As usual, I went into a store yesterday with the intent of doing something small and came out with a lot more than I intended.  I had originally gone into the Cingular store to inquire about changing my rate plan (I probably could have done the rate plan change over the phone, but since the Cingular store is just a couple of blocks away I decided it would be best to go in person).  When I went to Minnesota last month I forgot that I was on the Texas-regional plan and I ended up with around $50.00 in roaming and airtime minutes.  After that I went to the Cingular website and I found that I could get almost the same number of minutes for the same monthly fee on the national plan.  For some reason, though, the Cingular account management website wouldn’t let me change my rate plan online (although it does have options to do so).

After talking to the rep in the store, I learned why.  It turns out that when I bought the Nokia 6340i last April that while it’s a dual-mode phone (GSM/TDSM), with Cingular it functions on their GAIT network, which isn’t the same as the true GSM.  Apparently they were in the midst of a transition when I got my phone.

The GAIT plans weren’t as good as the GSM plans in cost or minutes, so I started leaning towards getting a new phone.  The rate plan alone wasn’t the only reason for this, though.  While I’d originally been pleased with the 6340i’s features, I’d come to be disappointed with its sound quality after using it for almost a year. 

So, I ended up getting a Motorola V400 camera phone.  So far, the sound quality is better than the old Nokia and I’m liking the flip phone form factor.  The only problem is that I haven’t been able to make the wireless internet feature work yet.  I think I know why and I’m going to go back to the store tomorrow to straighten it out.  The store rep suggested that it would be better to have the new rate plan take effect on April 15th, since that is the normal billing date for my account.  Unfortunately, that means that the new features don’t take effect until then, either.  Since I’m planning to go to Pittsburgh on the 16th, I’d rather have to deal with the pro-rated bills and have everything working than have faith that things will just start working on the 15th (which is the last-minute before my trip starts).