OMG I am gonna DIE if I don't get an IPHONE!?!

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Permalink Reply by Hilary Baumann on July 6, 2008 at 1:05pm

Me - mainly because Sprint f'd with my plan this last week - they literally changed my plan without my authorization (as well as extended the contract on one of my phones - I did get them to take that off, confirmed it and I do have a recording of the phone call.) Yes my plan WAS 7 years old but that's not a good enough excuse for doing it and with no notice.

I WAS going to wait a few months and see how things panned out with the 3G version of the iphone but I think I may head into an AT&T store sooner rather than later.

Oh, and did I mention several days later that they cut me off and told me I was 5 days late on a payment even though I wasn't? I had only received the bill the week before... when did bills become due the day they printed them? Instead of arguing with the idiot on the other end I agreed to pay by July 11th to which he told me that if I didn't I would owe a $200 reconnect fee.

I actually set up a backup phone number with Skype because I don't know what Sprint might do next. That reminds me - I need to test and see if I can get skype to show up on caller id as my cell phone number (it's an option but it said it might not work in all cases.)

Skype + Audacity is how I recorded my phone call with Sprint by the way. They record me, I record them because I'm tired of being lied to when I have to deal with their customer service. And luckily until now I didn't have to deal with their customer service but once every year and a half or so. The only reason I stuck with Sprint this long is because the service here was good ... not the customer service, the actual signal etc and I did have a kickin', though somewhat expensive plan before they mucked with it. And pretty much choosing a cell phone company is like looking for the lesser of the evils - you can have problems with pretty much any of them.

I've got them recorded confirming my contract wasn't extended because of the changes they made so if I leave they can't charge me termination fees ... and if they do I will be talking to an attorney.

At this point I don't know that I care about the rest that they've done with my plan (removing the data package from one line, limiting another phone to 50 text messages when before it had unlimited ... it didn't show up online the day that I was talking to them ... it showed up a couple of days later and I don't think I want to fight them on it since I can just walk away...)

Just a word of warning for everyone out there - keep an eye on your cell phone plan for changes ...

So yes, I was already drooling over the iphone ... part of me would rather have an unlocked/jailbroken version of the current model instead of the 3g ... I don't know that I will have my mind made up by the 11th.

Sorry about the long rant.

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Permalink Reply by Primitive Dude on July 6, 2008 at 2:21pm

Ouch, I hate it when they do that.

Hey Hilary, I've been using Gizmo VOIP because it has a .wav recorder built in. It looks like they have lots of other neat features too.

Good Luck!

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Permalink Reply by Hilary Baumann on July 6, 2008 at 3:30pm

Thanks for the tip - I have skype for the next three months but I will look into this since it's probably a good idea to keep a backup number. I got rid of my landline ... 6-7 years ago but given the recent situation I think it'd best to diversify my phone options a bit and review my "emergency" backup plan (not 911-type emergency though with voip just how can people contact me if they can't reach me on my main line.)

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Permalink Reply by Hilary Baumann on July 6, 2008 at 4:49pm

Took a quick look - the pricing plan is different for outgoing calls on Gizmo. Gizmo isn't clear on whether you have to pay in increments like Skype. Skype has a pay as you go option where you pay $10 and get about 6 hours of talk time depending on where you are calling to or you can pay the monthly rate and get unlimited* minutes (*10,000 minutes US and Canada).

But the Gizmo incoming line is the exact same price as skype. $12 for three months.

Both skype and gizmo will let you make free computer to computer calls and I already know several people on skype so I'm just going to stick with it - I was using that before I had a need to call out to Sprint and record them. Gizmo looks pretty much the same as Skype though.

I did check and I can get Skype to show my cell phone number for the caller ID so if I call people they won't know I'm using Skype which means I could go with a cheaper cell phone plan as well ... except if I get an iphone I don't think there's many choices.

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Permalink Reply by Hilary Baumann on July 6, 2008 at 5:58pm

Yeah - that would be the downfall and I think the other thing for you would be that you are calling outside the US where the rates would be different if you are calling people's landlines or cellphones. Skype to skype is always the best deal.

I haven't tried using skype from my cell phone but it can be set to display your cell phone number as the caller id if you are calling someone. Skype from your cell phone might be an option with some of the smartphones and maybe even the iphone using wireless instead of your minutes. I have thought about that before but haven't explored it because I don't have a smartphone/iphone ... yet.

How I set up my cell phone as caller ID for skype:
- I set up skype with the outgoing calls on their monthly plan for $3/month USA and Canada. Not sure if this works with their pay-as-you go option or not.
- I tell Skype that I want to use my cell phone number for the caller ID and enter that number.
- Skype sends a text message to my cell phone to confirm that I own that number and I type in the confirmation code from the text message into the computer. Apparently from there it takes a day or so to register in their system (or the delay might have had something to do with me setting this up shortly after setting up outgoing calls, not sure.)
- A day later I got another text message from skype to my cell phone saying that I would be able to use my cell phone number as my skype caller ID in another 2 hours.

