Don will be so Proud!

I bought an Apple iPhone this last weekend. Before you Droid owners think I have been converted to the dark side, there are a couple of things you should know. The decision was 95% monetary and 20% I want one of those phones. Now, that might not seem to add up to 100% by many of you, but that’s how the phone company calculates my bill when I asked how much it was to add another line. Still, my bill from Verizon was getting way out of hand, so I took the modem back to the store and, after 20 years with their company, canceled my wireless contract.

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing through a mall near here and on impulse walked into an AT&T store. I knew I was going to terminate my Verizon data account and I was looking for options for the least expensive way to stay connected. There was some literature on family plans and I was surprised at how much of a discount it was to add another line. All wireless companies offer great deals to loyal customers. If they can keep your whole family and all of your friends signing up and buying phones from them, their company will remain strong. It was why I was with Verizon for so long.

Now that all the kids have grown and they have migrated to other wireless providers, I figured it was time to go too. Dave and Lisa were gracious enough to let me join their family plan. My share will be less than half of what I was paying before. We even found out that by putting the account in Lisa’s name, because she is a teacher, we get another discount and they will waive the activation fee. That’s good news to me; I’m getting tired of paying activation fees.

There are some drawbacks, however: I thought I could use the phone as a modem to connect my laptop. Apple really frowns on that, and if you try to do it illegally and they find out, they can cancel your service. I wouldn’t subject Dave and Lisa to that chance. Verizon also has a little better coverage in the rural areas around here and sometimes I may hit a dead spot where the phone won’t work. As of this writing I haven’t been able to configure my web email through any app or even bring it up on webmail.dalelafferty.com, but my gmail account works fine and I will have to get Daryl to help me figure out what’s going on.

With all the WiFi hotspots around and the phone to fill in in-between, I’m hoping that I can get back on that there interweb.

11 Responses to “Don will be so Proud!”

  1. Daryl says:

    Congratulations! Everyone I know who has in iPhone loves it. (Of course, that applies to the Droid too, but that’s a shorter list of people).

    Verizon is coming out with the HTC Incredible on April 29, which sounds like the new best phone on the block, but monetarily that wouldn’t help you anyway. I think it’s hard to go wrong with an iPhone, unless you’re like Devon who lives in a dead spot, or if the rest of your family is on Verizon.

    I addressed your mail questions in an email.

  2. Don says:

    Donna will be proud of you too!

    The new OS4 will address a few of the shortcomings of the iPhone that have been around since the beginning. I know because I’m running OS4 now. I bought the Developer Account with Apple so that’s how I get the OS4. I can also write programs for it too. If I could think of a good one I might even be able to make some money but considering there are over 100,000 apps now it’s not as likely.

    The 2 main features of OS4 for me are the folders and (finally) real multi-tasking. Both of those have been doable if you didn’t mind jail-breaking but not for the feint at heart.

    I’ve had an iPhone since shortly after they first came out and I still love it. The droid is very nice but you just can’t beat Apple at a human interface.

  3. Don says:

    Oh yeah, forgot to mention I’m on my 3rd iPhone. I will be buying a 4G or whatever they call the next gen phone.

    That might seem silly until you know that you can sell your old iPhone for more than you paid.

    When I got my 3GS I put my Edge and 3G on sale on Craigslist. I got $170 for the Edge and $300 for the 3G. I believe I paid $300 for the 3G a year earlier. I could have gotten more but I sold to the first person who showed up. I had lots of calls after I sold it.

    Can you do that with a Droid?

  4. Donna says:

    Welcome back to the smart phone world, Dale. Which one did you get? Mine is the 3GS 16G. I get an AT&T discount too; 10% from my employer and 10% by running the bill through my ATT credit card.I do love my iPhone and am drooling over the G4 version that was leaked recently. But I took a look at the Incredible and if I didn’t have an iPhone already, I’d probably buy one of those. It looks really sweet and is getting rave reviews in its pre-release buzz.

  5. Donna says:

    I meant “4G” above, not G4.

  6. Don says:

    Donna: I saw 3GS iPhones for sale for as much as $700. If you can get anywhere close to that, or even half that it’s worth it to sell it and get the next gen iPhone when it comes out.

  7. Donna says:

    I will probably wait and see what happens with Verizon (and the iPhone) in the next year.

  8. Daryl says:

    So how is that iPhone working out for you?

  9. Dale says:

    Update – So far I couldn’t be happier with this phone. It does everything I need. The interface is so easy to use that I haven’t even been in a hurry to hook my laptop up. I’ve been doing a lot of messaging with Karen and Dave, and playing around with video too. One of my favorite apps is the Kindle for iPhone. It’s actually quite easy to read.

  10. Don says:

    Good to hear it’s working so well for you. I’m toying with the idea of getting an iPad.

  11. Donna says:

    I read on the Kindle app too. There are lots of free books you can download. Did you phone number stay the same?