Full Bars
I got my first cell phone in 1997, when some of my co-workers were barely in their teens. My first carrier was LA Cellular. I can’t remember how the cell service was, but they got bought out by AT&T and I know their coverage sucked ass. It was something I accepted, shitty cell phone service. This was especially problematic in my apartment. Any call would be dropped when I entered the garage and I wouldn’t get a bar until I was in a one foot radius in my living room. I figured I just lived in a dead zone. That was until my former neighbor Sarah walked by my front door, gabbing on her cell phone. I flew out of my apartment and asked her about her carrier. She had Verizon.
I left for SE Asia in June of 2004. I cancelled my service with AT&T before I left. Seriously, who needs a cell phone when you’re banging 1000 baht whores? I really miss those days. But I digress. When I got back I signed up with Verizon Wireless. It was the best. With the exception of a couple of blocks on San Vicente, I got perfect reception everywhere, including my apartment. Any time there was a problem, it got fixed. The downside to this superior cell and customer service was cost. I was paying over $100 for 900 minutes, a handful of texts, and internet. Since I was downsizing, I decided that I didn’t need to spend $1200 a year on a cell phone; and, since Sprint used the same technology, maybe it would be just as good. A friend of mine showed me the Sprint SERO plan. They offered 1250 minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited internet for $50. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. I got a Palm Treo 750p for $250 and that was that. I was now a Sprint customer. Unfortunately, Sprint is not Verizon. First of all, their customer service is super ghetto. For example, when I got my first bill, it appeared that they charged me too much for my phone. After spending eons with customer service, one of them asked me, “How am I supposed to know where you got yo phone?” I replied, “I got it from you, Sprint. Doesn’t it say that somewhere on your computer? You are a business who tracks inventory, right?” I wait for the day that Google buys them out. Second, reception in my place wasn’t very good. But a couple weeks ago, I read about the Airave.
The Airave jacks into your broadband and expands coverage. It costs $5 a month, a small price to pay for reception; although, I wonder why the fuck I have to pay extra for cell phone reception. I went to the Sprint store and bought the last one. I figured I would walk in, grab it, pay, and go. No way. This is Sprint. It took over an hour. Part of this was waiting for help, 20 minutes, but once they set the box in front of me, it took my salesperson over a half hour phone call just to be able to charge me the $100 for the device. I’ve got to say, it was a small price. I brought the thing home and plugged it in. It took about 45 minutes to get up to speed, but now I’ve got great reception in my place. 100 bucks for the unit and 5 bucks a month is worth every penny, because now when I make a call from my place, I have full bars.