Voila - make a call to someone with my skype account and they see the cell phone number they are used to seeing.

I did also get SkypeIn because skype can't use your cell phone number for incoming calls through skype which I needed that as a backup because I'm not sure if Sprint will go even more crazy on me. I did tell several clients whose projects I'm working on that if they haven't managed to get a hold of me or if they simply don't even get my voicemail when they call to call that alternate phone number and explained how Sprint seems to have gone crazy on my account.

I can also tell Skype to use my new SkypeIn phone number as the Caller ID if I ever wanted to do that.

Prior to setting up SkypeIn or my cell phone as a caller ID, SkypeOut shows up as "unknown" on the caller ID when calling someone.

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Permalink Reply by Digitalfangirl on July 7, 2008 at 4:59am

I love Gizmo Project. I've been using it for a long time. I use it not only to talk to my friends, but it's also how I conduct interviews for my podcasts and the built-in recorder was a big selling point for me. Plus, I've dumped Adium because Gizzmo allows you to pull in all your IM identities. You can also integrate your Grand Central number with Gizmo.

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Permalink Reply by J.J on July 6, 2008 at 4:37pm

I'm definitely getting the iPhone. I'm from Peru and we will get the iphone here for the first time. I've had some friends bringing jailbroken iphones from the US. But i was using Nextel at the time. I already canceled the Nextel Plan because it was to expensive and to bad. You never got signal, even next to the Nextel office. But well i'll definitely get the iphone, because the company bringing it here America Movil (From Carlos Slim, Fortune Number 2 Most Rich Man) has a really good service.

Though i know the plans will be really expensive, at least more expensive than in the US. But i hope that as more people get Data Plans the prices will go down.

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Permalink Reply by Digitalfangirl on July 7, 2008 at 4:53am

I love me some Apple, but I cannot give up my BlackBerry for an iPhone. Check out my blog post comparing the upcoming 3G BlackBerry BOLD with the 3G iPhone. I'd love to hear everyone's response to it. http://www.geekycybermom.com/2008/07/02/3g-blackberry-bold-vs-3g-ip...

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Permalink Reply by Primitive Dude on July 7, 2008 at 7:11am

Hi GeekyCyberMom, I liked your nice, succinct, blog posting. Thanks. In your side by side comparison I was surprised to see the iPhone doesn't record video.

Does either device have Transcriber or other handwriting recognition tool? I got started down this road using a Palm many moons ago (they weren't phones) and have relied on being able to use handwriting since. I find it much faster to write in cursive than to use either built-in or on-screen keyboards. Old school, I guess. When "Smartphones" started to appear I looked hard at the BlackBerry but if I remember correctly, they did not offer the transcriber feature. The PocketPC then caught my eye and I have never looked back.

You closed your blog posting with,
"All in all - it’s just a good solid phone and it is truly my main communications tool."

That's exactly how I feel about my phone. It works so seamlessly and is such a big part of my life that the iPhone has been a little off the radar for me. I would guess that 80% of my business associates use BlackBerry and would not give them up. These are all amazing devices! Is one better than the others? What's the next big thing?

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Permalink Reply by Primitive Dude on July 7, 2008 at 7:35am

Won't be long, I imagine.

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Permalink Reply by Digitalfangirl on July 7, 2008 at 9:47am

I totally agree and I hate to rearrange my workflow habits and productivity methods to accomodate how a phone functions. Quite honestly, there is just no fuss with my BlackBerry and the data plan is not breaking my bank ($19.99/unlimited data on Tmobile).

It works seamlessly with my Mac computers, I have no email issues, I have a full qwerty keyboard (super important to me) , there are plenty of 3rd party social media apps for my BB and it never lets me down.

I have an iPod, so I'm not looking for a phone that will double as an iPod. I personally don't want to play music and videos on my phone - I look at my phone as my mini laptop and that's exactly how the BlackBerry works for me.

Is one device better than the other; that's a good question. I guess it all depends on what you need out of a phone and what you're going to be doing with it. I'm all for the next best thing IF it will increase my productivity in a way that is so great it would be crazy for me not to switch devices - the fact that it looks cool is not good enough of a reason for me to abandon my BlackBerry.

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Permalink Reply by Hilary Baumann on July 7, 2008 at 8:56am

I'd rather have more screen and an onscreen keyboard that works than more processor in my phone. I had a treo (non-phone version) once and I hated the tiny keypad so much that after a couple of months I simply sold it on ebay.

Little things like that can make it or break it depending on personal preferences.

Also there are "hacks" for the video and push e-mail problems. Then again that would be part of why I almost would rather have an existing iphone that's jailbroken ... lots of 3rd party apps or possible hacks and I'm not sure what will end up being usable with the new phone.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/iphone-video-recording/iphone-video-reco...

Good review though because there are definitely some perks to the blackberry if they fit your preferences and how you want to use the device. :)

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