Monday, July 26, 2010

Time for the Smart Phone Leap - An Open Letter to AT&T & Verizon

I have decided I am ready to take the smart phone plunge. I have been holding out for a Verizon iPhone, however with my current phone acting up, I don't think I can wait much longer.

I have had a cell phone since 1995. At that time, I was living in Delaware, attending college, and purchased a Bell Atlantic Wireless Phone. I remember paying a whopping $19.99 for a plan that included free nights and weekends and something like 100 anytime minutes. Of course, that was before the days of national plans and I selected Bell Atlantic because they had the largest region encompassing Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania including Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. My then-fiance (now husband) also purchased the same plan at the same time. We have been with them as they morphed to Bell Atlantic NYNEX, and then to Verizon as I moved to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and now Michigan. After 15 years, I have been relatively happy with the reception and customer service I have received. My parents, sister, and brother as well as several friends across several states are also Verizon customers so free Verizon mobile to mobile minutes compromise about one third of our usage. Subtracting out phone calls between my husband and I (because we would both switch), this is about 250 additional minutes a month. Staying with Verizon is a no-brainer EXCEPT they don't have the iPhone.

We have become an Apple household. My husband is on his second MacBook Pro for work, and last year we bought a MacBook Pro for home use. My husband purchased a first generation iPod Touch and was so happy with it that he bought me a second generation for Christmas 2008. Last year, we received a free iPod Touch with the purchase of our laptop, so my husband upgraded to the second generation and my 4.5 year old inherited the first generation. We all love our iPod Touches and use them for games, movies, music, mail, calendar, and more.  For this reason, an iPhone is a no-brainer EXCEPT they aren't on Verizon.

So, I need someone to sell me on a Verizon smart phone that will replace ALL the functions of my iPod Touch without requiring a major time or money reinvestment to transfer my music (from CDs) and movies purchased in iTunes. I get a lot of recommendations for a Droid phone, however everyone I have talked to who previously had an iPod Touch still uses that for movies and music. My goal is to have a single device.

Alternatively, I need to find a way to inexpensively acquire additional minutes for AT&T either on my wireless or by upgrading my home phone. I have a barebones, 100 local calls per month plan with no long distance through AT&T. I also have DSL through AT&T, so additional bundle savings may make this a reasonable alternative.

So AT&T make me your best offer for 700 Family Share minutes & the 2GB iPhone data plan with local phone and High Speed Elite Internet service. And I hope the 3G service is more reliable than my DSL. I am already incurring extra costs for the data service, and don't want to increase my basic phone

Or Verizon, recommend your best smart phone that will replace my cell phone and iPod Touch.

Do you have a smart phone, which one? Who is your carrier?
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