Sayonara Verizon

I am a loyal customer. I really am. But don't think too highly of me. It's mostly because it takes a lot of extra work to try and find a different, trusted vendor. So I'm willing to put up with a lot of crap just to avoid that extra work (I'll add in the caveat that I'm well within my rights to grouse about said crap, since I'm paying for services).

But the time is come.

I've been a faithful Verizon wireless customer since 2002. By and large, they're pretty good. But they just aren't meeting my needs anymore. Several years ago I went into a store to ask them what the timeline would be for adding the iPhone to the Verizon network (I live in a Mac household). Instead of giving me a straight answer, here is how the dialogue went:

VW: "We have many phones that are better than the iPhone."
LV: "Yeah, but when do you think iPhone is coming to verizon?"
VW: "You should try a Blackberry with a touchscreen."
LV: "You don't understand. I run Macs. I want my phone to sync all the Mac-stuff I've got into one place. Without any extra hassle. I. Want. An iPhone."
VW: "You know, Apple came to us first and we turned them down."
LV: "Really? 'Cuz I don't see people lined up around the block to buy your phones."

Yeah I'm a big fat snark. But seriously, why the runaround? Just give me a frickin' straight answer. "No, we're not going to (ever) carry the iPhone. Get over it." There. How hard was that? And now that the AT&T exclusivity contract is running out, and rumors were abound via the interwebs this year that Verizon was finally getting an iPhone in the fall, I'm jumping ship. Because they aren't getting the iPhone. How can they keep trying to tout themselves as America's most popular/trusted wireless network when they don't support one of the MAJOR phones? I've waited how many years on them? This relationship just isn't what it used to be.

So, now, with the enticement of a discount via the American Osteopathic Ass'n, I will be switching to T-Mobile. Will it be better? I don't know. As long as it's not measurably worse. At least I'm paying a fraction of my Verizon bill, with 30% more minutes, and...an iPhone is heading my way!!!

I'm not looking forward to the breakup conversation with Verizon. They'll plead. They'll beg. They'll make special offers to try and turn my head. But I will persevere by remembering:

Finally, ALL my addresses in one spot.
Finally, a QWERTY keyboard.
Finally, a streamlined workflow such that I don't have to hot-glue my LG flip phone to the back of my ipod touch anymore to keep track of calendars and emails.

Now, just in the last day, my old trusty LG has decided to start shutting off on it's own at random times. Come on iPhone...you can get here...