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Old 10-12-2016, 11:01 AM   #21
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Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman View Post
I turn it on when I want to know if anybody tried to contact me or I feel the need to contact somebody.
Interesting technique. If everybody did that, we wouldn't have any use for phones of any description.
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Old 10-12-2016, 11:17 AM   #22
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Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo View Post
Interesting technique. If everybody did that, we wouldn't have any use for phones of any description.
It would be a much quieter world.
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Old 10-12-2016, 11:20 AM   #23
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I have an AT&T iPhone & a Verizon hotspot. Since I'm on the road for 5 - 10 months of the year, paying bills, etc would be a problem without the internet. I'm also not a "slave" to it, but I sure appreciate the freedom it gives me to travel.

As to the phone, one advantage of AT&T over Verizon is I find lots of places without coverage so no one bothers me! (although it does bet better year by year).

While I average less than 20 minutes per month on the phone, I still need it at times, if for nothing else to look up camping locations in unfamiliar areas.
Yes, about once a month an internet connection is useful, most of our bills are auto pay so we don't have to worry about them on the road or at home.
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Old 10-12-2016, 12:30 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by vector1952 View Post
Has anyone tried consumer cellar hotspot
I doubt it will work very well in a cellar

I use a Moto G (customer purchased) with Consumer Cellular (AT&T network). It acts as a WiFi or USB-connected hotspot (tethering) and works very well as long as you are in the AT&T service area and not a real heavy user. No need to carry a separate device. I used to have the hotspot sold at Walmart but the data cost with Consumer Cellular is very competitive. I am sure Verizon at $45/month (plus taxes and fees no doubt) is nice, but total cost for me, including two lines and while using mostly WiFi for data, is only $32.30 to $37.58 and even with a month of heavy LTE data use (but not streaming for sure!) the bill total was still only $55.67.
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Old 10-12-2016, 02:02 PM   #25
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We find our iphones very helpful in travel.

First is the Allstays app to find campgrounds. A must have.

Then there are the weather apps. We are big hikers and its very helpful to see what 50% chance of showers means by checking current radar before hitting the trail. When the rain is 50 miles away and moving away it gives us confidence to venture further afield.

We find Apple maps/GPS to be very helpful in highway navigation. And the DW loves to check out the next Starbucks up the road.

Email keeps me in touch with my customers are lets me respond to enquiries in a timely manner. Someday when I retire this feature will be unnecessary.

Sometimes I even download free topographical maps for backcountry hiking. That way the phone's GPS shows me where I am even when there is no cell coverage. Occasionally its handy to know how far along you are on a trail or how far it is back to the trailhead.

The phone's altimeter apps are fun too. How high are we now and is that why I am panting?

Most importantly the phone's camera takes much better pictures than all the digital cameras I have owned over the years. It even puts the GPS coordinates on each image for easy cataloging, sorting, etc. My fancy Canon camera still comes along on trips, but usually stays in the Scamp.

Bottomline, some of these uses need a nearby cell tower, but many do not. OTOH, I almost never make telephone calls.

We do carry a cell signal booster with a roof mounted antenna that can turn one signal bar into three. Its helpful, but not a miracle worker.

Occasionally we even tether our laptop to a phone for connectivity when longer typing sessions are needed. I also carry a bluetooth keyboard for the phones, but usually forget to use it.

We are on AT&T and find it usually works well.

YMMV, john

PS. Image below is from Grand Teton National Park last week.
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Old 10-12-2016, 04:07 PM   #26
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I find the internet a real life extender. Today we were at the Rocky Mount Museum and one of the re-enactors mentioned the battles of cowpens and kings mountain and I was able to lie here in our little trailer and learn about the battles. The phone and it's internet connection is an extension to knowledge just like Jim Clears post on Motivation I referenced in another post. Life is short and anything that permits learning is great.The phone and its connection to the world's store house of nowledge...wow.
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Old 10-13-2016, 11:41 PM   #27
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Cell phone reception on the road....

I had T-Mobile and my daughters have AT&T. We often found T-Mobile had no service while AT&T did. My daughter turned on Pandora on her iPhone and we traveled from South Texas to Disney World in Florida without any loss of service from AT&T. We only had sporadic service with T-Mobile on the highways and cities. The next year we traveled from Texas to Disneyland in California with the same results. AT&T had service while T-Mobile was sporadic. Camping at State Parks in Texas gave us the same results. AT&T had service while T-Mobile didn't. When our contract ended with T-Mobile we switched to AT&T and have had great results. We just traveled 3000 miles and always had service on the road and at the State Parks, while others didn't.
My wife has the iPhone 6 and I have the 6s. We both have the same coverage. In my opinion there isn't a difference between the phones. Sometimes her iPhone 6 will have better signal than my 6s.
AT&T cost a little more but we figured what good is it to save, and have no coverage. Hope this helps.
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Old 10-14-2016, 06:19 AM   #28
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...
AT&T cost a little more but we figured what good is it to save, and have no coverage. ..
Note that Consumer Cellular uses the AT&T network and is probably less expensive for light users. I do get good coverage with Consumer Cellular (AT&T) but my experience with it is mostly limited to east of the Mississippi.
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Old 10-17-2016, 09:22 PM   #29
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Am I being taken for a ride here or is the new iPhone 6S that much better in reception than the first IPhone 6? Anyone with this phone, please let me know your thoughts, thank you,

Hi, Jim. We've been slowly working our way up the west coast and across the northern border of the US for several months now, and understand your experience with intermittent t-mobile service. The wife and I have new but different iPhones. Hers is a 5S and mine is an SE. My understanding is that the SE has the same antennas and ability to use additional LTE bands as the 6S. In practice, my SE has had far better coverage on this trip than her 5S, to the point that in many areas I had to use my phone as a hotspot and share my connection with her over wifi. I'll probably upgrade her phone to a shiny new iPhone 7 soon to mitigate all this, as well as add some snazzy splash resistance and camera upgrade for her.

