How hard is it to get a new cellphone?

Quite, apparently.

We decided to go with a cellphone for our home phone, so I went online to add it to our plan. While there, I discovered that both Jeff and I were eligible for phone upgrades. Since we pretty much both hated our phones since the moment we got them, we jumped at the chance.

Other than having a phone for phone calls, I wanted to be able to take photos and download them from the camera to my phone (not just send them to another phone or email address). That's all. Should be pretty easy to find out if one does that, right?

First, I got the Samsung C417. Cingular sells a USB data cable for it, so I figured my chances were good that it did what I wanted. No such luck. So after one call to Cingular where they assured me that it did work, another where they told me to return it to a local corporate store (couldn't because it had been refurbished), and finally one where the very good customer service rep called the local store and got them to agree to take it back, I tried to find a new phone.

They didn't have the one I wanted, the Sony Ericcson W300i. OK, fine. So I told the guy my requirements and he told me that the LG CU400 would suit my needs. OK. I bought it and the data cable.

No. It didn't work. Sigh. I needed the LG CU500. The 400 didn't have the chip to store the photos on that the computer could read. I went back to the store again. Politely scolded the guy who sold the 400 to me and got what I needed, including a chip.

Works perfectly. Finally. The irony? This is the phone that Jeff originally got online. We now have the same phone, and I could have just saved a lot of time and frustration by getting the same one in the first place. Sigh.

But, hey, look: Kaylee:

And here it is after I downloaded it to my computer and fiddled with the colors a bit.

Not too bad.

And I spent last evening making custom ringtones. That was kind of fun. Currently, my phone rings to "Dracula From Houston" by the Butthole Surfers. :)