Cell Phone Problem

[ScottyP431]

The Problem:
I have cingular. My cell phone stops working such that it is still on, getting 5 bars but i will recieve no calls/text messages/voice mails untill I turn the phone off and then on again. This is really annoying because I don't know when it happens, so I will assume the phone is working because it is on and getting perfect reception, so I don't know that I need to turn it off and then on again.

I called Cingular twice, the first time the person basically said sucks to be you and that i should just constantly turn my phone on and off again. This seemed unreasonable to me.

The second time the person said it was a problem with the phone and I needed to get a new one. My contract isn't up till may. He initially told me I could get the sign up discount by continuing my contract(which amounts to hundreds saved) , then said he talked to his manager and I would be unable to get that discount, and instead would get a flat 75 dollars off.

1. Is this a situation where I just need to negotiate tougher? I have heard lots of urban legend stories about people getting free phones and plan discounts but don't really know what the truth value of these are.

2. Has anyone had a similar problem and is this really a phone/tech problem? It would suck to pay full for a new phone and then find out its cingular that sucks and I now have another 2 years of it.