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What happened to being able to get a phone and then optionally choose additions to your plan? Recently we have been looking into getting new phones which means a new 2 year contract. It use to be that I could just choose a contract with the features I found useful and go on with life.

Today the contract is only part of the equation; the next part is the phone. Gone are the days when I could pick any phone I wanted and any contract and then be expected to use my phone within the terms of my contract or face additional fees. If I get a simple number pad phone no additional packages are required, just like in the “good ol’ days”. But if I get any other phone I am going to be required to add a text and/or data plan, never mind how often I plan to use my phone to text or to check email and surf the web.

I currently have a 3-year-old Samsung Blackjack. Somehow my phone is a “smart” one.  There isn’t much about it that seems “smart” enough about it to justify a $30 a month data plan. Seriously, have you used a phone to surf the web? If you have you know that it is not an experience worth $30 a month.  Going online with most cell phones is an experience only slightly better than using a Commodore 64 with a screen the size of a playing card. iPhone, Droid and others are notable exceptions but even these are not suitable substitutes to any modern computer. My phone is supposedly “smart” because it runs on Windows OS but all that really means is that I have to occasionally pull out the battery to restart it when it freezes.

My current phone has made me dependent on the QWERTY keyboard. I am not dependant on the other “smart” features of my phone.  But if I want a phone with a QWERTY keyboard I have no choice but to get a $20 a month unlimited text plan. Why won’t the cell phone company just let me practice self-control and limit my texts to a set amount? All this it seems is just away for the phone company to get more money for giving me that “free” phone. All this shows me there is no such thing as a “free” cell phone, but I am still optimistic about lunch.