Phun with Phones

[MiniDave]

We have two fairly high end phones running Android, Wed my wife found a new AT&T program for 55+ users - we've been with AT&T for decades and she refuses to change over too another carrier - so since it gave us a couple of key improvements over our current plan she signed us up!

That's when the trouble started.......

Both phones were working fine on the new service, then hers wasn't.....she had no carrier service at all. She scooted down to the local office who told her the problem was the phone, which she knew it wasn't. She came home and called customer service on my phone, they escalated thru three different reps till she got the one that actually seemed to know how to help her. 1 1/2 hours on the phone with them and it worked again.

I don't make a lot of calls but I noticed my texts weren't going thru, so today we called in again and spent two hours going up the ladder of techs till we got to one who could get it fixed. Except I no longer had VoLTE service which is their 4G service - and 3G is no more, but yet the phone worked, and I was getting texts again.

She hung up, relieved that we were all set....finally....except she looked at her phone (where she had spent the last 2 hours) and it was no longer working - again!

We've been on the phone with tech support for two more hours now on my phone and hers is at least a phone again, but now they're trouble shooting a number of other features and services that aren't there.

And mine still doesn't have VoLTE service.....

It seems the 55+ plan got rolled out before it was finished baking, I'm hopeful they'll get it sorted eventually, but fully expect my phone to be dead again in the morning!

[94touring]

No 5g?

[MiniDave]

Yes, they are 5G. but 5G isn't out there everywhere yet, so you need 4G too......that's why my phone is still working even tho the 4G isn't.

I think we got it all sorted at last, at least on her phone.....she was on the phone with them till 10:30 last night! Mine seems to be working OK this morning.......so far.

It's frustrating to me how dependent people have gotten on their phones......I can easily do without mine, but she always wants to be able to reach me should anything happen.

A few days ago Don had a flat in his JCW while on a work trip to Camdenton, Mo - that's not very far away but he had no signal where he had to stop! With no spare tire in modern cars and no jack(?) he was dependent on "the kindness of strangers" to give him a lift into town, where there was only one shop that had a tire machine. Fortunately they also had a used tire in the right size to get him back on the road. Point being that he couldn't even call for help.....

[94touring]

Fwiw, almost all us international pilots use T-Mobile because there's just better coverage and service with them.  I'm sitting in a small town in Denmark at the moment with 5g for example.

[cstudep]

I have been thinking if switching to t-mobile, like Dave i have been with att forever, and around here it was always the best chance you had at a signal but here lately its been complete crap. For several months now I get zero signal in places I used to have no issues, I have even seen "roaming" pop up on my phone a time or two here lately and I was just sitting at home.

Not sure whats going on with them, but something is up.

[94touring]

For example, now I'm in the country side...

[MiniDave]

The "country" in Europe is different than here.....their towns are much closer together, and cell service became a mandate there, much like Korea and Japan - probably China too.

Don says outside of KC his T-Mobile is 'iffy" at best. When he had his flat tire near Camdenton in the Ozarks, there was no signal.

I was ready to go to T-mobile as they had a great deal for seniors ($70/mo for both of us), but the bride is convinced AT&T had better coverage, and I don't care what brand we use so happy wife etc.

I think we must be on 5G now since I have no 4G according to the phone, and I noticed an improvement in download speeds for pics and webpages and such. So, as long as it stays "on", I'm OK with it. New plan saved up about $30/mo, every little bit helps when you have no income....and their 55+ plan puts us pretty competitive with T-Mobile on cost plus we have 5G and unlimited data now, before we only had 1 gig - tho we never went over it.

Edit: Just checked my data usage for this month - 59mb.....that was all today because I didn't have the wi-fi turned on!

[94touring]

Does Don use an I-Phone by chance?  Because when I had a Droid and I phone on my plan, the I phone didn't get as good as signal as my Droid standing in the same spot. 

I'm not sure your info is correct about cell service being a mandate in Europe.

There are places in Europe, Asia, the middle east and so on we don't get service. But the general consensus is T mobile is the best for service, hence why we all use it.

[MiniDave]

Yes, Don is an all "I" user! 

We don't own a single "i" anything.....

Interesting that T-Mobile is the one to have in the rest of the world, but AT&T is better in the US.....at least according to the maps they publish.

[94touring]

Curious now I looked up the comparison in the US.

[MPlayle]

Funny how the colored maps indicate some much more coverage than the actual percentages.

Both maps appear to show total coverage in Texas when I know there are large dead zones in the rural areas.

I have Consumer Cellular which uses AT&T and T-Mobile backbones.  I have dead spots out in the boonies of west Texas that those maps show as covered.

PS> My basic flip-phone is 4G-LTE.

