Maven Mapper's

I am traveling on the road yet again and once again I am reminded about how much of a pain in the ear Verizon Wireless can be.  Like a Windows 98 PC, you have to run regular software updates with Verizon Wireless phones.  Unlike Windows, you have to do this manually with Verizon Wireless.

You have to dial *228 plugin your option, and let them send your phone some software to update it. 

The problem with this is, whenever I go from the East Coast to the West Coast, my phone becomes completely non-functional about 24 hours after my arrival until I run this update.  If I get a text message or email on my Treo the phone locks up and goes into fits, trying to resend (in the background) over and over again until my battery is shot.  I only notice a problem when my battery drains 10 times faster than normal on my new phone.

Well, I had that problem yet again today, in Laughlin Nevada just south of Las Vegas.  The phone worked fine yesterday when I arrived, but today it was fritzville until I updated the phone through Verizon.

More power to you if you can avoid networks that have this type of proprietary software loaded onto their phones.  I'm jumping ship on this phone back to T-mobile as soon as I can and that will probably save me a fortune the next time I get life insurance quotes.  Getting rid of this phone is sure to add 5 years to my life expectancy.