Depending on where you are in Mississippi, you may just not get on well with "modern" phones. Most new phones these days are digital only, but there are still a LOT of rural areas that have only analog service.

That's why I switched carriers, actually. I'd been a happy Cingular customer for like 10 years, but I really needed a new phone, and Cingular doesn't offer any phones with analog service. I went to Verizon and got an LG VX5300, which may be the only analog phone they offer, if they even still do. It isn't nearly as convenient as the Nokia phones I've had, but I didn't *lose* coverage by getting a new phone, and that was my main criterion.

Plus, I finally got the next level of digital speed plus Bluetooth... infrared dial-up Internet connection was just a PITA.