Phones of Contracts Past

Alternately titled: My Love Affair with Samsung and AT&T and Why I Hate Verizon

In honor of my new Samsung Captivate arriving shortly, I thought I would write a post about all of my cell phones, strung together from old posts and fond memories.

To do this, we have to go back, way back, to middle school.

Mid 1999
My dad got me my first cell phone so I could call him to pick me up after school. We went with Sprint for their all digital *rolls eyes* network. My mom and dad both got these giant things. They weren’t Zack Morris phones, but they were pretty bulky. Something like the photo below. My phone on the other hand, was this teeny little thing. Far cuter, but it didn’t work, at all. Sometimes, once in a while, outside, I was able to get a signal. Still, it was better than what most of my friends had: Nothing! Muahaha.

Early 2002
We switched to Verizon because they didn’t suck as bad as Sprint.
My new phone resembled the one in the image below. It too was a piece of crap. I was able to make calls, but it had a bad habit of turning itself on and off, and not to mention somehow walking out of my car and getting a nasty crack in its screen.
“My cell phone is truely magical. It walked a couple miles, called the lottery number for NJ and then NY and then didn’t win, so it slammed itself down and broke its screen… someone stole my cell phone! It’s so weird! Why take my phone, leave my wallet, travel a few miles, call up the lottery people, throw the phone on the ground and leave?!? It’s just wacky.” – June 11, 2003

January 2004
“Still haven’t gotten my new cell. I’ve done so much research at this point on phones, I know exactly what phone I want and I can make a perty good case for it even though it’s $130… that my parents weren’t too happy about. My mommy’s like, well, you have lost cellphones before… Ya, but they don’t count! The first time it was stolen and I have perty good evidence to back that up! And the second time it fell out of my purse at prom, soooo not my fault, and we got it back… eventually…”
“Yesterday we went to the Verizon store to pick out our new cellphones : ) My mommy liked the one I told her she’d like and my daddy liked the one I told him he’d like, but they didn’t have my phone there : ( But the guy ordered it, so, it OK : ) I’m gettin’ the expensive, but o-so-spiffy, Samsung A530 : D I gonna go, my mommy and daddy are back wik my hot chocolate ”

August 2006
In 2006, we decided to switch to Cingular because I could not use my lovely Verizon phone at school at all. Cingular seemed to work fine though. Unfortunately when the guy at the Verizon store told us our contract was up, he was lying. We kept the new phones anyway because of the aforementioned issue.
“Friday we went and got new cell phones. I decided on the Samsung SGH-D807. It’s sooooo nice. And it has the bluetooth so I uploaded a bunch of stuff already. I have pics of everyone for the caller ID and made ringtones.”
“Um… cell phone drama. Sure most of you have heard my rant about that by now, but if you haven’t…
Out contract with Verizon didn’t expire so now we must return our new phones with Cingular or pay Verizon $450. Either way, it sucks.” <-- why I hate Verizon reason 1

January 2009
By 2008, Cingular was now at&t and I was working for them. Sadly, I went with the Samsung Propel instead of an iPhone. I mostly regret this now because I can’t get the unlimited data plan. Irony: the data plan was the original reason I didn’t get the iPhone.
“Tuesday we went to the at&t store and got my parents’ account transferred into my name so we can get the discount on service. We also got new phones. I got the Samsung Propel. It’s like my old phone, but better and it has a full qwerty keyboard. I don’t have a messaging plan yet, but I think I’ll get the unlimited one since I get 50% off.”

September 2010
I’ve debated between iPhone 4 and the Samsung Captivate for a while now. My first instinct was to go with the Samsung; why break a streak? The iPhone is a great phone, but the Captivate is much more customizable. I have the iTouch for anything I really want from the iTunes store. I use Google products, email, voice, contacts, calendar, docs, far more than anything Apple. It makes a lot more sense for me to go with the Captivate. Not to mention I scored a crazy good deal from letstalk.com. Check retailmenot.com for coupons too.

I am beyond excited about this phone, to the point where I’m having trouble sleeping when I think about it. I finally, finally have a data plan! While it’s not unlimited, 2GB should be more than enough considering I get free wi-fi from att (also one of the projects I have a small part of) and cablevision.

Do you need a new phone?
If anyone is thinking of switching to att, let me know, I can help you out. Plus, I get referral credit.
Also, if you live in an att state and are thinking of ordering Uverse or other att products, let me know about that too! I can also look up when Uverse is coming to your area.

How about Uverse?
Uverse is awesome btw. I’m incredibly jealous of anyone who can get it and not just because I would be able to get a great discount. I think it’s a much better deal than Fios, which we can’t even get here yet. Not that I would after all the times those jerks interrupted our dinner, knocking on our door, trying to get us to switch. “I’m very happy with Cablevision.” “No you’re not!” <-- why I hate Verizon reason 2