I toyed with the idea of not cancelling my Sprint wireless service in October (when the contract is up). Using Sprint’s website to find phones available in a downtown Seattle ZIP code helped me make my decision:

Error:
 
Exception calling business action "SprintPCSGetCSANew": java.lang.NullPointerException at com.sprintpcs.bizact.external.SprintPCSGetCSANew.execute(SprintPCSGetCSANew.java:59) at com.bluemartini.server.BusinessActionServlet.executeInternal(BusinessActionServlet.java:275) at com.bluemartini.server.BusinessActionServlet.execute(BusinessActionServlet.java:127) at com.bluemartini.server.BMClient.executeBusinessActionInternal(BMClient.java:452) at com.bluemartini.server.BMClient.executeBusinessAction(BMClient.java:639) at com.bluemartini.server.BMClient.executeBusinessAction(BMClient.java:596) at com.bluemartini.html.HTMLBaseServlet.executeProcessBusinessAction(HTMLBaseServlet.java:2823) at com.bluemartini.html.HTMLBaseServlet.executeProcessBusinessAction(HTMLBaseServlet.java:2797) at com.bluemartini.html.HTMLBaseServlet.processRequest(HTMLBaseServlet.java:1614) at com.bluemartini.html.HTMLBaseServlet.handleRequest(HTMLBaseServlet.java:574) at com.bluemartini.html.HTMLBaseServlet.service(HTMLBaseServlet.java:448) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853) at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.java:265) at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.java:200) at weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext.invokeServlet(WebAppServletContext.java:2495) at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletRequestImpl.execute(ServletRequestImpl.java:2204) at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:139) at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:120)

I guess I’ll go with T-Mobile after all. This isn’t the first time I’ve had problems like this with Sprint. For months, I ended up overpaying because their system wouldn’t remove options from the account via the on-line service. I’m very dissatisfied with Sprint’s customer service, handle on technology, and frequent dropped calls at places like my home, my parents’ home, or my sister’s home, so I’ll be glad to get rid of them, despite the in-network calls to my family (the sole reason to go with them in the first place).

In the meantime, I was trying to pay my landline phone bill. A couple weeks ago, Cincinnati Bell sent me an email telling me that they changed their on-line bill pay system, but I shouldn’t worry since my account has been transferred to the new system with a given new user id. I should have known better than to try: the user id doesn’t exist, and I don’t make a habit of carrying around my phone bill to try to create a new account. And doesn’t it just figure? You can’t pay your phone bill over the phone. I guess they’ll have to wait for Monday when I call to cancel my telephone service.