Sprint does not want me to unplug.

The Palm Pixi

Yesterday I put part one of my social experiment into action by successfully canceled texting from my cell phone line.  Today was the first day in a long time that I haven't received any texts.  Several times this morning I caught myself checking to see if I had any missed texts alerts.  Of course I had none.  By 11am I stopped checking.


I also visited my local Sprint store today to check on a new phone.  It's been almost 3 years since I replaced my previous phone with my current Palm Treo, and my upgrade discount is maxed out.


Two issues were quite frustrating right off the bat.  In order to replace my current Smart Phone with the free one they offer when you renew your contract, you're required to have a data plan.  When I got my current smart phone, I got it specifically so I could use the Palm software to manage my calendar, and didn't need or want the $35/mo. data plan.  Now it's required . . . and it's a racket.  So it looks like a new Smart Phone (which are really cool by the way) won't pan out.  It doesn't really matter though, because I'm back to the archaic method of pencil and paper.


Then I checked the conventional cell phones, and most of them could only hold 300 entries in the contact list.  I have 513 entries.  Bummer.  I was able to find one phone (an LG) that held 600 entries in the contact list.  So out of 40 phones in the store, I was able to find one that worked for me.


In the end I walked out with my faithful Palm Treo still in hand, and now I'm deliberating what to do next.  Should I go ahead and cash in my discount now to get the new LG "dumb" phone.  Or wait?  The discount will not increase, so it will be the same 6-12 months from now.  I'm also considering making a huge jump and leaving Sprint after 11 years.  Verizon is calling.  Somewhere we don't need a 2-yr. contract is calling.


What do you think?