Fallout from my three days in DebConf is not limited to me talking up the Debian toolset at every opportunity, apparently – as of yesterday, I ceased to be a Verizon Wireless customer. Having the only phone in a car of 6 people that wouldn’t work while down in Mexico was the last straw. So Verizon is out, and I’m back to Cingular – which in turn may be back to AT&T Wireless, soon.
The primary reason I’ve held off on migrating this long has been phones; according to posters at Howard Forums, two new 3G phones for Cingular – the LG CU500 and the Nokia 6282 – should be out within the next couple of months. Of the two current models, the Samsung ZX10 and the LG CU320, I’d dismissed the Samsung b/c I don’t much care for flip phones and the LG b/c I thought it would be too big.
So my plan when I walked into Cingular yesterday was simple: get the cheap or $50 phone and wait until one of those two phones is released (preferably the Nokia). But after looking at the LG CU320 yesterday, I was sold: it’s more or less the size of my current v710, and has the 3G I’m looking for (though it won’t work in Denver) as well as bluetooth I want for wireless tethering. So I’m now a Cingular wirless customer, and an LG owner.
If I should hear definitive news about a launch date for one of those phones in the next 30 days, I can apparently return the LG and pay no penalty. But so far, I’m liking it. I’m not having any luck with the bluetooth – I only just finished compiling the appropriate bluetooth drivers into my kernel – but between the Gentoo and Howard forums, I’m sure I’ll get it figured out eventually. At that point, I should have surfing speeds of better than 350 kbps down wirelessly, using the phone as a modem. It’ll be nice to not have to pay tmobile and other hotspot providers 10 bucks for a connection that I’ll use for an hour.
The other advantage of being on Cingular? It works back in Maine, where I should be within a few short weeks 😉
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