grrgoyl

Another birthday come and gone, the first anniversary of my 40th, haha. We didn't do anything special really; I didn't even get a cake, not that I could have eaten it if I did. (However, we did recently discover low-fat ice cream that has us almost comically excited.)

(Update: At this point I've lost 30 pounds on my pain-aversion diet. I dug out my shorts from last summer to find most of them are now far too big; but one pair that I bought too small fits me perfectly. I'm thinking I'll never have surgery if it's this easy to lose weight without it.)

I didn't want anything exciting in the way of presents either -- that is until I installed a new on-screen keyboard for my phone that was instant love (I lead a uniquely dull life; I have to enjoy enthusiasm where I can find it). You've seen the Blackberry ad with the world record fastest texter using a keyboard called Swype? (you slide your finger from letter to letter rather than pecking each individually) This is a Swype knock-off, except more accurate with a better UI.

I got so addicted to it in only a few days that I started to bemoan having a bulky slider phone with a physical keyboard I now foresaw possibly never using again. You can probably see where this is going: I needed a new phone. And here I just happened to have this birthday money. I know I have bills to pay, but if you use birthday money to pay bills, then you're just a year older and another year closer to death and that's no way to live your life.

If it seems like only a year or so ago when I last walked this road, it was actually less -- about 9 months. And that was with a 2-year contract. Here's where it became problematic.

I have no qualms about an unlocked phone, which my last one was. Except back then I wasn't married to the Android OS that my current phone runs. Finding either a T-Mobile or unlocked Android phone in my price range that wasn't swarming with other bidders was about as difficult as shopping for the Wii.

Through my usual extensive research conducted when I should have been working, I got my heart set on a Motorola Cliq XT, a sleek, sexy little number and completely keyboard-free. I've owned two other Motorolas and remember them fondly having very high call quality and user friendliness.

There were plenty of offers on Craigslist, all asking just a bit more than I would have liked to spend, birthday money or no. My first attempt was someone asking only $145 -- still waiting to hear back from him. I put out 2 or 3 offers on some OBO (or best offer) listings, which were dated long enough ago that I hoped $50 less than their asking price wouldn't be outright insulting. Still waiting to hear back from them.

I did hear almost instantly from one guy, who tried instead to sell me a MyTouch, which I had checked out first in my travels but I hated how it looked and it lacked a separate headphone jack, something I was looking forward to after the G1's integrated charging port/headphone jack. This guy wouldn't give up though; came back with a second hard sell email after I politely said I had my heart set on the Cliq.

I was drawn to T-Mobile's rebated price of $130, but thought it was an impossibility until I did more legwork and discovered if you add another line to your current contract, you could get a new phone at upgrade prices. Problem solved! I thought.

I biked to my local TMo shoppe and pretended to be casually browsing, except the only phone I picked up was the Cliq. It was even better looking in real life and I was suitably impressed with all the features.

Then another customer, a beanpole of an IT geek, sidled up to regale me with all the problems he's had with his Cliq I (not the official name -- he had the original slider version of the XT I was fondling). In fact, he was there to see about exchanging it for another model entirely after going through 3 different handsets in 2 months.

I listened sympathetically, then apologized that his woes probably weren't going to deter me -- because my only choices in non-slider Androids were literally the XT, the MyTouch and a Samsung that everyone online seemed to complain about.

I was finally approached by a sales rep. When I asked him his opinion of the XT, he unhesitatingly whipped one out of his pocket, presumably his phone. I was encouraged by this, but later telling Tery this story I suddenly turned cynical and wondered if they just watched which phones people seemed to be favoring and grabbed one from behind the counter for this trick.

He said the extra line was very do-able ($10 a month, not the $5 they're heavily advertising), and yes indeedy I would be eligible for the rebate price. His expression darkened, however, when I asked about the data plan.

