Brian's Brain

Could I be any more excited? A few weeks ago I switched my cell phone service from Nextel to Sprint -- but before I begin, I think a few disclaimers are in order.

First, let's talk about Nextel. They're not bad -- but I think they're the cell phone carrier for people who have more money than sense. Let's face it, the two-way radio is cool, but is it really worth paying double what the other carriers are charging? I switched from two phones sharing 1,000 minutes for $150/mo to two phones sharing 2000 minutes (plus free calls between the phones) for $85. There's something to be said for helping fools to part with their money -- Nextel has this mastered.

Second, let's talk about my choice to switch to Sprint. I swear I was sober when I did so and to the best of my knowledge, had not been the victim of any government (or corporate) mind control projects. This is a hot topic of debate among friends and coworkers, however. So take this with a grain of salt. Anyway, it turns out Sprint, at the time, was kind enough to offer UNLIMITED DATA on their phones! Yes.. the same thing T-Mobile charges $5 to $25/mo extra for 5mb to 15mb of data.. AT&T in similar price ranges.. Sprint is giving away UNLIMITED for FREE. I still can't figure out what made them do this -- but it's okay by me!! (Note: I don't think they're offering any more plans of this nature).

So here's the good news -- it turns out the Samsung N400 can be plugged into a computer via USB (with the top secret cable that Sprint won't tell you about). In other words, you can surf the net, from your laptop, using their 1xRTT CDMA network. And since the plan uses UNLIMITED DATA, I can connect to the internet, for free, anywhere within the SprintPCS coverage area.. once again.. FOR FREE..

So about this secret cable... It turns out Sprint doesn't want this to be a well known thing because I all but had their customer service reps deny its existence. It's as though it's critical to national security that customers not buy these cables because once I got it out of them that yes, there was a cable I could use to connect my laptop to the internet through the phone, that they didn't sell the cable and it was impossible to find one.. so I'd best not even try. They need a better cover story because 10 seconds later, I had found one on eBay for $19.95 and it was on the way.

Sprint... I love you. This is the greatest thing ever, and I promise to recommend you to all my blog buddies because of this. *MUUAH*. I do have a couple of complaints though... 1> Don't advertise that this stuff goes 144k -- I'm lucky to be getting 1k (yes.. slower than a 14.4k dialup modem). The speed SUCKS! Fortunately, it's for backup-travelling purposes only.. but come on, 144k? please. Only one other complaint... I was shocked at first when I found out that I could only download ringtones from the SprintPCS site -- I was further shocked to discover that they wanted $1 for every ringtone I downloaded, and I was FLOORED to find out that they expire after 90 days!!!! WHAT THE ?! I have to RENT MY RING TONES?! The ones that come with the phone are all AWFUL - they're all SONGS.. and I REFUSE to be the guy who has a FREAKING SONG PLAY every time his phone rings. NOT A SINGLE NORMAL RING TONE COMES WITH THIS PHONE! So I'm stuck RENTING one from Sprint.
I asked the customer service rep about this, and asked if there was ANY POSSIBLE WAY for me to download a ring tone from another site.. he was very quick to dodge the question and eventually I got it out of him that yes, this could be done, but doing so would VOID MY WARRANTY! Give me a BREAK!

Good thing I have this data thing. Reow.