Somehow I managed to lose my cell phone in Galveston the other weekend. It was on our bed when we left for a wedding. Cassidy remembers seeing it on there while we were gone. But when we packed up the next morning, it was nowhere to be found.

So I did what any right-thinking guy would do: I went out and bought a better one. My firm uses a Blackberry server to push email while we're out of the office, so I had to beat back my Treo lust and get another Blackberry.

I got a Blackberry 7130e.

I was with T-Mobile, but when my firm's T-Mobile representative decided not to follow up on my two calls, I decided to move to Verizon. Unlike the first time I moved my mobile number to another carrier, which was a huge hassle, this time it took about 45 seconds. I had service with my number before I walked out of the store. Nice.

The other reason I decided to go with Verizon is its national wireless broadband network. While many people buy the computer card to get this service, the 7130e can provide the same network coverage as the computer card via a USB cable that connects the phone to your laptop, and the cost is only $15 a month extra (as opposed to $59 a month for the computer card).

When I got home, I tried out the wireless broadband connection and it was fast and reasonably reliable. I'll know more once I get back from some upcoming speaking engagements, but this seems like a really good deal to me. The one drawback is that you can't use the phone while it's being used as a wireless modem, but that's not that big a deal when you consider the cost savings.

I'm sort of sorry I lost my cell phone, but as is the case with any gadget upgrade, I'll get over it.