Sprinting away, pulled back

Feb 2, 2008

I’ve been a cell-phone carrier since 2000, when I signed up with Sprint. Through the years, I’ve paid thousands of dollars for my mobile phone number, although I’ve rarely used even half of the minutes on my account. Still, I’ve been happy with Sprint.

With my new job, I now carry a Verizon Blackberry phone, and I use my Sprint phone even less. I had been reluctant to part with my long-time mobile number (919.225.0969), especially since most of my calls on that phone are from my family, all of whom are Sprint customers, and mobile-to-mobile minutes are nominally free.

Recently I’ve started to use Grand Central, a Google service that gives me one phone number to ring all my others. So if you call 919.724.4220, Grand Central rings my Sprint cell, my Verizon cell, my home phone and my office phone. Presumably, I’ll pick up one of those and not miss your call. And, Grand Central gives me the ability to record phone calls and immediately get an mp3 file.

But with an economy on the brink — my thoughts on the lunacy of the Bush-Congress stimulation package later — I decided to save the money on my little-used mobile phone. This morning I called Sprint to cancel my account; I barely had the words out of my mouth when Marcella was offering me a deal I couldn’t refuse: keep my phone active, share minutes with Erin’s line, pay less than than we’ve ever paid, and stay a loyal customer. Agreed.

To recap: if you need, or want, to contact me, use any of the following:

• Personal mobile: 919.225.0969
• Work desk phone for Duke-related business: 919.668.7837
• Work mobile for Duke-related business: 919.451.7661
• Grand Central number for paging me at any of the above: 919.724.4220
• Contact me by email, which I check on on my Blackberry: zuiker[AT]gmail{dot}com

Anton Zuiker ☄