T Mobile only sometimes doesn't connect my calls. Doesn't drop them here in LA. Coverage has been much better than Cingular/AT&T, and I don't ever need to talk to their customer service. So they might be as execrable as AT&T was to me, but I don't care if I don't know. I don't want AT&T to have my money, not even for the sexy iPhone. They burnt me badly.

I have an earphone question: my sister's iPhone earbuds just gave up the ghost (wire stripped near plug). I'm thinking of getting her a replacement pair as a bonus Christmas present. Is $30 a reasonable price range to be looking in for someone who didn't mind the shipped buds? Can I get her something better for that price? Or should I be looking higher?

Is $30 a reasonable price range to be looking in for someone who didn't mind the shipped buds?

Hmmm... maybe if she didn't mind the shipped ones. Is she much of an audiophile otherwise?

eta: Does she ride a noisy train? In which case, some in-the-ear earphones might be better.

I have an iPhone in NYC and haven't experienced the coverage problems that others have, but then I don't talk on the phone that much. Data coverage is more or less the same as I had with Verizon.

Yeah, the ad campaign was a big turn off. Plus I splurged for a Garmin GPS a few weeks ago (probably a mistake, but ah, well) so I don't need a Droid for navigating purposes.

I noodled around my Verizon Wireless page and unfortunately, it looks like I have been renewing my contracts every two years. The current contract doesn't end until 7/10/10. Blerg. (I don't know where I got the idea that it expired. Probably some fliers I got from Verizon about upgrading something or other a few weeks ago.)

I may go to Best Buy and see if they'll let me play with a droid for a bit. Hmmm.

Is she much of an audiophile otherwise?

Not really. Hell, I just found out she's been listening to the same 300 songs on her iPod for 2 years. Apparently I broke her iTunes when I migrated to her new laptop. WhatEV. Gratitude.

Does she ride a noisy train?

Nope. Fairly frequent flier, though. I'm leery about buying in-the-ear phones for someone who hasn't worn them before just in case they chafe. What's the price range on reasonable ones?

I'm leery about buying in-the-ear phones for someone who hasn't worn them before just in case they chafe. What's the price range on reasonable ones?

I go through a couple pair of earphones a year. My current ones (which have the behind-the-ear hook to keep them in place) were on sale for $7, regular price $15. And much of the time, I can keep the volume at minimum.

I bought some Sony ones that I love, and they were no more than $30.

I love T-Mobile's customer service. I may get the occasional dropped call, and sometimes coverage is weird (but I really don't know whether other providers would get coverage in those areas anyway), but in my six years of being with T-Mobile, all but one of my customer service calls have been great.

Yeah. I liked T-Mobile a lot for service and NYC coverage, but it was frustrating getting no coverage on most of my long road trips (which I've been taking a lot of having inherited a dog with my fiancé.) Plus, their phones just aren't nearly as good as I'd like, being a gadgetphile. (sorry, G1, but you were a first-gen product and kind of sucked, and the new one isn't that great either, apparently.)

Dana, do you have a model name or a link? Hopefully it's something I could dart into Best Buy and get.

Does anyone here use Google's advanced search? Whatinhell does "Numeric Range" mean?

And has anyone ever used the "pages similar to"? Is it useful?