Trying to Buy a Palm Centro

I currently have a Palm Treo 600 Pterodactyl that I've had for 3 years or so. I've been trying to figure out what new phone to get, since my contract with T-mobile just ran out. T-mobile doesn't support the later versions of the Palm phones, and I prefer to stick with Palm OS since I'm used to it. I'm tempted to try a Blackberry, but I'm happy with Palm and I'm not sure how to migrate the 5 years of calendar and 1500 contacts that are in my phone over to the Blackberry. I suppose I could try linking the Treo to Outlook, and then linking the Blackberry to Outlook, but there's only one problem -- I don't really want to use Outlook. I could just use it for the import, but I don't even own it so I would have to buy it. I don't know if you can even buy Outlook without Office... it just sounds like it could spiral into a Microsoft induced headache.

So... I decided to go for the Palm Centro.

In reading the reviews about the Centro, it doesn't sound like it's really much of an upgrade from the Treo 600. It's got a better camera, possibly more ringtone support, yada yada so what. No really major improvements. And it's only offered by Sprint, which is lame. But the reason I decided to go for the Centro is because of the plan that Sprint is offering, called the Sprint Employee Referral Offer (SERO). With SERO, I can get:

• 1250 minutes
  
• Nights and weekends included, with nights starting at 7 pm
  
• Unlimited texting (normally $10 extra)
  
• Unlimited data (normally $30 extra)
  
• All the usual stuff like caller id, call waiting, etc.
  
• A bag of chips
  

All this for only... $50 a month! Not bad, eh?

And the Centro is only $99 when you sign a 2 year contract, not bad for a smart phone. Most are in the $300-500 range.

To sign up for the SERO plan, you technically are supposed to be referred by a Sprint employee. But really all you need is a sprint.com email address. I'm pretty sure they want you to sign up, even if you have never met a Sprint employee, it's all a promotional ploy. The SERO plan is good till Dec 31, 2007, although they'll probably extend it.

Before you sign up, make sure you play around with a Centro -- several people in the various forums hated the keypad. But I didn't mind it. Also, be warned that Sprint's customer service is apparently horrible. I talked to a guy who has Sprint, and he said that the service (coverage, reception, etc.) is great, but whenever he has to call customer service it takes 30 minutes to get ahold of anyone!!

If that didn't scare you off, here's what you need to do to sign up (a lot of this info was obtained from posts on this website):

1. Go to http://www.sprint.com/sero
   
2. In the "Get Started Now" box, enter email address savings@sprintemi.com and click "Shop Now". (If that email doesn't work, look here for some more options, under "4: HOW DO I SIGN UP FOR SERO?")
   
3. Select the phone you want. For the Centro, click on "PDAs" and it's the first one on the list. Select the phone color you want, select "Buy with new plan" if you aren't already a Sprint customer, and click "Select".
   
4. Select the plan you want. All the plans that are available for the phone you selected will be displayed.
   
5. On the Shopping Cart page, enter discount code URANG for a $50 invoice credit. (Currently that seems to be the only one working online. If it's no longer working when you try, check out our favorite posting for some more options under "Various codes for invoice credit")
   
6. Click "Checkout"
   
7. Enter your personal info on the checkout page.
   
8. PLEASE NOTE: Sprint will ask for your social security number and run a credit check! If you don't want to deal with that, you might try ordering by phone instead of online to see if they'll let it slide.
   
9. On the next page, enter your billing info.
   
10. On this page you can also decide what phone number you want, if you want to switch over a number that you are currently using. I chose not to do this, because I wasn't sure at what point the number would get deactivated with my current provider. I'm pretty sure you can do it easily once you receive your phone. If not I'm not going to be happy.
    
11. Then they ask for the referring email again (savings@sprintemi.com)
    
12. I glanced through the Terms and Conditions to see what the Early Termination Fee (ETF) was. I couldn't find it, but my friend said that he looked it up and it was $200.
    
