New Phone

Another notice I received over the weekend was that AT&T Wireless was going to upgrade my cell phone for free. They are going to upgrade me to a T226, which is a newer model than the phone I have. I looked through the feature list, and this looks a lot more like a downgrade! My current phone has calendaring functions, BlueTooth and IR communication, color screen, and lots of other nice features. The new phone does not have calendaring, it operates on fewer frequencies (850/1900 vs 900/1800/1900), half the memory, no profiles, and no voice activated dialing. The only features the t226 has over the t68i are polyphonic ringtons and twice as many colors on the screen. It has downloadable games, but I think that is a huge ripoff. Why would I want to pay $5 a month to rent solitaire?

The thing that really bothers me is that the notice that I would get a new phone requested that I send back my old phone. I paid an additional $50 as part of my plan to get an upgrade from the basic phones to the t68i. Now, they want me to trade in that phone at even cost for the t226 which is an inferior model. No thanks! Give me a shot at selling one of them on eBay or something, but don't ask me to just throw it away. My buddy at work brought up the point that, based on how my contract is worded, the t68i may not actually be my phone until the end of the contract. That would really stink. I like my phone! I drove Jenn nuts trying to figure out which plan and phone to buy. I want to keep my t68i.

Evidently I'm not the only one on the web who isn't a huge fan of the t226. A quick google search turned up quite a few other folks who were less than excited to receive a t226. I think this would have been awesome if AT&T sent a phone that was truly an upgrade from the t68i, like the t616 or some other model. I figure the reason they are doing the upgrade is to get folks using the 850 network, which is what Cingular uses as well. AT&T has a roaming agreement with Cingular in our area, and their have been talks that Cingular might buy AT&T Wireless. If that happens, my plans to switch providers in May when my plan is up will be pointless. I dunno, I'll check out this new phone, and if it has better reception, I'll use it, otherwise I'm sticking with my t68i.