I got the mobile phone blues. I got 'em real bad.

I have a great phone: the Audiovox 5600. About a year ago I wrote a heartfelt blog entry proclaiming my love for her. (she is last year's model but I love her nevertheless.)

When Oliver and I embarked on our extended vacation we decided to turn off the phone plan entirely. There is no reason to pay $70/month for a service we won't be using for 2+ months, we reasoned.

Then we came back, and the very first thing we did, even before fully unpacking, was to set up mobile phone service. We decided to keep the same phones, but signed up for a pay-as-you-go monthly plan because we didn't want to be tied to a 2 year contract.

The pay-as-you-go plan only allows for voice. I get $70/month in phone calls. After each call a little message appears on my screen informing me of how much money I have left to spend for the month. We get text messaging with our plan, but it costs 10 cents to send and receive a message. MMS is $1.50. I consider this too expensive, so I effectively won't/don't use this service. We have no data plan (meaning, no web browsing, no ability to use cool apps, etc. )

The formerly fancy Audiovox 5600 is now just a regular phone plus all the solitaire and jawbreaker I can play.

So now I look at my phone and long for the past: reading news on the Yahoo News Mobile site when I was stuck in traffic, checking the weather in Seattle on the cool little weather app while deciding what to wear every morning, checking the traffic conditions on 520 on the cool little traffic map app as I would get ready to leave work in the evenings, taking pictures and then emailing them to people.

What I wouldn't give to know what the Seattle traffic conditions are right now on my phone! How I long to text message with abandon!!

Those were good times I tell you, and I remember then fondly.

It feels as if my phone has been eviscerated, now merely a shell of the multi-purpose gadget she once was. All the icons on her screen reveal potential to do so much more! It is my fault that now, she is just a phone. I underestimated her worth to me.

What's especially sad about this arrangement is that I'm paying the exact same amount I was paying before we left for the trip, yet now I only get 1/3 of the service.