I realized after writing this that there are probably a lot of very smart people out there who already know this.  So this little missive is for all those out there that haven't been let in on this little secret.

At its own game.  I am a mostly happy Cingular customer; the plans and the phone are great and I have never had a problem with coverage.  After todays experience I am mostly happy, but also slightly irritated customer.

Today my mother-in-law tried to buy a new phone at a Cingular retail location.  We were informed that she couldn't buy just a phone, she had to buy a bundle that included the phone and two accessories.  This put the price tag of most of the phones in the 300.00 range, which was ridiculous.  Add to that they were trying to push accessories we didn't want on us and you get outrage and 'storming out of the store'.

After some debating we left the retail location and went to a Wal-Mart, which I knew for a fact sold only phones.  Here the options were much better, but only if you renewed your plan for another cycle or two.  My mother-in-law was out of her contract and on to the month-to-month zone and liked it; no plan renewal for us which meant the phones were still in the 200.00+ range.  Luckily for us the associate in the mobile phone section decided at this time to let us in on a nasty little secret.  One that Cingular doesn't want you to know.

There is no difference from a functional standpoint between the 'pay-as-you-go' phones and the plan phones.  In fact if you already have Cingular service and buy one of the pre-paid phones, all you have to do is swap the sim cards and your pre-paid phone becomes your plan phone.  Which means that for as little as 49.95 you can upgrade your phone without having to upgrade your plan.

Now for some people the plan phones would be better.  You want all the bells and whistles that come with the higher price tag; but if all you want is to make and recieve calls then go buy a pre-paid phone and stick it to the man.