by Grifter

i need a new phone and plan
let me start off by saying i dont know much about cellphones. my family has cingular so i decided to go with cingular. so i go to the local corporate cingular/att store and check out their selection. what i am looking for is a simple but good phone. i dont need good mp3 playback, photo or video functionality, or internet/messaging. price is a large factor. i narrow it down i think it was a samsung c417. but come to find out it was oos and they offered the samsung sync for the same price (free AR + msrp tax = ~$20). after asking questions and being satisfied with the phone's functions and pricing plan - lowest minutes with medium data plan = $59.99 - 15% la county employee discount

i take it home, fiddle around with it, come to find out it is not compatible with my car's bluetooth. i didnt think to research this beforehand thinking bluetooth is bluetooth. so i return to the cingular store to find an alternative armed with a printout of current phones that are compatible with my cars bluetooth. only blackberries, ericssons, and a couple razrs are compatible and available at the cingular store. i call my brother gf and ask how she likes her razr and she said she liked it and that bestbuy has them for cheaper.

i head to bb and find a razr for $20 vs $70 at cingular but turns out i dont get my la county discount at bb. my next option is to try the local private? owned cingular store. they have many older/discontinued phones available and now i have narrowed it down to samsung d407 or ericsson w300. ill probably go with the ericsson because while the d407 works with my car it lacks some functions the ericsson has.

total time spent: ~3hrs and still no phone

cliffs: why i hate capitalism