All right, so I started off yesterday ready to pen a rant of Whazzmaster-like proportions against that entity known as AT&T.  What inspired my ire?  The downright strange policies surrounding current AT&T customers and the new iPhone 3G S, of course.  Primarily the steep upgrade pricing for current iPhone users, though as demonstrated by the reception at WWDC the lack of immediate MMS and tethering capability also reek of epic fail.  I even took the time to craft my post in the form of a “Really !?!” segment straight out of Weekend Update/Saturday Night Live.

So imagine my surprise when I go back to check the eligibility tool on Apple’s website last night to confirm the troubling details of the situation and discover that suddenly I AM eligible for the phone discount again.  I have no idea what happened between last night and last week, but before I knew what was happening I’d already reserved a 3G S for myself at the local Apple store.

I just want to be clear that AT&T has provided amazingly poor phone “service” (of all things) during my time with my v1 iPhone — the thing simply is not able to receive and make calls in seemingly normal areas of multiple cities I’ve been to — and yet the Apple experience is still enough to make me leap for the chance to sign another 2-year contract.  Isn’t that amazing?  Maybe it’s incredibly shrewd on AT&T’s part, milking that exclusivity and investing as little in infrastructure as possible during their time in the sun, but as soon as that exclusivity runs out (or the Pre/Android becomes available on Verizon) I can’t see anything but major hemorrhaging of AT&T’s customer base.  They’ve still got some time to correct this, and I do hope they actually follow through.

But yes, I can’t help hearing a voice whispering, “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” as I ponder renewing my contract.

The simple answer: yes, yes I have.  Dancing with the devil gets you the best consumer electronics product that money can buy.  Ocassionally this product makes phone calls.