The One In Which I Beg For Local Answers

I have an iPod Touch that's so old I can't even update things. I cannot download anything new either. The App Store kind of just laughs at me when I try to update or purchase anything and says, "Really? You're still using that dinosaur? Dude, you've got to get out of the prehistoric ages and join the fun new world." Since I have a lot of awesome apps on there already and I use them all so much, my iTouch is kind of my little portable world. If anything should happen to disable that, my little world would fall apart. My calendar, my notebook full of notes on all sorts of things ranging from my shopping list to vacation reservation numbers to the ladies conference outlines, my Words With Friends games. I'd be so lost without all that stuff. But it's getting to the point that I need to upgrade, even though my iTouch works perfectly fine. I decided that by the end of the year, I'd have to just save up money to spend on myself and buy a new one.

But then I got an early Mother's Day present from my family. They got me (in a roundabout fashion) an iPhone 4 on a Straight Talk plan. Because of the roundabout way, there were some snafus involving SIM cards and customer service employees who weren't sure what they were talking about and scissors. But eventually I got my iPhone 4 up and running. And when I did, I realized that I loved the actual phone because it's my iTouch (Apple is so consistent that way), but hated the plan it was on. Nothing against Straight Talk (I've had it for all of 3 days so I can't really judge the company with any kind of accuracy), but the T-Mobile SIM card completely sucks. It sucks HARD. Like, my Dyson vacuum looks like a Tiny Tykes toy in comparison to how hard T-Mobile sucks.

If you have T-Mobile and have zero complaints, I'm so glad for you. Turns out, T-Mobile's service in our area is sketchy. And by "sketchy" I mean that if I'm sitting in a pew in church, I will go from having 3 bars to Searching for Service to back to having 3 bars in a matter of 5 minutes. And I haven't moved. Other than breathing. That kind of consistency is not going to be good. What if I'm attacked by Big Foot while out strolling in the woods and need to call 911 or Animal Control or something? I'll be Big Foot dinner before T-Mobile will decide if it's going to place my call or search for a tower a bit longer. It's frustrating.

And even more frustrating is the fact that I dropped my phone on Day 3 of ownership and cracked the screen into way too many spidery pieces. I just want to cry. This is why we can't have nice things. Also, thank goodness for warranties.

This has all been rather disappointing in a live-and-learn kind of way. If I get an AT&T SIM card, things will be so much better, right? Anyone local have experience with this? Help?