Sprint Phone-as-a-modem
So I recently got a Palm Treo 700p and I loved it. My wife got a 650 and I have to say that with the exception of EV-DO (broadband wireless internet access) they are basically the same phone.
That being said I have been really happy with the phone. My favorite feature is the ability to use my phone as a broadband modem with the EV-DO network. I use Sprint (since they are actually cool about data plans) and pay an extra $40/month for unlimited broadband access.
Right now, for instance, I’m sitting in the airport waiting for a flight and I can surf the internet without paying the ridiculously high price the airport charges ($10/day or something). I also downloaded (and purchased for $35) PDANet which allows me to use my phone as a modem through bluetooth (meaning no wires). Sprint’s connection manager doesn’t allow this and seems a little bit flaky.
If you’re in the market for a new phone that will let you do email, web surfing and connect your laptop to the internet I highly recommend the Treo 700p.
Tivo - a bad taste in my mouth
Let me preface this by saying that I have had a Tivo for three years now and I always loved it. Recently, though, we got Dish Network so we decided to get their HD-DVR.
The Dish Network DVR is not nearly as easy to use as our Tivo was, but because it was cheap, works easily with our service and will let us record HD programming we have been happy with it. For the past two months, however, I kept forgetting to cancel my Tivo subscription. Finally tonight I decided to just get it done since we were charged for another month.
One thing that I have always loved about Tivo is how easy it is to do anything with it. If you ever need to change anything about your account online it’s really easy.
Except cancelling your account. They tell you to call a 800 number and go through a few prompts. Finally, the prompts tell you to call customer service during business hours to cancel in person.
Why do they make you call during certain hours to cancel your account? Because the harder they make the process of cancelling the more common it will be to have people like me keep their account active for a couple of months. That’s a pretty lame strategy to squeeze a few more pennies out of your customers - glad you’re finally profitable, Tivo, but I would think twice before signing another contract with you.