T Mobile Fun

Two interesting (in the sense that I'll never get the time I spent on them back, so I'll dub them "interesting" so at the end of my existence I won't look back bitterly at the 25 minutes I wasted on them last night) experiences with T Mobile, my cell phone carrier, last night:

1. I got a random text message. In spite of having a relatively new phone that can store like a hundred digital images at a time, for some great reason I can only carry 34 text messages before my inbox gets filled up. From my crises/adventures/whatever, I've acquired 30-some messages that I want to keep. 33, as a matter of fact, which gives me (I'll let you work out the math on your end first) one empty 'slot' for a txt message. So I end up checking my text messages immediately, when possible, to evaluate whether the new one makes my top 33 and, if so, which of my current list is going to get zapped.

Anyways, I got a random text message last night from an area code that appears to be in Ohio... as you're all aware, as a child I was forced to do 1000 situps and recite all of the area codes to my nanny before being allowed to go to sleep. And while I've let my abs get a little out of shape, I still keep up on my area codes, so I knew instantly the location of the message.

But I don't know anyone from Ohio, and, further, the message wasn't much help. It read:

OTA. OK.

That was all.I wish that I was actually curious when I received it, but I have walked too many days on this earth to approach anything unexpected as either a threat or a false alarm. "OTA OK" wasn't some sort of code that I'd won a million dollars, and it wasn't a shorthand message from some hot chick in Ohio that was interested in bedding me. (I'm sure both of those messages will be coming any day now, though...)

Fortuntately, Google exists. I did a search for "OTA OK text message" or something similar and I got links to a few pages that explained that it's a message from T Mobile confirming some sort of software update ("On The Air OK").

So I zapped it. My messages from November and Reno are still safe...

2. I might be calling British Columbia a bit over the next few weeks, and I called T Mobile to make sure that it wasn't going to be SUPER-expensive to call to BC. So I dialed "611" and after about 30 security questions the woman asked me what I'd like, and I asked how much it would cost me to call to British Columbia. I said that I had the area code if that would help.

She seemed friendly, but she didn't seem like she knew what she was talking about. I don't know why my instincts gave me that impression. Call it "Geek Intuition", but I had a bad feeling.

After a couple more questions that I don't even remember, she put me on hold for like 3 minutes. She then came back and asked me if I wanted to call from BC. I said, no, I wanted to call from my home area here in Seattle to BC. She put me on hold for like 30 seconds and came back and said that it would be $1.64 a minute.

Now, I'm no genius, but that seemed MORE than a bit high.

I asked if there was a plan I could get on for a discount, and she said, "No, the only countries we offer discounts to on calls are Canada, and--"

"But," I noted as I cut her off (politely but firmly), "I want to call British Columbia. British Columbia is in Canada."

So she went to put me on hold and I insisted that she take the area code this time.

Anyways, it was like twenty cents a minute, and I got on a plan for like $5 a month that reduces that to only 9 cents a minute.

But man, it was amazing how she took so long and knew so little. And yet: no, it's not.