Mini Rant Ahead - Ending with Humor

I was sitting here paying bills, and when I picked up my cellular bill I wondered how much longer do I have on this contract. Let me go back to the 1980's when I got my first cell phone. You remember those big phones we had to carry around? I got the cell phone because my kids were away at college and I wanted to make sure if they needed me they could reach me anywhere I was. I went with Sprint and have been satisfied with them throughout the years.

Last year when my son moved back here and bought a house, he too signed up with Sprint, because he did have Nextel which merged with Sprint. When he moved into his house he discovered he did not have cell service. He called Sprint and learned they had no plans for expanding service to his residence. There is about a 3 mile area where Sprint is not available even on roaming. He lives right in the middle of this 3 mile area. Needless to say, he cancelled his service and paid the penalty.

I had renewed my service with Sprint several months before my son moved back here and bought a house. I called Sprint last summer and asked if I could get out of my contract without penalty since I'd been with them so long. I also explained the reason I needed to switch carriers. This is a narrow winding road with deer running across the road. At night, I dare not go more than 20 miles an hour in fear of hitting a deer. Of course, they said no.

Today I couldn't remember exactly when my contract will be up, so I called Sprint and they told me I am under contract until October 25, 2007. Trust me, October 26, 2007 I will have a different cellular service. I've heard commercials on TV about pay as you go plans with no contracts. I think I'll check into that.
I despise the fact utility companies can control our lives. And what is even more disturbing we allow this. We are paying to use their service so we should have some say into the quality and reliability of their service. We have a life, and life throws us curves occasionally, however, the utility companies have no flexibility at all. I honestly believe the majority of the population would not jump services if they could do so without penalty. So, what's the deal with service contracts?? Are the cellular companies so afraid no one will use their service they must inflict penalties on their users?

Cell phones have come along way baby. Now they take pictures, send and receive email, surf the web, and can send text messages. I understand later this month iPod will be integrating with a cell phone. That's all I need, a cell phone that can also play music.

This brings me to another topic I was planning on blogging about later, but TNTLTP (there's no time like the present.) When I first saw a commercial on TV of a mother asking her daughter who she had been text messaging, I thought is our society moving into another language. I guess I'm really showing my age here. So I went hunting for text messaging abbreviations. I found a very good definition and list at Webopedia. We in the blogging community use a few of these shorthand abbreviations, ie. LOL, (((H))), or smilies ;), but how do these kids stay on top of all these abbreviations? Thanks goodness I don't have a need to learn about this.

Give yourself a hand if you made it through this post. OO