- First of all, what I *didn't* learn is the arrival date of the Thunderbolt. I didn't ask, I didn't care.
- I learned that my LG Dare, the phone I've been holding onto while waiting for the Thunderbolt, is well and truly dead. It was working fine this afternoon, but when I got in my car to drive home from work, it said "Service Required". The Verizon tech tried a battery swap, soft reset, and hard reset. Nothing worked.
- I learned that Best Buy may give you 30 days to return a phone, but you have to return it within 14 days if you want to keep your "new every two" discount. So, the extra 16 days is useless.
- I learned that Best Buy is charging $300, not $250, for the Thunderbolt.
- I learned that if you exchange one phone for another at Best Buy, it can take five days to activate the replacement phone. I was skeptical about this, but there was no higher-up person I could ask--I was speaking to the supervisor. So, I gave up on Best Buy.
- Back at the Verizon store, I learned that Verizon charges a $35 restocking fee if you return a phone with 14 days.
- I learned that Verizon charges an additional $2.99 per month for the privilege of using Visual Voicemail. Really Verizon?
- I learned that you pay sales tax on the full retail price of the phone, not the discounted price.
So, anyway, my cell phone is my only phone, so I had to get something to tide me over until the Thunderbolt arrives (assuming it does arrive). So, I went with a Droid Incredible for $99 with a two-year contract. I figure it will give me a taste of Sense and Android.
If the Thunderbolt doesn't arrive in 14 days, I figure I have three options:
- Return it and just buy a "pay as you go" phone until the Thunderbolt arrives.
- Switch to a one-year contract and just live with the Incredible for a year (it's honestly kind of a nice phone, and one advantage it has over the Thunderbolt is pocketability).
- Switch to a different carrier and get a non-LTE 4G phone for (probably) less up-front and monthly $$$.