Hi there.  I currently work for a wireless provider while attending nursing school.  I do not work for Verizon, although I did for 6 years in the late 90's into 2002 when I was laid off.  Anyway, since you asked, and I have some experience and training in the wireless industry I thought I would gove you my 2 cents.  Since you aren't currently carrying a smart phone, I'm wondering if your needs have recently changed.  Meaning, are you currently in need of a phone with smart phone/PDA functionality?  The storm does require a data package regardless of the carrier with whom you activate.  This data package can range from an additional $25 - $50 depending again on the carrier and their fees.  Also, the package must stay on the account for the duration that you have that phone active on the account.  You may already know this, but I bring it p only because some carriers do not disclose this information to consumers prior to the activation.  Lastly, the internet package would be a Blackberry based package, not Windows which is what we are typically accostomed to on our laptops and work PC's.  Blackberry is not difficult to learn.  Once you get used to it you may even like it more.  Usually people either love it or hate it. If you do not need mobile internet services, and you simply want something that gives you a full qwerty keypad for easy texting, there are definitely much less expensive options available.  However, if you are looking for something to give you e-mail capability, IM, and social networking capabilities, the Storm will deliver.   Also the Storm will provide you with full browsing capabilities, GPS, a personal organizer, and Blackberry's version of maps.  You can aslo use it as a tether to provide internet capabilities on your laptop if you do not currenlty have an air card.  As far as media, you will have a 2.0 camera with built in flash and zoom.  you will also have video recording as well as an MP3 player, which mean an expnadable memory slot for plenty of storage.  you will also have a gateway so that you can play your music through almost any stereo system.  There also is an enhanced feature that will remember previous entries so that you won't have to repeatedly enter the same info.  It also has touch capabilities.  The flip feature however is nice so that you don't have to be concerned about  "butt" dialing.  LOL  I personally have never carried the Storm, but if you would like first hand reviews you can Google Blacberry Storm reviews and there you will find alot of first hand accounts.  Let me know if you have other questions.  I'm happy to answer whatever I can.   

You're welcome, anytime!  Let me know if you get it and how you like it.  That's info I can share with my current customers.

I work for US Cellular.  We're mainly a regional carrier.  We own some areas in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington state, and also the New England states.  We own a portion of the East too including tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas but we mainly are  located in the Midwest.  Our home office is in Chicago so we own the greater Chicagoland area as well as part of Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Indiana.  We do provide nationwide service by partnering with Sprint and Verizon.  Probably more info than you needed or wanted, huh???  LOL

yeah unfortunately that's true....

How I would love to be in Texas!!!