13. If you're ready to commit to 2 years, submit the order!
    
14. [At this point, the stupid site failed with a 500 Internal Server Error, the favorite of all web developers. I tried resubmitting several times, but it didn't work. I tried again on IE (I was using Firefox initially) and it failed in the same obnoxious fashion... I did get an email with subject "My Sprint Registration Confirmation" so I thought maybe the order had gone through. But then I clicked on the order status link and it says "Status: ENSEMBLE_ACTIVATION_ERROR". So I have no idea what's up. I tried the phone number (1-800-639-6114) but their offices are now closed.] Update: It worked, I got the phone 3 days later.
    
15. Assuming you have better luck than I did, after signing up you can try sending in this mail in rebate, which appears to offer an additional $50 off the Centro. I'm not sure if it will get accepted but it can't hurt.
    
16. You can also try this referral trick, although it appears that it might not work for people on the SERO plan. If you just got your new phone, you can dial #REF (#733) and enter the phone number of the person who referred you to the SERO plan (any fellow SDer on Sprint will do). Both you and the person whose phone number you entered will then each get a $25 gift debit card from Sprint. You can get up to $300 in referral gift cards per year. All $25 credits will be added to the same debit card you get once you make your first referral. If you lost it, call 800-424-4357. You have to call within the first 15 days of activation to qualify!!! There seems to be an indication the referral program no longer works if one of the parties is on SERO. Let me know if you need my phone number for the referrer.

Great News! Isn't that great?!

Here's my initial "research", from before I knew about SERO:

5:21:51 PM System System

Connected to sprint-ap1.cnxchat.com

5:21:52 PM System System

Session ID: 556654

5:21:57 PM System System

Please hold and the next available agent will be with you shortly.

5:22:02 PM System System

Jennifer has joined this session!

5:22:02 PM System System

Connected with Jennifer

5:22:02 PM Agent Jennifer

Thank you for choosing Sprint Web Chat. My name is Jennifer. How may I assist you with your Sprint.com order?

5:22:56 PM Customer Nate

I am looking into the Palm Centro. Would it require a phone plan and a separate data plan in order to use it for email?

5:23:33 PM Agent Jennifer

Yes, you would have to purchase a voice plan and a Sprint Power Vision Plan to use it for email access.

5:24:52 PM Customer Nate

where do I find info on the Sprint Power Vision Plan? The data plans page only talks about blackberry plans...

5:25:19 PM Agent Jennifer

Hold one moment while I send you some information.

5:27:10 PM Agent Jennifer

You would need to purchase the Sprint Power Vision Pro Pack with that Palm Centro. The Power Vision Pro Pack includes: Unlimited Data Access, Unlimited Web Browsing, Picture Mail, and Sprint Mobile to Mobile, On Demand, NFL Mobile, Sprint TV, Sprint Radio, Unlimited Sprint Navigation, Activesync, and Unlimited Text Messaging for $30 per month.

5:27:40 PM Agent Jennifer

Are you looking to purchase a new phone tonight?

5:27:56 PM Customer Nate

no just researching

5:28:23 PM Customer Nate

i am still in a contract with tmobile that ends in a couple months. do you have any incentives for breaking the contract?

5:28:31 PM Agent Jennifer

I see. I will be happy to answer your questions! How may I further assist you?

5:28:46 PM Agent Jennifer

No, we do not offer contract buy outs.

5:30:05 PM Customer Nate

On your calling plans, it appears that some of them aren't available for the centro?

5:30:47 PM Agent Jennifer

All of our plans are compatible with the Centro. Where are you seeing that?

5:31:21 PM Customer Nate

they say stuff like "This plan is compatible with Nextel phones" or "This plan is compatible with Sprint phones"

5:32:10 PM Agent Jennifer

I see. The Centro can only be used on a Sprint Plan with the Sprint Power vision plan.

5:32:15 PM Agent Jennifer

It can not be used on a Nextel plan.'

5:32:53 PM Customer Nate

do you have a list of the plans it can be used with?

