March 30, 2008 at 9:52 pm · Authored by Ewan · Filed under Devices

I made the mistake of going into Cellular Superstore in the Fashion Show Mall, here in Las Vegas.  I would have taken a picture but I seriously couldn’t be bothered to give them more than the attention I’d already wasted on them.I thought I’d go in and buy a pay-as-you-go handset.  My Helio and my Motorola on Sprint are both in my luggage — and that’s still back in London being dicked about with by some entirely inept British Airport Authority / British Airways people at the newly launched-and-failed Terminal 5.I walked in and was surprised to find maybe 90% of the floorspace dedicated to tacky rubbish phone covers, charms and whatnot.  Keep in mind that the Fashion Show Mall is all about high quality international brands — SAKS, Abercrombie, etc — so this was a bit of a sidestep.  No wonder the shop was a bit round-the-corner away from most of the big shops.  Confused, not seeing any actual handsets I scanned the shop until I saw a selection at the back.  [Insert winning American service]“Can I help you?” asks the young lady.  Brilliant.  They’re awfully good at this sort of thing — and Las Vegas, well, they’re specialists at lifting the cash from your wallet.”Prepay handset please?”She pointed to a piece of rubbish unbranded thing, “This is on T-Mobile and it’s $169.”"Er,” I said, “Sorry, 169 DOLLARS is that? Not pesetas?”"Yes?” she said innocently.”You can get a prepay handset for $20 in any other store, and a reasonably good one for $60 odd?” I said, sort of as a question.She looked a bit annoyed.”This one is $169.”OK, I thought. Right, “What about a SIM card?”"60 dollars,”Heh.  I burst out laughing, staring at her, slight incredulity wrapped across my face.I raised my eyebrows, smiled, thanked her for her time and walked out the store.  Then picked up a $60 Samsung, complete with $10 credit, from the Verizon stall.The chap at the concession was really efficient.  He activated the phone for me and I walked away from the stall with my phone activated and ready to use.  Then phoned British Airways 800 number (without sweating at Vodafone’s ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE PENCE / min international rate)  to find out my bag is still in London.  But will be with me… ’soon’.