At around midnight between Monday and Sunday, AT&T (formerly Cingular) started blocking internet access on my cell, which is currently a Treo 680. After a couple hours on the line with their nerds and sales goons, it was established that the company had programatically excluded MediaNet users based on ‘unapproved hardware,’ such as my 680, which is not an approved model of phone for the old plan.

I have used the plan for about three years across a variety of phones, so I’m pretty pissed off. Downgrading from my current 2-line plan to the cheapest 2-line plan offered will mean a revenue loss to AT&T of about $40 to $60 per month.

Despite this, no negotiating tactic employed would budge them to simply restore service. At one point, I began to use the milkshake line from There Will Be Blood; at another, I slowly counted off the dollar cost to AT&T of their idiocy, “One, two, three…”

I was wildly obstreperous, incredibly obstinate, intensely articulate, and wholly incredulous. I tried to be right, abrasive, and entertaining all at once.

Well, fuck ’em. Interesting to note that Verizon has a $100 flat-rate cell-and-land plan. Time to shop around.

Come on, come on, there’s a hundred-bucks-plus a month on the table. Who wants my money, assholes? Come on and tell me why you deserve it, come on!