Cell Phone Circus

[jimindenver]

Straight talks hotspot plans go from $15 a month for one gig to $75 every two months for 7 gigs. That means I could hold the account for $15 a month and bump it up as needed.

 

[highdesertranger]

I agree with Bob, when you are in the sticks nothing beats Verizon. highdesertranger

 

[Vagabound]

There is no way in hell I will ever have anyone but Verizon. Had a friend travel with us through Oregon boondocking in National Forests. She never once had service on ATT while we never had less than 3 bars of 4G.

I recently drive I-84 across Oregon and I-15 across Utah to Nevada. Then drove across Nevada on I-80, one of the least populated places in the country--NO ONE IS THERE! I specifically checked it for Verizon signal the whole way, and I mean I checked it often.

I never once saw less than 1 bar of 4g, and most of the time it's 3-5 bars--I couldn't believe how many towers there are. Every evening I started watching for a campsite in the desert close to a tower. All three nights all three nights on the freeway I went to sleep literally looking right at the tower with 5 bars of 4g.

No way in hell will I ever go with anyone but Verizon.

So, Bob, just to be clear ... are you saying you like Verizon?

Vagabound

 

[B and C]

My DW has Verizon and I have Verizon on Straight Talk.  Mine does not work near as many places as hers as there is no roaming on Straight Talk.  When we were in the Sawtooth mountains this Summer, she could place calls and surf the web, me not so much.  Please enter a credit card to complete your call and nothing showing in the bars for data. :huh:  Texting did work though :huh:

I am going to have to change my phone over to her plan so it will work everywhere.  Just have to get one of those round tuits.

 

[Vagabound]

Vagabond,

I feel your pain.  I use to me a Telecom manager in the USAF.  I had to manage our wireless services.  I consolidated a number of different carriers, cell phones, and even pagers.  This was about 20 years ago ...

I really hope everything will work for you in your cell phone dilemma..

Thanks, Dredd.  Nice to see another ex-AF guy.  Although I accept Bob's experience with Verizon, it was too much pain to get it working.  Their own myVerison app couldn't even recognize that the phone I was actively using with Verizon prepaid was a Verizon phone.  And tech support was the worst.  Took forever to reach them and expertise, even on the most basic things, was never effective.  My experience in the AT&T store was 180 degrees different.  I know that both of those experiences are a "sample of one", but one didn't work, one did.

Not sure what I'll do in the long run, but for now, AT&T is doing the trick.

Vagabound

 

[Vagabound]

Just fun, community contribution, and a healthy dose of public degradation ...  

So people don't get the idea that I'm only beating up on Verizon, I'll talk a bit about my last few days with AT&T GoPhone (prepaid).  Two parts:  Their goof-ups and mine.

Theirs:

• Although the AT&T store guy was drastically more competent than any big box store or phone technician so far, he did make two missteps.  He told me in the store that I was getting 4GB for $45 (or $40 with auto-pay).  In fact, I got 3GB, which is what the plan description said all along.  I assumed there was an extra 1GB for auto-pay or joining or something.  Apparently not.  Secondly, he forgot to give me or sign me up for a PIN for my new account.  That caused the item below.
• Just like with Verizon, when I installed the myATT app on my phone, it wouldn't work (couldn't log in).  Now, for all you bright troubleshooters out there saying, "Ah-ha, the thing in common is the phone!"  Good guess, but two different phones.  One new Motorola and one older Asus.  Eventually got beyond that hurdle by calling AT&T and getting a temporary PIN.  Sounds easier than it was.  Though hold time wasn't bad, got a humanoid most certainly purpose-grown in a script-reading factory.  Prior to every reply, "We're so happy that you asked that question.  Please give us an opportunity to answer it to your full satisfaction, ....", followed by the opposite.
• Throughout that process, I discovered that the new AT&T service that I'd only had for three and a half days, the 3GB service, had a data balance of only 1.3GB.  Yep -- more than 50% of my monthly allowance used in 3.5 days?!?  How?  I'm not a power user.  No YouTube.  No software downloads.  Certain it was one more account glitch, I called back into the main AT&T "matrix".  Got another pod-person, but this time with a twist.  She was apparently from Minnesota, but otherwise the same.  Bit better than India, but close.  The call was like a bizarre mixture of Fargo, Dumb and Dumber, and Groundhog Day.  She first told me that I'd used 650mb data on my first evening of service, while riding the public bus back home, with my hands full of shopping bags.  I was dubious.  Next day's usage was supposedly 950mb, and so the story goes.  I finally succeeded in pushing her to get her manager involved.  That guy stayed concealed, but apparently knew more than she did.  She said he gave her a "new tool" to see my account.  This was the actual usage:

              ** 11/5 - 8 uses - 36.82MB
              ** 11/6 - 7 uses - 70.78MB
              ** 11/7 - 7 uses - 95.23MB
              ** 11/8 - 7 uses - 1.5GB

First three days, OK, seems reasonable.  Fourth day - What?  They had no explanation, nor apparently any ability (that they were willing to disclose) to tell me what happened on 11/8.  Just "data" usage.  Was told about an AT&T troubleshooting app that can be downloaded called "Mark The Spot".  Never used it, but now I know for the future.  Didn't use it because I solved the mystery on my own.

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Mine:

• On 11/7, the day before the data debacle, I bought a new laptop finally, greatly reducing phone typing.  So far, so good.  Too tired to set it up on that day.  
• Got up on 11/8.  No wifi in my room.  Didn't want to go seek wifi.  Wanted to open my new toy (do you see it coming yet??).  Still only partly awake, I had this great idea -- hey, I haven't tried tethering (hotspot via phone) yet.  I'll do it now.  Kill two birds with one stone!
• Turned on tethering, configured the few things needed, powered up my new laptop for the very first time, and shazam!  Internet!  Worked like a charm.
• Sometime during the first 30 minutes of use, I had a couple of thoughts:
     ** I wonder if webpages designed for a PC/laptop send more data than their mobile counterparts?  (pretty techy question)  Answer:  Most likely.

            ** I wonder if this new computer is updating itself in the background, without telling me?  Answer:  Probably.

• In case it isn't clear, neither of those two things would be good.  The second would eat up tons of data allowance.
• Tethered only one more time that day, while eating lunch at Subway.
• Data use report:  1st tethering session -- 473MB.  2nd tethering session -- 992MB.
• Mystery solved

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Lessons Learned:

• Follow every military adage, every day, no exceptions -- "Don't assume.  It makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'".
• Be very careful of using the Internet on a laptop via tethering (hotspot on your phone).  Make sure you know how it will behave.
• Never, ever hook up a brand new computer to a tethered phone to get Internet.  You know how sometimes you realize you're doing something stupid, and you say, "Oh, what the hell."  Well, I really have no excuse.  Should have known better.  Need to borrow the Albino's flogging tool to rectify that one.
• Don't do new / important / techy things when half asleep.
• Despite what the Coen Brothers might say, Fargo was true.

Now I'm awake.  I can safely do real work.

Vagabound