esrosedotblog

CELL BLOCK

It is time to report on the first week of going cellular, mobile, or is it wireless? No. Wireless is sort of your computer without a wire or something.

We both went to Verizon because they have the best reception all over the valley. This was confirmed for us by Mark, the tile guy, who I realized was making and taking cell calls while he was working in our pool. Our neighborhood and house have been notorious no-signal zones for a long time. This was a revelation. Mark said he was never in trouble for a signal. So we took his word. Of course, Michelle at Verizon said the same thing, but she has a slight commissionary bias.

Well, Mark and Michelle were right. We get a big fat signal here at the house and so we have emailed all the friends, put the landline number on a fast record basis ("we are going mobile, leave a message and we will call you with our new number"). We have cancelled our 800 number because if the family is on Verizon it doesn't cost anything to talk to them. Well, this is not true, really.

As I pointed out to my son Dave, the cell people have a prepaid call system which is a great economic model for them. They get all their money up front; no pesky cash float over monthly bills. What is more, they can and do charge exorbitantly for going over the pre-purchased calls. Best deal is that most of the people over buy the units and don't use them. Wow. Buy Verizon stock! The trouble is that it is a big company and it has a lot of loser divisions like the land lines which we are dumping.

What about the phone? We both got the LGX4500--a beefy middle of the road option. The others in the range seemed so light. They work great and once you get started the learning curve is pretty steep. The algorithms are different than we had with Nokia but it doesn't matter.

No camera, no teevee, and no frills although if we don't mind thumb fractures we can do email I think. Why would anyone want to do that? Isn't email email? The other thing is that the phone would upload to the computer or something but the service doesn't include it. No prob-a-lem. I will not be paying to download my bells either. I have a nice little jazzy riff.

What else? We are both into it. I was not sure that John would be. It is always 'the other one' that won't be into it, isn't it? J even survived a lemon first phone which he had to return. No questions asked.

Did I say that the Verizon store was incredibly service oriented? Michelle. I was told not to buy on-line as the Verizon reps are masterful system hackers who can get you what you need without any 'stuff'. We saw some examples as we waited for our sale to be consummated. And we think that, somehow, John got a whole new phone when that may not have been the policy. In any case, it happened like lightning.

And helpful! There was a guy waiting on an old lady who could not put directory numbers into her phone. In my judgement, she should not be allowed to have a phone; in the same way some people should not be allowed to drive a car. Totally dysfunctional at the electronic level.

The Verizon guy got her through it. About mid-point, his hands were shaking; it was soooo tense. Here was this big hulking latin dude with several piercings and a heavy haircut working with the little sweetsie-vague grandma. They made it work by hanging in with each other. She said she would buy him a drink. He said Starbucks Iced Tea and laughed. She was back with it in five minutes. Now where do you see this kind of shit happening today?