As chronicled elsewhere on this site, my Alaskan Husky Cheyenne destroyed my beloved Palm Treo 680 smartphone to the point where it is no longer usable as a phone, period. I’ve been doing without since then and I have an impressive amount of rollover minutes to show for it.
But now we’ve decided it will be more economical for us if we drop our land-line and use cellphones exclusively, so God help me, I need to buy a cell phone. And it looks like it’s going to hurt my wallet something fierce.
Cell phones aren’t cheap. You can get a cell phone for free when you sign up for a service plan, but that’s because cellular companies are trying to suck you in to their ridiculously overpriced world. When you already have a service plan with them, they’re not interested in giving you a discount on anything. You have to pay full price.
So I went into the AT&T store wondering how much it was going to hurt. The answer: the cheapest phone they had in the store was $220.
The cheapest. The little phone with no camera that looked like it would fall to pieces after being opened three times. $220.
“But,” the guy behind the counter said, “for only $130 more you can buy an iPhone.”
The cost of replacing my Treo? A little under $500 when you factor in tax.
“The iPhone would cheaper,” the salesman said helpfully. I think they get bonuses for every iPhone they sell.
I didn’t buy anything, but I’m going to have to pretty soon. Argh, that damn dog…
