How many bars do you have?

I wasn't as keen on finding an apartment or registering for classes as I was on getting a cellphone, after I landed in the US to do my Masters. You see, I felt handicapped without one since I was so used to having one in India. There were all these carriers, T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and something really stupid called Sprint (Why would someone name a company called Sprint? It sounds like a soft drink).

At that time, the ability to send an International text message without paying a million bucks per text message, was the only criteria I had. I asked around a couple of people for their opinion. No one had heard of T-mobile. Verizon was too expensive. AT&T had a bigger coverage. A bigger crappy coverage, that is. I didn't bother asking people about the soft drink company. In the end I zeroed in on the crappy network and the one which people haven't heard off. I ditched the former for the obvious reasons.

Now if you are new to the US, you can't do Jack S*** without a credit history. So I had to beg my roommate to buy a phone in his name. I got a free phone, as expected. Now I opted for 250 minute plan with weekends. No night time minutes. This whole minutes concept was new to me. Back home, all I pay is a fraction of a rupee to make a call and nothing to receive. But here I have 250 minutes regardless if I use it or not. This is like a stupid prepaid plan. The only difference is, you pay it after you use it. 

The minutes get deducted, even if I get a incoming call. Now why do I have to pay for someone who contacts me, for something they want? We invented the missed call concept for free incoming. Now here in the US, its worthless. Even the voicemail minutes are not left out.

I opted for the 250 minutes which was $29.90 per month, instead of the 600 minutes which was for $39.90 since I wanted to save ten bucks. Which is, for your information Rs 500.  I would like to blame my Indian origin for that. Well 250 did sound big enough. It lasted me for precisely four days. For the rest of the month I used my phone as a pager. I would get a call. I would run to a land line nearby and return the call. I used to check my voicemail only during weekends. I got a Motorola phone. Which means, you are soon going to read another blog about it.

I got the bill and it was around 50 bucks. That's almost twice the price of the plan. If you look at the itemized bill. It says you have to pay Uncle Sam, Jessie White. For 911, which you might use once in your entire life. Why once? You would have left the country for good after you use it or, you are probably dead. So basically what the service providers say is, my bill wouldn't go below $29.90 and there is no top limit.

My roommate had to sign a agreement contract with the robbers (I mean the service providers) for a couple of years. Even his visa wasn't valid for that long. And to terminate it, its $250.00! Now that's insane, along with all the other money ripping strategies. In the end I upgraded to the $40.00 plan which meant I had to spend close to $80 on the phone. I realized even that wasn't enough. After that, I upgraded to a 1000 minute plan. Again, even that wasn't enough. 

The only good thing about the service providers is, you spend peanuts on the phone. But you're hooked onto them for life. They rip you off everywhere else. There are a very very few people who are satisfied with their service providers. Even fewer for AT&T. AT&T gives consumers tons of choices on phone that no other can match. But whats the point? You won't get reception anyways. 

I think the whole business model of the US service providers is screwed up. They need to change the whole damn thing. Why you may ask? US known as the "Developed Country" is one of the last one's to adopt the 3G technology. Just on time, when the rest of the world is starting to change to 3.5G. We are so technologically backwards in the Cellphone area. Japan is light years ahead. The cellphone you are using right now, has already been tossed into the trash by the Japanese, five years back. Their cellphones are so advanced, you can even use them to cook something.

Well, I happen to be one of the very very few satisfied customer of T-Mobile. I don't think I would ever move out of it. It's been six long years. And still, in my roommates name.