I realize other carriers have better coverage in many rural areas in particular, but we won't be switching from t-mobile as we have a completely unlimited everything plan that is no longer available, and when we comparison shopped recently, both Verizon and ATT were significantly more expensive. T-mobile isn't perfect but we are overall happy.

Switching to a more capable phone might make a difference for you.
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Old 10-18-2016, 05:37 AM   #30
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Thanks Scott, your answer was what I was asking for. Not knowing if the issue is TMobile of the phone, I have switched carriers to Consumer Cellular which uses AT&T towers. If reception continues to be bad I'll have to bite the $$$ bullet.
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Old 10-18-2016, 10:49 AM   #31
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I don't know enough about the difference between various iPhones to address that part of the question. I would like to mention MVNOs.

The larger mobile network operators (cellular companies such as Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc.) provide network services to "mobile virtual network operators" (MVNOs). The MVNOs buy the service at wholesale rates and retail the services to consumers at much lower rates than the cellular companies who actually operate and maintain the networks.

Different MVNOs provide service through different mobile networks. One has to Google a bit as they are generally not allowed to advertise whose network is actually carrying your signal.

We have been with Page Plus, an MVNO, since 2014. We get service on the Verizon network at extremely attractive rates.

Under the MVNO model we are responsible to provide the phones; they are not financed through a monthly service plan with a multi-year commitment.

We moved from $125/month two-phone plan at Verizon to two plans at Page Plus; $31 + $12 = $43/month. The plan is renewed automatically each month. We save $984 a year so having to buy our own phones is not an hardship. (We just replaced the wife's 2010 Droid and my flip phone from the same date is still chugging along.)

For some reason, the wife's new iPhone posed a challenge for the Apple store staff to establish data service but they got it done (the phone and wifi functionality had been fine). That's the only significant glitch I can think of in the years we have been with Page Plus.

When I retire and get out from behind this desktop PC in a year or two, (home-based business), I will move towards devices that better accommodate more mobility. I expect our monthly costs will correspondingly increase somewhat at that time.

As with so many things in this world, there is a veritable highway of colorful advertisements to lead you to the higher-priced options. With a little investigation and effort there are better deals to be found.

The trade-off is the time you will spend getting up to speed on the alternatives and figuring out how to implement them. We've found the MVNO route has not required much effort once we established accounts and got our phones transferred over.

Just a thought for the good of the order here.
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Old 10-18-2016, 12:13 PM   #32
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Hi Jim

We've been driven from FL to NL thru NJ, NY, MI, MN, Ohio, TN and now in the Carolinas. Up the east coast to NL T-Mobile worked well except for coastal northern ME. It worked well thru to MN except for way north of Duluth. Still no western experience.

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Old 10-20-2016, 11:54 AM   #33
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Tmobile coverage in 2003

Going through some old files and ran across this page I had printed back in 2003. Coverage sure is a heck of a lot better than it was back then!
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Old 10-20-2016, 12:27 PM   #34
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We have T Mobile . We have had limited , poor or non existant service in most of Wisconsin , Northern Minnesota , The UP of Michigan , N Dakota , S Dakota , Montana , Idaho , Washington. Oregon , Nevada , Northern California , Wyoming , Colorado , Nebraska , Oklahoma , New Mexico , Kansas , Iowa , Texas , Georgia , Florida , Louisiana , Alabama , Mississippi , Missouri , Arkansas and Canada . Any time you are not in or close to a major city , service is spotty at best.

I am sitting outside in 40 deg weather as I type this post , facing South otherwise , I would not have service.
In the winter when it's -20 below having to go outside to make a call , text or use the Internet is a PITA.
The only good thing I can say about T Mobile service is that it is cheap. When we had Verizon I could call Europe now I can't call across the road but again T Mobile is cheap.
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Old 10-20-2016, 12:34 PM   #35
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How to improve T-Mobile coverage.

I've found that using my Samsung Note 5 on the Tmobile network I get dramatically better coverage if the phone is plugged into it's charger. Places where it shows no T-mobile coverage suddenly become 4G coverage and allow me to tether my computer
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Old 10-20-2016, 01:31 PM   #36
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One thing that a lot of people don't know about T-Mobile is that they will provide a cell booster for your home free of charge (just a $25 deposit). You place it anywhere that you can find the best signal, and then it rebroadcasts the signal to the other parts of the home. Not designed for mobile use but good for home coverage.
T-Mobile cellspots
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Old 11-09-2016, 10:49 AM   #37
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Interesting follow up to my earlier observations and post: To alleviate the wife's angst over poor reception with her iPhone 5S compared to my iPhone SE, I surprised her with an iPhone 7 for the anniversary. I think this year is only supposed to be silver, but I skipped ahead to rose gold ;-) Anyway, the interesting thing out of this is that her phone now gets coverage in places where I get nothing! Maybe Santa will bring me a shiny new toy too...
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