I had been a Sprint customer for 12 years. Last summer I had a problem using my Treo 700P to tether to my laptop. I traveled a lot for business, and this was absolutely essential. I spent hours w/ their tech support, went to the store (at their suggestion) twice, and finally spent EIGHT hours STRAIGHT on the phone w/ tech support (which finally got me a solution), but EIGHT HOURS (12PM to 8PM on a Saturday). I felt that that was absolutely absurd.

I started shopping for a phone. I had decided that Palm had just about run it's course (I guess I was right) and that I was going to "bite the bullet" and change platforms. After much soul searching, I decided on a Nokia N95 and AT&T. Since AT&T does not offer the N95, I purchased one on the Internet. I went to the local office and asked for a "SIM-only, no contract" option. Within 20 minutes, I was out the door with a SIM card and no commitment. It's going to be hard for me to commit ever again.

After 2 months, I can tell you that I'm very happy w/ the phone, reasonably satisfied w/ the AT&T service, and excited about the SIM card. A friend of mine had an old Cingular phone which he gave to me. It's not much of a phone, but if I am going where I don't want to risk the N95, I pop the SIM card in the old Cingular phone and go. When I get home, I pop it back in the phone. It's a shame that all carriers don't use a compatible SIM card so that we could change carriers and phones easily. (Maybe that's exactly why they DON'T!)

Gary Walborn