I have been stuck with my UT Starcom phone for 2 years now, and Verizon is offering me the ?New Every 2?. I of course have to sign a new contract to get the deal. Anybody that knows phones will tell you that the Audiovox model CDM-8910 phone that Verizon sold the crap out of 2 to 3 years ago is quite possibly the worst phone ever made. Settings don?t get stored, you will miss text messages and voice mail notifications if the memory gets close to full (which is often) and the phone is so locked down you can?t even change the banner.

Frustrated I tried to find another phone and learned that I couldn?t just switch to the phone I wanted. I had to wait until my 2 year contract was up, or else pay $300 for a phone that I could get on Ebay for $50. I had thought that SIM card technology had brought us beyond this problem only to learn that Verizon and Alltel sells bastardized versions of brand name phones that don?t have the features other carries have.

Cingular/AT&T and Sprint provides phones with SIM cards. Verizon and Alltell do not. AT&T and Sprint customers can put their SIM card into any phone they want to use anytime. Verizon and Alltell customers however, have to pay more or sign a new contract if they want to switch phones.

Looking over the plans I am becoming even more discouraged. Has anybody taken a look at the free weekends and evenings deal with Verizon? Night Hrs: (M?F) 9:01 p.m.?5:59 a.m.
Wknd Hrs: 12:00 a.m. Sat.?11:59 p.m. Sun. How bogus! Your weekend hours consist of 3 hours on Friday and Saturday basically. The plan used to give you free nights starting at 7:00pm. Alltel still does. AT&T?s weekends plan is similar to Verizon?s with the exception that they give you Saturday as well as Sunday.