On Monday, May 13, 2019 at 12:58:40 PM UTC-4, Unquestionably Confused wrote:
On 5/13/2019 11:38 AM, trader_4 wrote:
On Monday, May 13, 2019 at 12:24:47 PM UTC-4, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article ,
says...
Biggest cable phone fiasco I ever saw was with Cablevision in the NYC area.
They have wifi hotspots around the area that their cable customers can use.
I never understood the economics of that, like how they can justify the
cost. But then they decided to start selling wifi only cell phones.
Made zero sense to me. It will only work where you have wifi. Sure,
there might be some people who mostly use a phone where there is service,
but even those, you'd think they would want it to work other places too.
And there were other cheapo prepaid phone companies that offered wifi
calling that would work on any cell phone.
So they marketed that thing for about a year, I guess it failed and
AFAIK, it's gone.
Guess that would be a fiasco.
I have been using Republic for a number of years. They try to use a
wifi system first, but if none is in range it goes to the radio towers.
That's an example of one of the lowcost services I was talking about.
Couldn't remember the name. I looked at a bunch of those last time I
was looking, which was several years ago. The problem with those and
similar like Ting was that they made sense when plans were $70, but
now there is so much competition and choice at $30 or less, a regular
straight cell phone makes more sense.
Not bad for about $ 12.50 a month. They advertised it at $ 10, but add
something over $ 2 in tax. I don't think they offer this any more at
that price. If my phone fails, I will probably switch to another
service.
Mint Mobile is $15 a month if you pay for a year of service. They are
a Tmobile MVNO. For that you get 3GB of high speed data, unlimited V/T.
Also supports wifi hotspot if you need it.
I sort of like it that it goes to wifi first. Usually in a building
they have wifi where the cell towers will not give a signal.
I've only tried wifi calling a little bit, with Ooma. It didn't work
very well. I guess it depends on the company and how robust the wifi
is where you need to use it and probably on how fast your phone hardware
is too. I was also a little dubious about it
being able to go back and forth from wifi to cell, without dropping calls.
Seems hard enough to do that within the cell network by itself. Did
that work OK with Republic?
Good suggestions all, but. . .
I like a good deal, but I prioritize and, for most, it's wise to do so.
1. RELIABILITY - first and foremost I want a cellular carrier that
works well where I plan to use it. Ask around with friends whose
lifestyle mimics yours with respect to phone usage/locations. A carrier
that promises you unlimited talk/text and plenty of gigs of data for
$10/mo is no bargain if your calls are dropped, voice quality sucks, or
download speeds are 200kbps. 
2. PHONES - Once you have your contenders as far as carriers go, phones
are GENERALLY the same across the board.
Agree with pretty much all you say, but I think this needs some clarification.
One big difference is that not all phones will work with all carriers,
eg some support only CDMA networks like Verizon, or GSM like Tmobile.
This is particularly true if you're looking at a used phone that was
bought from a carrier originally. You need to be sure it's off contract,
clean and very importantly unlocked if you intend to use it on another
network. Even then, while it's supposed to work and usually does, carriers
have used many tricks to screw people, so that it doesn't. Bottom line,
simplest thing is if you're going to be using say Verizon, then I'd
find a used phone that was on the Verizon network. I have Mint Mobile,
they are on the Tmobile network, so I found a ZTE Blade Z Max that was
on MetroPCS, also on the Tmobile network. You can also check with the
target carrier, they will have a list of phones that will work.
And then features vary, eg storage. For basic use, 2GB ram, 16GB Flash
should be fine. If you're thinking of storing a lot of pics, adding
more apps, then I'd double that. One good thing with Android vs iPhone,
with most Androids if you want to add more Flash with an SD card later,
you can. With iPhone whatever it has, that's it. And many Androids,
you can change the battery, though that's becoming less common as they
shrink in size. iPhone you never could change the battery, you can send
it in to them for replacement. One feature I love is Quickcharge, my
ZTE is Qualcomm Quickcharge, has a huge 4000mah battery and charges
really fast. It also uses USB-C connector which I like, it goes in
either way, no checking the orientation. Other features, eg fingerprint
sensor, less important. I like it, it unlocks the phone really fast
without having to put a number code in, but clearly it's not essential.
Size is also important, depending on what you intend to use it for.
I like a big display, mine is ~ 6".
Yeah, some are crap and those
you can rule out looking through the reviews. Decide what YOU will use
the phone for, think a bit outside the box since if you're new to smart
phones, they kinda grow on you (as they did with my wife) and you're
likely to expand your technical horizons if you get hooked. Check with
friends and associates to see what they think of phones you may consider.
3. BUY or LEASE - NEW or REFURBISHED? I always buy but YMMV. Lease
and you are paying full price when you needn't. I also, since the
carriers shifted their business plan and no longer woo you in with super
low prices on phones, look hard for a phone I like and try to purchase
it refurbished by a reputable dealer. Refurbs generally carry a
comparable warranty to the new phones and the way I look at it is "this
phone has been gone over with a fine toothed comb and the electronics
have burned in." (If they are going to fail, they generally do so
sooner rather than later). Okay, it may have some cosmetic issues
(typically minor) but so will your brand new phone after a couple of
months usage.