Just an update and some rambling. I haven’t blogged much lately because, well the blog material is in low quantity. Why? Because I just changed jobs! Previously I was a Independent Contractor (for W3i) and now I am a consultant with a new company (Stratagem) here in Madison. As always when you wind down a job you are leaving, there isn’t much “work”, more training in people or just finishing up things. Also, in the new role, I just started today, so once things get rolling there the wheels in my head will be going again.
In other news? I picked up GTA IV and Guitar Hero III for Xbox 360. I am liking them both so far. If you want to play, hit me up, my gamertag is ScaleOvenStove.
Also, I had to bite the bullet and actually subscribe to at&t. I probably didn’t have to, but I have been reading reports and blogs of people in Madison getting their T-Mobile shut off. Why? Well T-Mobile doesn’t cover Madison. Einstein PCS and at&t cover Madison (for GSM coverage). Now, with T-Mobile, my main market was the St. Cloud MN market, and I had a St. Cloud npa-nxx (read: area code and first 3 digits). My plan was nationwide roaming, so basically as long as I was on T-Mobile, it was ok. Even when I was in PDX, it was probably OK since I was on T-Mobile’s towers.
Now, in Madison, there are NO T-Mobile towers. So that means I was constantly roaming on at&t (oh the irony) or Einstein PCS. T-Mobile probably has some program on their backend that looks for patterns like this (constant roaming in a different market) and they then shut you down because you are costing them way to much money and really you aren’t in your correct market.
Next step? Register with at&t – but I had to get a new number as well. Why? You can change your number – but only within the same markets. WLNP stands for Wireless LOCAL Number Portability. The “local” part is key 🙂 – so since I had a St. Cloud number there is no way I could port it over. I still have both numbers, and once the 3G iPhone comes out, I will get that, give my original iPhone to Emily and then change my T-Mobile St. Cloud number to a pre-paid T-mobile account.
Whew, what a debacle huh? 🙂
What else? I want a new car radio for my Vibe. Thing is, I cannot find the one that I want. I want everything 🙂 Bluetooth, USB, Aux, GPS, Double Dinn, etc, etc. Just not out there. And Best Buy, Circuit City, and even Local shops (Radio Doctor), just seem … well, lacking. You go in and half the spots where radios are supposed to be are empty, or they don’t work, it just seems very amateurish, maybe its just me.
So, for now, my feet are rooted in MSN (that has to be the worst airport code – since it is the same as Microsoft’s MSN).
Steve Novoselac's Blog 