I have been working on getting a new smart cellphone. I want to have a phone that allows me to manage my business contacts, my calendar, and possibly email.

For the next few months I still have a job, so I need a better way to manage my contacts without putting that information on my work laptop. Tomorrow for example I have a conference call with a new distributor during my lunch break. I need to remind myself of the call so I don’t forget. I almost for a 5:30 pm call (just after work) yesterday but my phone reminded me. How cool is that!

Well I am an online guy so I ordered my new phone from Cingular’s web site. Basically I just upgraded my existing phone right through my account on Cingular. It worked pretty well, I got my new phone in a matter of a few days. The memory card for it took a bit longer but I got it the next week.

Unfortunately the phone was crap. I bought the Cingular 3125 which is a pretty slick looking smart phone that runs Windows CE. Basically it runs Microsoft Outlook so I can synch it up to my email, contacts, and calendar. It synchs up like a PDA does.

The problem was the phone drops calls a lot. Even in a building that has a cell phone ring installed to improve cell phone connections. When you have 3-5 bars you shouldn’t be dropping calls. I didn’t have this problem with my cheap old Samsung phone on Cingular’s network. So I’m assuming it is this new phone. In addition the Cingular 3125 phone also had some problems with the user interface.

So a friend told me they give me 30 days to return the phone.

Unfortunately I bought the phone online so 30 days isn’t actually 30 days. They need to have the phone in their warehouse by 30 days. So that means you actually need to return the phone at least a full week before the 30th day. You have to call in and talk to support, then they send you a label to mail it back to them. This whole process takes a least a week maybe longer.

In my case I only had 4 days left. So I had to pay to ship the phone back to them overnight to make sure they got it in time.

Oh well. It’s better than being stuck with a crappy phone for the next two years.

If I had bought my phone from a Cingular store I could have taken it back to the store for a replacement.

However if I had bought a phone from the store I probably would have paid too much for it. That is what I like about buying online, you usually get a better deal and don’t have to hassle with sales people or lines.

The downside is when you need to return the phone, you can’t take it to a store and have to deal with the telephone support people.

I’ll keep you posted and let you know how the whole return process goes.

I’ve ordered a Samsung Blackjack as a replacement. My last phone was a Samsung so we’ll see if it works better.

- Ben

PS. I have my own cell phone store if you want to compare rates online to the mall superstores. Check it out at: http://www.findcellphones.com

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