Welcome To T-Mobile

In preparation for my upcoming move, I bought a new cell phone with a Maryland area code. I had hoped to keep my service with SprintPCS, but they indicated that changing my area code would require signing a new contract. Faced with having to sign a new contract, I decided to move to a new service, and get a new handset.

Technically speaking, I've been very satisfied with the coverage and quality of the SprintPCS service. From a customer service stand point, I have been very dissatisfied with SprintPCS. Since I fulfilled my contractual obligation with Sprint, their customer service people have become increasingly more difficult to deal with. The root of the problem is that I am still on a plan that was introduced when Sprint deployed their 3G network. As a promotional plan, it is significantly better than what they currently offer. Thus, they have virtually frozen my account to force me into a new contract with a la carte services and a higher price.

I chose to move to T-Mobile, because I was impressed with their data plan. Unfortunately, T-Mobile has suffered a catastophic failure on one of their backend systems. According to inside sources, this failure means that no new customer joining the service after 21 December can log in to the account management website at http://www.t-mobile.com/mytmobile. Needless to say, technicians are feverishly working to correct the problem. One source claimed hundreds were effected, another put the number at nearly a thousand.

Stay tuned for further adventures with T-Mobile, and an upcoming review of the Sidekick II. In the meantime, check out all the fun I'm having with my new Moblog:

http://dougbunger.textamerica.com

Christmas Lights

I was sitting at the kitchen table, looking out into the woods when I witnessed something amazing. Middle Tennessee caught the bottom edge of the big storm that moved though Wednesday night. Places across the Kentucky border got 14 inches of snow, but we got an inch of ice. It warmed to the point that most of the ice had started to melt off the streets, but in the woods, there was still ice clinging to the tree branches.

The sun was at just the right angle, shining over the house, and back into the woods. From where I sat, the sunlight would reflect off the ice crystals in the tree branches, and refract into a rainbow of random colors. As the wind would sway the limbs, the ice would catch the light from a slightly different angle, and the color would change. For several moments, I sat mesmerized by the sparkling, twinkling, colors.

That's when it struck me. It was one of those Christmas epiphanies you would expect to see on TV (You know, like when the Grinch decided to take the toys back to the Who's.) As I watched this natural light show, I wondered: Was a moment like this that inspired someone to sting blinking, colored, lights on their Christmas tree?

Merry Christmas

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