5:34:20 PM Agent Jennifer

If you start an order, you can see all the selections. You can delete this order since you are not ready to continue tonight, when you get to the shopping cart page. You will not have to enter any personal information. To start your order, press the "buy with new plan" button next to the Centro, then it will take you to the plans page to see all the plans you are able to select from.

5:40:06 PM Customer Nate

ok... thanks for your help!

5:40:39 PM Agent Jennifer

Would you like to purchase a new phone today?

5:41:17 PM Customer Nate

got a special today?

5:41:35 PM Agent Jennifer

Great News! If you decide to purchase online today, I can give you a web-exclusive promotional code that will give you $50.00 off your first or second bill for each new line of service. This promotion is good on all phones available on Sprint.com, with the exception of buy-one-get-one-free offers. By ordering online you will also be eligible for free activation and free shipping. This is over a $48.00 savings per phone! Isn't that great?!

5:42:44 PM Customer Nate

I think I'll have to pass till my current contract is up. Thanks!

5:43:05 PM Agent Jennifer

You are welcome. hank you for using Sprint Web Chat. Sprint Web Chat is available Monday - Friday from 9 AM - 11 PM EST and Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM - 8 PM EST. Have a great evening.

5:43:31 PM System System

Jennifer has left this session!

5:43:31 PM System System

The session has ended!

The Answered Prayer: Part II

No matter how much better BYU is than Utah every year, we always make sure to play poorly enough to keep the game close. Last year's last second "answered prayer" was the epitome of this strategy, but this year's rivalry game was equally excruciating to watch.

BYU dominated the majority of the game, but due to extremely poor execution in the red zone, we were only leading 9-3 toward the end of the 4th quarter. Our defense had played well the entire game, but on Utah's last drive we appeared somewhat tired, and we allowed Utah to grind out a long touchdown drive and take the lead 10-9 with about one and a half minutes to go. Every BYU fan was torn between a sick "not again" feeling, and a feeling of hope based on what happened last year in the same situation.

Our hopes quickly shrank as the Cougars went backwards on the first series. We had one last chance on 4th down and 18 yards to go -- get a miracle or go home. Max Hall took the snap, scrambled a bit, and hurled the ball downfield to a wide open Austin Collie, for a 49 yard gain! Just like last year, BYU's prayer was answered.

We only needed a field goal to take the lead, but rather than take any chances, Harvey Unga smashed into the end zone for a touchdown. The 2 point conversion made it 17-10. Utah had one final series, but their Hail Mary from midfield was batted down, and the roller coaster came to a jubilant end.

BYU has a 1 in 42,512 chance to get into a BCS bowl

How long will we have to deal with this obnoxious nonsense called the BCS? Here's my brother Mark's take on what it would take for BYU to get into a BCS (Bowl Championship Series) bowl game:

Anyway, it just occurred to me that if Hawaii, Oregon, ASU, USC, Tennessee, and San Diego State all lose this weekend, then BYU will get an automatic bid to a BCS bowl! I wonder what the odds are at Vegas for that happening? Each team individually actually does have a decent chance of losing. The reason it matters is that if BYU gets into the top 16 of the BCS rankings and UCLA is Pac-10 champion with a lower BCS ranking, then BYU gets in automatically. So the absolutely critical games are ASU, USC, and, of course, San Diego State.

If ASU and USC don't lose, then the other possibility would be if Hawaii, Oregon and Tennessee lose, and Boston College loses badly. Then BYU would probably end up at #14 in the BCS and would have a great shot at being the fourth and last at-large pick for the BCS bowls (behind Georgia, ASU, and Kansas). This only works because each power conference can have only 2 teams in the BCS bowls, and the Big 10, Big East, and ACC don't have good second options. Even so, the stinking BCS people would probably pick Illinois or Clemson because they are corrupt.

Is that confusing enough for you?

By the way, how 'bout that Utah game? Go Cougars!!!!

Happy Halloween

I've had some funny Halloween costumes over the years, but I've never had one with as much shock value as the one this year. I guess it's just a tiny bit different than the image I normally portray...