either Verizon or Sprint - it's choosing the lesser of two evils. Does anyone have any experience with customer service from either of these two places? As in, can these reps do anything more than give you 25 minutes of talk time if you have an actual problem? I think that will be the deciding point, as I'm not a big traveler so GSM/CDMA is not really important, and rates are basically the same across the board (damn those oligopolies!). Internet on a phone is also irrelevant for me, since I have a laptop and computer with me for most of the day. All I want is for it to work like a phone, not a cable tv, and just receive and send calls. It's not too much to ask, is it? Is it?!

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:22 am

I worked for Sprint when on a temp agency.. and it took hours to get a hold of someone in phone cust service. And no one one what the heck the other branches were doing. Also, their extended plan service is pure BS. You have to pay a deductible in order to get a refurbished phone back. No thanks. I'll just eat up the cost of another phone, with your competitors.

Middlemoor · Post by **Middlemoor** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:23 am

http://www.evanwashere.com/StolenSidekick/

Post by **system11** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:40 am

I hate all mobile phones. Every time one rings, even my own, I want to stab the owner, to death. Part of this are the stupid ringtones everyone thinks are oh-so-clever, but the other part is it's now impossible to escape from the fucking things. Your mileage may vary, this is the UK where everyone, their 2 kids and their dog all have a mobile phone, or sometimes two.

I only have one because I have to for work.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:05 am

bloodflowers wrote:I hate all mobile phones.

Glad to hear I am not the only one.

Part of this are the stupid ringtones everyone thinks are oh-so-clever, but the other part is it's now impossible to escape from the fucking things.

True. Only thing more annoying than the ringtones themselves are the tv commercials trying to sell them.

I hate it how everyone is almost supposed to be "reachable" at all times.
I have a mobile too, but I rarely even take it with me. I just do so when I am going far off and expect to be called or think it might be handy too be able to call in case of an emergency.
.
At work and everywhere people ask for a mobile number and I usually reply I just don't have one (work) or that I won't give it (other) and people look at me like I am some sort of idiot. But I just don't want to bothered every ten minutes for some stupid reason.

sffan · Post by **sffan** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:02 pm

Never had a cell phone and don't want one. I hear they're expensive, plus I don't want to be reachable wherever I am.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:33 pm

I'm also on the "no cell phone" bandwagon. Peace is hard enough to come by these days.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:32 pm

Heh, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that anyone else on the forum has resisted the cell phone trend...around here, I'm about the only one I know who doesn't have one (well, me and my dad). My aunt, against my will, bought me a track phone to keep in my car in case of an emergency, but to this day I have literally not touched it.

I understand how some other people need to be more easily contactable, but in my case that's simply not the situation, so I honestly have never had good reason to fork out the cash for one. In otherwords, no one wants to talk to me on my regular home phone anyways, so why bother adding another piece of equipment no one in their right mind would use?

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:57 pm

You know, it's not the cellphones that are annoying, it's the users. Unfortunately, the phones just seem to be the perfect toys for braindead dumbasses.

I used to be one of the most passionate cellphone haters, but then I realized that you always have the choice to use it like a perfectly sane person.

I only take my cellphone with me when I think I might need it. I simply turn it off when I don't want to be reacheable or don't want to be disturbed and I even leave it at home sometimes. I practically never use it to actually talk on the phone, but short messages can be quite useful in certain situations. My monthly bill is usually less than 10€, so it's not really all that expensive.

Eps · Post by **Eps** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:58 pm

Herr Schatten wrote:I realized that you always have the choice to use it like a perfectly sane person.

I only take my cellphone with me when I think I might need it. I simply turn it off when I don't want to be reacheable or don't want to be disturbed and I even leave it at home sometimes.

THANK YOU. Why do people think that, just because you have a phone, you have to have it on and with you all the time? I don't understand the rabid cellphone haters. That's because, apparently unlike them, I know how to turn a cellphone off.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:17 pm

My brother and I don't meet for lunch like we used to, so it's rare to have time to go to Wendy's or even have a sandwich at home. So when we do, even on the weekends, he always brings his freaking cell phone.

I might be talking about something important: "You know, bro. I am having serious doubts about my sexuality, and need to tell you and mom about it, and..."

*RIIIIIIIIIING!*

"Yes? Oh, hi. Oh, nothing. Just having lunch here with my brother. Oh, really? BLAH BLAH, YADDA YADDA UNIMPORTANT CRAP THAT CAN BE DEALT WITH LATER SINCE THEY MEET AT WORK OR CHURCH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK"

I am really sorry for his wife to be. She's going to be quite starved for attention.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:57 am

BulletMagnet wrote:In otherwords, no one wants to talk to me on my regular home phone anyways, so why bother adding another piece of equipment no one in their right mind would use?

For me, that was the reason to get a cell phone. Nobody calls me, and when they do, the conversations are short (I hesitate to use the term "conversation", most of my phone calls are under a minute or two). It's actually cheaper for me to just have a prepaid cell phone than pay $25/mo or so for a land line. Plus it gives me some peace of mind to have it on me when I'm driving, especially on longer trips. Not that I use it while I'm driving, I usually just let it ring in that case.

I don't understand people that use them constantly. Like back in school, people would be on their phones as soon as they got out of class. Like it's so urgent to tell one of your friends that you just got out of class, and that maybe something's going on later, but you don't know. I'm not a fan of small talk, and I hate talking on the phone, but still... wouldn't you rather just wait until you see somebody in person to have a conversation with them if it's not urgent?

But the worst are people at bars and concerts on their phones... I can hardly hear somebody standing next to me, and this asshole is like "Dude! Dude! I'm at the bar! What's up? What? Sweet! Cool. Damn, dude! Alright, later bro!"

Fucking society.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:05 am

I have a phone through the hospital where I work & I am able to use it for personal use as well (perk of being the guy in charge of cell phones!). I personally love having a cell phone. We use Alltel (dominant carrier in Nebraska), & I have a Motorola V710 - the cadilac of Motorola phones. I am always using custom MP3 ringtones of varying types, though some of my defaults are game music.