After 8 years T-Mobile have lost me as a customer. They don't do the phone I really wanted, and there was no way I was going to pay full price for it SIM-free. So I have decided to part ways and go with Vodafone instead.

I was really after a Nokia 7610, as it has every feature I was after, it's a Nokia and it's supported by Nokia's LifeBlog software (which thanks to a link I found yesterday and mentioned on my SideBlog is also Movable Type compatible).

My old phone is a Motorola V600, which for the first few months of ownership was great, till I realised it had a few major flaws. When using a bluetooth hands-free headset it didn't seem to turn the mic off on the phone itself so you'd be unable to put the phone in your pocket otherwise you'd have crackling noises come through from the material of your clothing rubbing against the mic. It would crash from time to time, leaving you with a black or white screen and none of the buttons working - removing the battery was the only way to rectify this annoyance. Another annoying thing was that it's a flip phone... started off great, till I realised it's almost impossible to hold between your neck and head if you can't use your hands.

So... after a year of having a Motorola I'm going back to good old reliable Nokia.

I wandered into the Vodafone shop yesterday and asked about the 7610, and was told that if I wanted to get one on the Anytime 100 plan I'd have to pay £250 for the phone! I was rather stunned, and walked out the shop. What was the most shocking was that I could get the same phone, on the same plan (Anytime 100 at £25/month) for only £30 from the Vodafone website - so why the HUGE difference??

Anyway... I ordered the phone off the website and got a confirmation of my new number this morning. I am not planning to keep the new number, I would much rather keep the number I've had for the past 8 years and have no desire to lose it just yet. I will probably wait a month or two (and keep paying T-Mobile in the meantime to make sure I've finished my last contract) then transfer it over. At least transferring numbers is pretty much a painless affair nowadays.