It was not an easy decision, T-Mobile held me hostage for nearly 9 years and making a move was a very emotional and personal journey. The hours wasted on TMo’s dropped calls alone was enough to make a grown woman cry.
My T-Mobile contract expired in July and it took me this long to make the leap – It is so strange to ask myself, “Hey Me? What do you want in a mobile device and a carrier?”
I came up with 3 Key Requirements that I scoped out for myself (:
1. As a “mobile” consultant, I would need a carrier with excellent connectivity, i.e. no dropped calls and good coverage
2. As a grlGeek, I need a fancy gadget that looks like… well… ME?? Or at least something I would carry around and live my life with.
3. As a human being, I need a carrier that is not the devil.
Conversation in my head regarding Requirement #1:
I am located in New York City and quite frankly the best coverage in NYC is Verizon.
Conversation in my head regarding Requirement #2:
The iPhone has positioned itself nicely on top of the gadget ladder with the most storage and the greatest number of APPS. I would have to go with AT&T.
Conversation in my head regarding Requirement #3:
AT&T is not not the devil, but we assume everyone knows that Verizon is the devil.
(*Which means AT&T could be the devil too.) There is always SPRINT.
DEEP DIVE DIALOG IN MY HEAD:
The fact is, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I went with Verizon – the red “V” in the logo represents the devil, as far as I can tell.
AT&T is an *option*, I had them on the table, except they can’t support all the APPS on the iPhone, their coverage is reportedly present, however there are still a lot of dropped call complaints and they could be the devil.
At the end of the day, the Carrier I felt and feel most “spiritually” compatible with is SPRINT – they have a good message, believe in equal access and open applications – i.e. Mathew Oomman at the FCC hearing on Technology/Applications and Devices – and SPRINT-ers are aggressive in keeping up with the anti-christs’ of Telcos with aggressive pricing models and a series of weird commercials that speak to my soul.
The GrlGeek in me is more of a PC than a MAC so I figure the PalmPre is more like a PC and the iPhone is more MAC like…. WebOS seems pretty straight forward, maybe instead of bitching about lack of APPS I will learn their SDK and develop my own damn APPS.
CONCLUSION:
I went with SPRINT and the PalmPre. It took me about 3 minutes to set it up, enter my email address, Google Calendar info – just like it says in the commercial, I was gesturing away spam and downloading Soduku from the APP catalogue.
I am still nervous about the quality of connectivity I will get with SPRINT, I see the bars going up down and back up again, but I haven’t had it long enough to really call it “road tested”.
I will post updates and stories as my service is fully ported over from T-Mobile. But, I have to admit, so far I love my Pre and it does look like… ME! I LOVE HER!! I LOVE MY PRE!!
SPRINT AND PALMPRE AND ME!!
Read the prepared Remarks of Chairman Julius Genachowski, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC – from today September 21, 2009, here are the highlights:
Some will seek to invoke innovation and investment as reasons not to adopt open Internet rules. But history’s lesson is clear: Ensuring a robust and open Internet is the best thing we can do to promote investment and innovation. And while there are some who see every policy decision as either pro-business or pro-consumer, I reject that approach; it’s not the right way to see technology’s role in America.
At the end of the stream or download is an individual, one who will make a choice to access a piece of content – if you don’t approve of the program don’t watch it. Change the channel. You have kids, get involved with their lives, teach them right and until you trust them use parental controls, that is what they are for.
The fifth principle is one of non-discrimination — stating that broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications.
The sixth principle is a transparency principle — stating that providers of broadband Internet access must be transparent about their network management practices.
Do not allow Mobile Carriers, TelCo’s or Cable Operators to filter what you can have access to or what kind of access you are allowed to have. Where do you stand on the issues, we live in historic times… be a part of the solution!
In closing, we are here because 40 years ago, a bunch of researchers in a lab changed the way computers interact and, as a result, changed the world. We are here because those Internet pioneers had unique insights about the power of open networks to transform lives for the better, and they did something about it. Our work now is to preserve the brilliance of what they contributed to our country and the world. It’s to make sure that, in the 21st century, the garage, the basement, and the dorm room remain places where innovators can not only dream but bring their dreams to life. And no one should be neutral about that.
THE FCC PROPOSES TWO NEW PRINCIPLES :: NON-DISCRIMINATION AND TRANSPARENCY :: THAT WOULD MAKE IT SIX FREEDOMS!!