20061122
BlackBerry + AT&T = Paperweight
I just recently bought a really nice Blackberry from a reputable local vendor on eBay. I figured, a 7100g would be compatible with my service and allow me to spend time my time more productively. Not to mention, organize my life better at a time where I really need this technology.However, there is one problem. In the eyes of Cingular, this device which I paid a pretty penny for is nothing more than a paperweight.
To the vendor who I bought the device from, I appreciate your business and whole heartedly know that you did not know that this device, which I know for a fact went on the market sometime in late 2004 (I mean, so late in 2004, all the copyright information says 2005 on it). The seller and the buyer both lost in this transaction? Why? Because Cingular considers this device "obsolete".
Then I figured "OK, what if I set my phone profile to another Blackberry that Cingular has listed?" As it turns out, all that they had in their database that was compatible with their network either was obsolete or did not support tethering.
Instead of allowing users to access the affordable data services that Blackberry offers, Cingular--or should I say MA BELL a.k.a. AT&T-- has decided to nickel and dime this service not by the megabyte but by the kilobyte. If I am currently being charged $5 per month for 1 MB of downloads using the MediaNet service. That is Half of one cent per kilobyte. As we are romanced by the harpies of entertainment content and are given a greater amount of bandwidth, it is ignorant for AT&T to charge people for the amount of data that customers download. Here they are encouaging consumers to listen to music on their cellphones and telling them they can watch video and TV and listen to FM radio (what about AM?) and they want to squeeze us of every penny. My cousin had to discontinue her phone service when she got a $600 phone bill in her mail for using it too much. On the other hand, I'm being charged over $50 per month, barely speak on the phone, but can't use the phone for what I need it for: DATA!
My BlackBerry is NOT obsolete. AT&T's billing practices are.
AT&T says they are brand new and have changed. The only thing that has changed about them is the use of lowercase letters in their logo. They are the same AT&T that they were in 1984. They have reformed their monopoly but have found loopholes in the government that allow them to rake customers and employees while they get away with spying on people from our own country. Don't tell me "they're doing it to prevent terrorism" because that is a bunch of bullsh*t! If AT&T had done the right thing, they would have tracked who bought or sold their prepaid cellular phones which are nearly impossible to track allowing the REAL terrorists to use them as triggering devices causing incidents like those in Bali, Madrid, and London.
They have used fear to justify their cause and in return we gave them obedience. Why don't they send people to come to our homes take a leak on our backs and tell us that it is rain while they are at it.
I will find a way to use my new phone freely and as the Blackberry people had designed it to be used, whether AT&T wants me to use it like that or not.
It may be their service that I use, but it is MY phone. And I will use it as I wish to use it. Not as some media fun-box, but as a tool for organization as was the original purpose for purchasing it.
Labels: blackberry, hack, phone, tech
posted by Bushido Hacks 11/22/2006 05:30:00 PM
