I was selling Cell phones back when they required 3 watts and you could yell and they would still hear you.... however now the Cell phone companies are out for as much profit as possible with as little service and support as possible.

Nothing new but one way out of the early term fee is to get a PO BOX in an area they don?t service. They will let you out of the contract at no cost.

The other way out is to grip and moan to the India help desk... just so you know that is primarily where you will be serviced from anyways.

My personal favorite is moving the phone to the lowest cost plan, that includes free weekends etc. Then I use the phone as an analog modem all weekend to my work. They actually terminated me because I used too many "free" minutes.... LOL (btw that took about two or three billing cycles every weekend all weekend.)

Cell phone companies suck in general don?t let them try to sell you a line of BS, it?s all the same just the name on the door changes. One carrier will work better in some areas while the other carrier will work somewhere else. Find the one that works best for you. And every single one of them is selling Cellular service. Don?t get caught up in the hype of GSM, TDMA, CDMA, or the funniest of all PCS... its still CELLULAR SERVICE? .meaning there is a cell site that broadcasts the signal to your handset. If you happen to find a company that is not LAND Based and is Satellite based. You are golden. However the last I checked iridium went bankrupt.