Okay – I just did something that I technically shouldn’t have been able to
do. As many of you know, I am a Sprint customer and San Angelo has only local
CDMA & Analog vendors – Sprint, Cellular One and a couple of local resale
companies. According to coverage maps, we have very good GSM coverage,
but there are no local T-Mobile or Cingular vendors. So I went online, entered
my zip code, and found that I could get service with either T-Mobile or
Cingular. Last year when I tried this, neither would let me because I was not in
their coverage area; this time, they both showed coverage and acted like it
would be no problem to order. <gleefully rubbing hands together>
After comparing both companies and the plans they were offering, I placed an
order with T-Mobile for a Sidekick with an unlimited data plan (+$0.20/minute
for voice calls), because I will be taking its SIM card and using it in the HTC
Universal. Hopefully after the Universal review there will be another SIM
enabled PDA (or possibly a laptop) to take its place; we shall see.
I don’t know yet if I will be getting a local San Angelo number. I guess it
doesn’t much matter since I will be using the plan almost exclusively for data.
Just for fun, I checked to see if I could move my existing phone number to the
new plan, but was told "This number is not eligible to be transferred to
T-Mobile at this time, because your area is not currently located within a
T-Mobile market." Bleh.
I have 20 days to decide if I want to keep the package and service, which
should give me plenty of time to decide if I want to cancel the service or if I
would want to eventually move our three lines to T-Mobile service once the
Sprint contract runs out…
Updated a couple hours later: I have since learned that the
Sidekick Data plan will not work on anything but a Sidekick, so I will be
returning that package when it arrives tomorrow. I have spoken with three
T-Mobile CS Reps, and have since ordered a SIM card with a data plan
which includes unlimited internet, unlimited email & 300 text messages for $29 a month. Voice calls are
still $0.20/minute. Other than the initial ordering of a Sidekick snafu – I am
quite pleased with myself. :0)
