[soundman98]

rant/

so frustrating. my cell phone, a google pixel 4a, started crapping out. i think after dropping it for the 200th time, the camera got jostled. now it only takes pictures 4" from anything. every other distance is blurry.

fine, time to upgrade, it's getting older..

figure it's been a little while, maybe i can get one of those $1200-when-new motorola razr flip-smartphones for cheap enough now. $200, sold! hits all my main requirements. smaller, google maps, and internet access for looking up product manuals. maybe slightly old being manufactured in 2019, but should still be good...



i get it, and learn that it's an e-sim only phone.. the 1st phone, the camera doesn't work at all, and the camera is the only way to pick up the e-sim profile via a QR code from the network provider... so back and forth with the seller, he sends a label and will refund, i buy his other listing a the same price..

finally get the phone, no big deal, go to the verizon store to get it activated. magic internet says they give me a code, setup the e-sim profile within the phone, back-n-forth with activation, and i'm done.. oh, but they're only open 8-6 anymore, i get off work around 6:30...

get off work early, finally, i can get this set up... 30 minutes in the store, they tell me that i have to call customer service, they can't do it.

spent 2 hours on the phone with customer service. error after error, the guy keeps insisting he's pushing the activation code to the phone, i keep asking if he's got the code i need to setup the e-sim profile.

finally the guy says that he can't create the e-sim profile, his computer system only allows him to enter phones as old as 2 years.

so now the the tech support the store sent me to, told me to go to the store, to ask them to push the activation through...

so i get to go back to the store tomorrow to try again, though i'm quite sure i know the outcome...

so the moral of the story? don't buy a phone with an e-sim!...

/rant