Phone Upgrade Disappointment

My phone's been turning itself off again, so Joe and I decided it was finally time to upgrade. We voyaged out to the Verizon store. I knew I wanted a qwerty keyboard and was thinking I'd end up with the EnV 3. So, we're talking to the sales guy and comparing the EnV 3 to the Samsung Rogue. The sales guy is kind enough to mention that both of these phones require an additional $9.99 a month for a data plan. Umm...excuse me? Yup. He said basically in an effort to stop the calls Verizon customer service gets for unintentional data charges, Verizon started the $9.99/mos data plan requirement. If you already have a phone that would require the $9.99, your phone is grandfathered in under your old contract and you don't have to start paying the $9.99 until you upgrade. WTF! I don't want internet on my phone, so I should not have to pay for it. Period. So I ask if there are any phones with a qwerty keyboard that doesn't require the $9.99 plan...there's one! It happens to be the one my parents have and I've used it on occasion and know that I don't want it.

So slightly annoyed, I walk out of the Verizon store empty handed. I think it's absolutely ridiculous Verizon is trying to get another $10 a month out of us! I basically gave up the idea of a smart phone because I didn't want to pay the extra $30 a month. It's almost back on the table. Our phone contract expires some time this summer, so at the very least, I'm going to tough it out until our contracts expire. Then we'll probably look around at the other carriers and see where we go from there.

I still just can't get over this extra fee. To me, it's as bad as airlines charging baggage fees.