File This Under Things That Bother Me

Alright, so you've probably seen these Cingular ads. The ones with the supposedly actionable claim that they're the network with the fewest dropped calls? The ones that have two people talking over their cellphones and when the call is lost there's an awkward pause that leads to a “hilarious” misinterpretation. Like, you know, that your girlfriend's cheating on you or you've just lost your job? Yeah, real gutbusters. Anyhow, I know the commercials are supposed to show how if you sign up with Cingular you, too, can avoid the same sad fate. But when I see them all I can think is “You know, this wouldn't be a problem if cellphones had dialtones.” Or, at the very least, some kind of sound that played when your connection was lost. I mean, they have all sorts of ringtones but I guess there's more money to be made selling that sort of thing than in a feature that people might actually find useful.