A Change for the Best

Alltel was my first cellular service provider. I completed a 2-year contract with them, then switched to Verizon. I don't know if I can describe the difference. Have you ever crossed the border from Mexico into the US? It's a lot like that.
I had to sit and bite my lip every time the alltel ads aired, knowing full well that alltel is not what they make it out to be, and if any phone company had rights to boast and trash-talk their competitors, it wasn't them. Their customer service was lousy, at best. During my 2-year contract with them, I had about 3 different instances where I had to call in and have charges reversed -they'd erringly bill me for random things. Even after I'd finished my contract, transferred my number to my new Verizon line, and cancelled service with alltel, I got a bill the next month for a month of service. The "customer service" rep didn't even try to argue that one. How can they charge service on a line that doesn't exist?
I was not impressed.
So, in short, I've had issues with their cocky advertising when I know that beneath that huge wad of hair-wax there's nothing but a lot of talk and nothing in the way of service to back it up.
So imagine my surprise when the headlines this week stated that alltel had been bought out by Verizon. It's a cruel irony, really. Take a look at this photo from an alltel ad (below). Guess who's right behind Chad? The Verizon guy. He's in his take-over/buy-out stance, and Chad is totally oblivious. Great poker-face, by the way.
Chad, it looks like you're going to be selling lemonade again. I wonder if they let him keep his company phone just to rub it in? Now I'm waiting for Verizon to make a commercial with the Verizon guy accepting Chad's apology...
Another bit of good news: iTunes just dropped all copyright protection and lowered price brackets for purchasing music. This means you can use iTunes files on any device -not just iPods, and can transfer them to however many computers you want. It's about time.