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5/16/11

Tales from the mobile impaired

I recently upgraded phones from a problematic Blackberry to a slick Droid touchscreen.  The salesman at T-Mobile told me "welcome to the modern mobile market."

I purchased a Motorola DEFY.  A slick touchscreen, water and scratch resistant, and most importantly 3G data speeds.

Courtesy of Motorola
It's a cool phone, and I like it a lot.  Droids are smooth machines, and I'm never touching a Blackberry again.

However, there's one small problem...  T-Mobile didn't mention coverage.

You see, they don't have 3G coverage in this area.  Nor do they have any plans to add 3G in this area.

Light Pink = 2G  ALL of Idaho is this shade of 'lame' pink...


The salesman assumed we had the coverage, because he kept telling me how much faster it was.  He actually tried to upsell me to a 4G phone, but I was happy with 3G, since it was 20 times faster than I was used to.

But wait!  I still don't see a change in data!  Why?  Oh yeah, it's Idaho.  T-Mobile doesn't care about Idaho.

Meh.

I wish I would have known that before I got a new phone & extended my contract.  It's also a shame, because other larger carriers have 3G.  Verizon is working on 4G around here.  They're just way more expensive than T-Mobile.

But, I guess this is a perfect example of 'you get what you pay for' isn't it?

This feels like the driving speed post from months ago (link), about buying a beefy sports car and only being able to drive 25 in town.  I have a hot-rod phone, but am limited because of lame-ass coverage in my local area.

I'm like a caveman, writing messages on slate with a chisel, while everyone around me is emailing or texting.  *dink dink dink* "Hi honey..." *dink dink dink* "What sounds good for dinner tonight?"

Notice how I'm not even talking about 4G?  I'm trying to be only one step behind technology, instead of 2...  I don't even wanna think about 4G until I can step up to 3...

Oh well.  At least I have Angry Birds...
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23 witty retorts:

Maruko said...

Damn I guess it must suck living in such a rural area sometimes. I'm spoiled, I have excellent 3G coverage all throughout Florida. Driving from Miami all the way up to Jacksonville, I barely lost any 3G signal.

BigMike said...

Wow i checked AT&T and sprint... no one likes Idaho

John Dantzer said...

I think telepathy is the way to go. Then you are only limited if you are a drug addict.

Xenototh said...

At least you have a new phone, my won't even stay on any more. Hell, half the time, if I get a phone call, my phone just turns itself off.

Astronomy Pirate said...

Huh, I have a 3G Blackberry from T-mobile. I love the thing, then again, I hate touchscreen phones and prefer the keyboard. I might get a Droid next generation, but messing around with other peoples phones, I don't see what so great about it other then it having a huge app store. And then there are only so many apps you can fit onto a phone. Really I just need my phone to text my GF.

not displayed said...

Just got my droid phone and I love it. Sexy little HTC wildfire. I don't use my phone providers for data as they are pricey. Have a cute life prepaid wifi router that I can use with my phone or iPad (yep I love my toys) for when I need Internet access.

AmberLaShell said...

Well, I have the oppisite problem, I live in Dallas with 4G abound and have a lame old broken razr phone that I can't even check my email on... Lame.

D4 said...

Hey, don't feel so bad. My cell plan doesn't even include texts. How's that for caveman status?

Unknown said...

I had the blackberry and switched to tmobiles G2 at christmas. I love this phone way more better.

The hubs and I used to get super pissed bc we could never reach the kids at their moms. I added a line for Cinderella...she doesn't get cell reception in like 90% of her town. Home included.
I am paying for a phone we still can't reach her on.

G said...

ouch! We're fairly lucky in the UK that coverage is good in most areas. Having said that in my last place i could only get a good enough signal for a phone call when leaning out of the toilet window lol

i said...

Android is definitely a cool OS, if a little unintuitive sometimes. It totally sucks about your coverage though. Whenever I drop out of 3G I feel like I'm entering no-man's land or something. Doesn't happen often though - if I can say something good about Verizon wireless, it's that they have great coverage!

Al Penwasser said...

Hey, this is great. I haven't had a lesson in Greek for a while (me like caveman, too).
I really don't know the difference between 2G, 3G, or 4G (apart from 4G is fast, which is okay since I'm half-fast).

Random Girl said...

Damn, there is always a catch isn't there? I go from great coverage to no coverage in the span of 20 miles. I just make sure I get all my important stuff done before I cross the state line... annoying!

Come At Me Bro said...

This is great!

Sharon Day said...

Sorry. Feel no sympathy. I don't own a cell. Just don't get it. :-)

123 said...

well.... it's idaho :(

Kicking Rocks said...

angry birds solves all problems because you get so focused on it.....

Bart said...

i could still live in the days of smoke signals. i'd be cool with that

hed said...

Sounds like where I was in Australia. And I love love LOVE me some 3G!

hed

Zombie said...

Still keepin it real with my 2G phone. lol.

Unknown said...

@Autumnforest: No cell? How do you sext? That's, like, the most fun thing to do with phones!

LilPixi said...

"T-Mobile doesn't care about Idaho." That's funny, but that sucks. I'm sorry. I know how maddening it is not to get coverage in a weird ass place.

JanandJill.com said...

That is SO annoying when there's not service especially if you just switched phones and you're at your house. Same thing happened when I visited my parents house in the middle of no where when I had switched to Verizon. I called Verizon and requested they build a tower on my parents property. They put one up within a few miles from there and now I have perfect service. It's worth a try :)...but I don't know if they'll disguise the tower like a palm tree in Idaho. I know they do that in LA. lol

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