My G1 has its own special data plan that I had been hoping to just transfer to the XT. When I asked he said, "Wait, you're only adding a line to get a new phone?" And thus had we come to that crucial moment I hate when I'm contemplating something that might have shades of beating the system: be honest and risk raising all kinds of alarms because what I'm thinking of doing isn't strictly on the up-and-up, or be evasive and risk getting an unhelpful answer because I haven't given him all the information.

I opted for the first, and that's when his smile disappeared. Oh come on, I can't be the first person who tried to exploit this little loophole, can I? Apparently, because his answer was no, I would have to carry two data plans, to the tune of $65 a month (including the new line charge). Could I justify such an expense when I would of course only be using one of the phones? (Tery, bless her heart, has absolutely no interest in anything as involved as a Smartphone. She doesn't have internet on her current phone and she's perfectly fine with that. Hard to imagine, but they do say opposites attract) The answer was no, I really, really couldn't.

I didn't tell him that. I reassured him that of course I was prepared to pay for two plans, then effected my escape as quickly as I could without appearing suspicious.

Given my options, taking on that ludicrous extra expense every month, or just biting the bullet and paying $100 over TMo's price on Craigslist, my path seemed very clear.

My first stop was to reply to Mr. "You Really Would Rather Have a MyTouch," who I thought was only pushing it on me because he was selling it closer to my low-ball offer. When I called him with a higher offer though, he said he had sold the Cliq "weeks ago," just hasn't taken down the ad. GRRRRRRRR. I've spoken before on my feelings about people who can't be bothered to remove their ads after selling their item. It's the work of two mouse clicks, far less than their daily porn fix probably requires. TAKE THE GODDAMN AD DOWN.

I came at three other listings more aggressively, offering $25 under their asking. Within an hour one of them texted me to accept. A guy up in Broomfield, which is a hop, skip and a jump away from Thornton where I got my Wii. Remembering all too well the terror I experienced on that journey when I was sure the guy was a serial killer (even though this transaction took place in broad daylight), I dragged Tery along with me.

So it was that I got a factory sealed brand new XT without jumping through TMo's hoops (I had to call customer service to change my "G1" data plan to an "Android" plan that covers all Android phones. I have to wonder if that was why my sales rep thought I couldn't transfer the plan, because mine was specific to the G1. I also felt more than a little guilty gushing to the phone rep about how much I love the G1 (well, I do, I'm just bored with it) -- they do this thing where they chat about your phone no matter what issue you're calling about, try to make the conversation more personal). No warranty of course which makes me nervous, and that second after inserting the SIM and powering it up waiting to see if it would work was kind of tense, but the thought that I beat TMo at their own game is too delicious for words.

I'm still waiting to hear back from about ten other Craigslist sellers. The only thing more annoying than people who don't bother to remove their ads is people who don't bother replying and leave you hanging.

It doesn't make sense to me that phone carriers make you wait a year (now two seems more popular) to upgrade your phone. I understand the phones are very expensive and they have to make up their costs somewhere. I also understand they want to get you in a contract to ensure your continued business. But if there was a company that provided satisfactory service (which TMo does) and also let you buy a new phone whenever you wanted, I don't think customer loyalty would be a worry.

Also stop with the restricting phones only to certain carriers. Everyone could sell all the phones, and would have to rely on superior service and competitive pricing to lure in customers, like everything else that we buy.

Why not split the difference between the inflated manufacturer's price and the dirt cheap rebates? Somewhere in the middle seems to be a price many people happily pay on the open market. If people want the phone, they'll find ways of getting it; how many "jailbroken" iPhones are out there? Piles and piles of money that could be in AT&T's pockets that isn't. Christ, Craigslist is full of people advertising their jailbreaking services. It's not even a secret.

And people who don't care, just want a cheap phone that works, could be on a plan like the current system, so they aren't priced out of the market.

Is this all incredibly naive of me? I don't know anything about the inner workings of cell phone retail, I'm just talking as a customer who loves fancy new gadgets. An Obama-type visionary of the cell phone world.

Oh, and BTW, the XT is pretty awesome.

~*~

Some pics: