We recently renewed our contract with Verizon and upgraded our phones. We got Samsung A670s which have a built in camera. The problem was that to get the pictures off the phone, we’d have to pay Verizon 25¢ for each one. Also, we can customize the ringtones. But again, Verizon gets their pound of flesh. And they’re internet capable but, you guessed it, Verizon gets paid.

So I did some digging. There is a hack that allows you to get free internet service. Well, sort of free. You still pay Verizon air time and I don’t have a problem with that. And sort of a hack. It is perfectly legal, you just use a different IP address provider and a different WAP site than the one Verizon provides by default. So I figured out how to do that but that doesn’t solve the other problems. I did some more looking around and found that Radio Shack sells a USB cable for the a670 for $22. That is too much in my book so I checked the internet and found it for half elsewhere. Even with shipping it was less than I would have paid at Radio Shack before taxes. When I told the salesman that, he commented that I’d need software. That was $50 and I’m too cheap to pay that and it is Windows only and I’m all Mac. What I found instead was BitPim which does it all for free. I can pull pictures off the phone and upload ring tones. And that leads to the other issue: ringtones. There are thousands of sites out there that will sell you ringtones. All kinds of ringtones. Well, the truth of the matter is that are just MIDI files. So if you can find a MIDI of the song you like, down load it and send it to the phone. The a670 does not play polyphonic MIDIs but that’s okay with me.

So I have paid a grand total of $15 for at least $75 worth of phone stuff.

UPDATE: I added a link to the place I got the cable from. Also, I am investigating a lead on a format of polyphonic ringtones the phone will play. More when I get it.