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| Friday, September 15, 2006 |
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Verizon hell, cont'd 
| | So my most recent phone bill from Verizon is for $338.14. My "calling plan" was $79.95, and my "usage" was for $172.55. Turns out the calling plan included no usage. Or roaming. It was the roaming that got me. Had 493 minutes of that. I had no idea the plan included no roaming. You'd think, huh? Anyway, the "calling plan" was just one "monthly charge". Others were "Current data plan" for $30, "WPP Insurance - Lock\Line" for $4.99, "Unl Pda/Rim W/Voice Tethr" for $15 and "250 MSG Camera" for $5.00. Total: $134.98, before we get to a minute of calling. Plus whatever it cost me in the first place for a Treo 700p that has never worked reliably, tethered or via Bluetooth, as a bridge to the Net. |
| | Turns out I have a "very old plan", the person on the *611 (service) line is telling me. I got it in April. I guess that's old in telco time. I'm waiting on the phone while the service person tries to "get the computer to work". Meanwhile she says I can get an "America's Choice" plan for my typical minute count for $119. And it will include everything. Supposedly. |
| | I'm getting rid of the data plan and the Tethr thing, for a $45 savings right there. That means the bluetooth bridge to the Net through the Treo will be put out of our misery. Here's hoping the $57/month (for 2 years) EVDO plan will continue to work okay. I'll get rid of the text/picture thing, because on an a la carte basis they charge $.10 to send and $.15 to receive text messages; and unless I become a young person I doubt I'll go over $5 per month for that. They charge $.25 apiece for sending or receiving pictures, and I never do that at all, so ... fugget about that one too. Losing the data plan means I'll pay $.15 per kilobyte of data. Wonder what that will be for looking at a River of News? Because that's about all I use the Web for on the phone now anyway. It sucks for everything else. |
| | I'm still on the phone. It didn't work, apparently because I have a Treo and not a Blackberry. But it's not clear. "Not going through" the service person says. |
| | Now, she says, it works. "And this should save you some money on next month's bill." Still wondering why, when I got the Treo and the plan in April, and I told the guy at the store what I was doing (flying all over the country and in need of maximum coverage) that I got a plan the service person just told me was "sporadic". Was it one of the other plans listed here? She doesn't know. What a freaking mess. |
| | Did I mention that the 0, */z and 8/c keys inermittently no longer work on the Treo? So far the only upside of the Treo is its sound. Credit where due: Calls both in and out sound better than on any other phone I've ever used. Which is not a trivial matter with me. |
| | Okay, enough. Call's over now. Back to actual work. |
(Lucky to be) live reporting
Outfoxing Firefox
| | Is there a way (or ways) to edit or alter the stuff Firefox's automatic form-filling and auto-complete (or whatever it/they are called)? I've been looking around and missing it. |
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