[Brit_in_TX]

Michael - What you need is a phone that has satellite to take full advantage of the coverage in remote areas. Newer iPhones and Androids have the capability.

Everyone else you should check out Mint Mobile, we pay around $20 per month for 15GB of data and unlimited texts and calls.

[Jims5543]

Due to my need for hotspot data for my GPS equipment. I have a T-mobile and Verizon phone.

Where I live here in Florida and most of the SE, Verizon is king. Up in Western North Carolina Verizon is the best Tmobile not so good. Here in town where I love both work fine. Ironically, my Verizon phone is 4G, it is the last of the Samsung Active phones, it has a removable back cover and you can pull the battery.  Now they have one called the Galaxy Xcover FieldPro.  I am about to upgrade my 2 field crew phones to that if I can find any. They are 6 years old now. LOL
https://www.phonearena.com/news/samsung-galaxy-xcover-fieldpro-galaxy-s9-active-different-name_id120031

I have been toying with grabbing a Starlink Mini to use when I am on remote sites.

Also, Tmobile is working with Starlink to release a phone that has the ability to link up to Star Link when you are in a remote setting. Which will be amazing to have.

[jeff10049]

They have new versions of the Xcover. I am comparing specs to the new DuraForce. I have an old DuraForce now, but I am thinking of switching to T-Mobile, and they say the Samsung Xcover works better with their network. But comparing specs, this might be an old problem because the new Kyocera DuraForce seems to cover all the same bands and more than the Samsung Xcover. So I guess it comes down to what I want. The Kyocera has been amazing you can't scratch the screen its waterproof I have dropped it off of roofs on to concrete and even ran it over with a small tractor it still works pretty good after 5 years but the camera finally died and I use that a lot so time for a new phone and new carrier im done with verizion. The Samsung Xcover seems to meet the same specs. Maybe I'll give it a try, it's convenient because the mobile carries it. Id have to buy my own kyocera duraforce.   

[MiniDave]

Do any of the phone plans allow for overseas calls? Dan, how does yours work when travelling?

[94touring]

So that's another thing with T mobile. I get standard international calls at 25 cents a minute, we all try to use wifi calling so it's free. Not that I make any calls, but if I had to that's the preferred method. Other carriers from talking with the guys would charge by the day or week or whatever, and it's expensive. 10 bucks a day for 2 weeks to call your wife and kids adds up.  I opted for the upgraded international plan for higher speed data which included a lot of hotspot data. It was only 5 bucks more a month or something. It just makes life easier downloading flight plans, or sending and receiving emails with attachments with the company. When I'm literally in BFE, I don't want to wait 10 minutes for a file to download.  The hotspot data was a bonus because the airplanes ipads and tough books we have our pilot stuff on, like the flight plans are uploaded to the plane before each flight. Except they don't use T mobile and the data isn't always available, so you end up entering in a ton of shit manually...that is unless you're me and connect the plane to my phones hotspot and download the files and data that way. 

[94touring]

These are the standard messages I get on landing.  Each country has their own rate. Djibouti Africa is something outrageous like 5 bucks a minute. 

[94touring]

Just looked up what those day passes cost.

[scalpel_ninja]

I use T-Mobile too. It's the easiest when I travel to Asia as it seamlessly allows data use for Google Maps, Uber, text messaging, and data calls via LINE. No more having to buy SIM cards when I land.

[94touring]

We all use WhatsApp to make calls and text/video chats. The girl in Thailand I dated used Line also.

[MiniDave]

It's nice that they give you a heads up like that....

I don't know if I can wifi call my brother in England or not....I'll have to look into that.

[scalpel_ninja]

It's nice that they give you a heads up like that....

I don't know if I can wifi call my brother in England or not....I'll have to look into that.

The ability to WiFi or data call another person depends on the app used on both ends. WhatsApp, LINE, FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, Teams, Google, etc all use the same basic principles. As long as both users have the same app and their own respective accounts, then one can dial the other through the app using data and not call minutes.

[94touring]

Speaking of data speed.  I've been setting up wifi between my two condos using the same router since they're side by side.  I upgraded the Bluetooth wifi adaptor for my desktop computer that is connected to my TV.  The TV acts as the monitor.  I've been doing Google speed test to see how things are working and improving.  Just did the same speed test with my phone using 5g data.  Faster than the internet we get!

[MiniDave]

Nice, I get 1 gig from Google fiber, but my laptop is restricted to only 100 mgpbs on wifi, still it's plenty enough, and I can be on it and watch an F1 race on the same wifi with no issues.

[94touring]

This computer Bluetooth adapter seems to be capped around 100mbps too.  But, it was barely getting 30 before with the old 2.4ghz adaptor.  My phone seems to get between 175-225mbps on the same wifi.