Phone stupidity...

I got a shiny new toy a couple of weeks ago. It's a Sony Ericsson T616. I picked it out mostly for its Bluetooth capabilites. I didn't really care about the camera that's built-in. I thought I'd use it as a modem so I could get wireless Internet access for just the cost of minutes. Should be no big deal to set it up. My iBook saw it and iSync works perfectly. I can also use Romeo to control iTunes and such.

When I tried to use it as a modem was where the problems started. It setup easily using the guide I found at this site. Once setup I tried to dial out. The iBook would access the phone and dial the phone then drop with a 'No carrier detected' error message. I tried all different kinds of changes to get it to dial with no luck. I Googled extensively and found a pointer to a page deep inside ATT's website that says they have disabled CSD(Circuit Switched Data) access. Cingular and others support this. It's built into most phones. It appears ATT wants you to use their mMode crap at a cost of 2 cents a kilobyte to access the Net. Um, no. I don't think so folks. Oh, yeah for $13 you can get a whopping 4MB of data transfer a month with 1 cent a KB after that. I can do 4MB in a day easy...Also disabling CSD kills any ability to use the phone as a wireless fax machine too. Another feature I thought would be useful.

So, now the question is: I'm still within my first 30 days of service with ATT and can cancel without penalty. Should I cancel and switch to a more sane provider or do I wait for the Cingular/ATT merger to finish hoping that Cingular carries over the CSD service to former ATT customers? *sigh*

: AM Radio from the album "Songs From An Amercian Movie" by Everclear