Okay, well I feel much better because the tech at the Big Red store spent about 25 minutes getting my phone activated. It wasn't me.
Okay, well I made a big jump today from my 5 year old cell to the Thunderbolt. The TB is really, really nice and I am still playing with it, trying to learn all the features on it. The touchscreen has very good resolution and response. It has a camera, HD video recording, a front and rear facing camera, came with a 32 GB memory card, and, oh, I just learned about all the Android voice actions! Too cool!
I am not getting the insane speeds you guys are getting when you tether your computers to it. I don't why the Pittsburgh area would be bogged down but when I checked earlier this evening I was getting around 10 Mbps on my tethered Macbook. Also, my fully charged battery only went for about 9-10 hours. I was doing a lot of stuff, though, and battery life is pretty much a problem on all smartphones as I understand it.
I am pretty happy with my choice. The only thing I need now is a hard protective case. In pink. I think it is very masculine looking phone so I want something in pink.