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So my Motorola e815 is still crippled. I have WPP (Wireless Protection Plan) with Verizon but it requires that I pay a $50 deductible in order to get a replacement phone which may be new, refurbished, or a phone of the same features. Basically I end up with whatever they have sitting in a box back in the warehouse…yikes! I’ve been paying $4.99 per month to protect my phone in case it gets lost, stolen, damaged or simple malfunction. The phone is 3 years old both in age and features. I don’t want to pay $50 to get another old phone or whatever they pull out of the refurbished bin so I discontinued the WPP insurance.

Verizon lets it’s customers get a new phone at a low price every 2 years. I could use my wife’s “New every 2 Years” option to get myself into a new phone, but I would be stealing her chance of getting one herself…bogus. Verizon offered me a chance to pay an additional $20 fee to get a new phone with my company discount before my 2 years are up, but that would force me to commit to another 2 year contract immediately. My current Verizon contract ends July 13, 2009, but I’m eligible for low company discount pricing (New every 2 years) come March 13, 2009…4 months before my current contract expires. This off-set timing of selling new phones at a low price while locking you into a NEW 2 year contract is the hook that Verizon uses to keep customers. I’m not gonna bite! So it looks like I’m going to keep my crippled phone until well into the new year.

The temptation of a new phone is hare to resist. Many new phones are on the horizon:
The LG Chocolate 3
The HTC Touch
The Blackberry Thunder
The Blackberry Bold
The Motorola Q9H
The Motorola ZN5
…just to name a few. Plus the recently released phones like the LG Decoy, LG Dare, Samsung Instinct all look like fun.

If I find that I can’t hold-my-pee and must get an iPhone because it’s oh-so shiny, I’ll have to get out of my Verizon contract. In order for me to get out of my contract I must pay an early termination fee of $115.00. With each month I stay in my contract the early termination fee goes down by $5.00. Remember, my contract ends July 13, 2009 which is well past MacWorld Conference and Expo 2009 and any NEW iPhone releases. I’ll be out of my contract by then and on a month-2-month plan…”free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last“…(MLK).

I must stay the course and stick to the commitment of waiting until next year (after the MacWorld Conference and Expo 2009) before making any new phone purchases.