I don't love Mtel but they happened to be the closest cellphone shop when I first moved to Sofia so by default they became my company. This said, I am not sure if I could choose all over again who I'd go with. So maybe it doesn't matter.

I've had a prepaid phone for the last 4.5 years. At one point I thought about switching over to a plan but the expiration date on my Bulgarian ID card prevented this from happening. I moped around for a day or two. Okay maybe three and then I gave up caring.

Most months I pay about 10 leva to make calls and send text messages. This seems totally okay with me. I like that I can just pay upfront, make the calls that I need and then a few months later pay again.

On Monday, I had to recharge my phone as I was totally out of credit to make calls or to text message. This is annoying but the only person I have to blame is me. The funny thing is, because Bulgaria is awesome--at least in this respect--I could still get calls and text messages. I just couldn't make any of my own.

So I stopped by Mtel while I was out running some other errands. I hardly had to wait in line and things were relatively quick. This isn't always the case.

Anyhow, for the first time ever I had the sales girl really press me to switch to a 12.99 monthly leva plan. I said no. I said I didn't understand. I said that I didn't want it. She just wasn't taking no for an answer. She told me about free calls to five Mtel customers this month. That's when I realized none of my friends us Mtel. She told me other things too. I just smiled at her and said no thanks.

I don't think that she understood why I wasn't interested in switching.

First, I just don't think she understood that on average I pay less a month than the plan she was pushing. Then there's the fact that I  made no attempt to explain to her in Bulgarian that I don't really like Mtel but that  stick with it because I am too lazy to switch (and I am semi-convinced that all cell phone companies are basically the same). Oh and there's the fact that I finally memorized my number and I don't want to switch to another company and learn another number. That sounds horrible to me.

So that's that. Same phone number, same company, same general dislike of Mtel--just not enough to make some kind of a change.

I  wonder, if you were new in Sofia and could choose any phone company which one would you pick?