I've been a more-or-less loyal Sprint customer for a long time now.  Back in 1998, my only connection to the outside world was a Sprint phone - one that didn't work in my hotel or in a lot of other places, but that worked well enough to make calls to people I loved and missed (the list was long).  I don't remember my plan, exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was 500 minutes with free nights and weekends starting at 9 and ending at 7am for $50 a month.  The phone didn't text (none did), and there was nothing like data or music playing or anything else.  The screen barely showed the phone number and the name of the caller, but I did take a call from my dad on a beach in Rio while riding my bike up 6th avenue in rush hour traffic.  That's maybe my favorite phone call of all time, or at least it's right up there, so that phone held a special place in my heart.

UPDATE: the last 9/10ths of this rant have been moved below the break because I hated how it made the page look.  Bye.