[ale] fyi - cheaper way to add a smart phone to verizon account
Ron Frazier (ALE)
atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
Mon Jul 15 14:20:58 EDT 2013
inline
Neal Rhodes <neal at mnopltd.com> wrote:
>I have historically agreed on your view that Verizon has the best
>coverage in the sticks.
>
>However, we are now several months into a comparison of Verizon and
>Ting
>(Sprint). When we are traveling in the motorhome, we use my Verizon
>phone for WIFI, (for three notebooks, one tablet, and her phone) and
>my wife's Ting (Sprint) phone for voice. We have one Wilson Sleek
>cell repeater/amplifier with the little mag mount antenna.
>
>We have found this to be an excellent comparison of actual coverage
>between carriers.
>
> http://www.rootmetrics.com/check-coverage/
>
>
That's a cool site. I played with it for a while. If I had a smart phone, I'd probably load their app. I looked at Jasper GA and the area south of Wooster OH that I'm interested in. Verizon is pretty much the only game in town in those areas.
>Thus far, we have yet to find somewhere that the Ting phone doesn't
>work
>for voice and the Verizon phone does. Note that if you read the fine
>print, Ting, being CDMA, will roam on the Verizon network for voice.
>
I find that fascinating. What does ting charge if you're roaming? I wonder if my old verizon phones will work. What if you're roaming most of the time?
Regarding compatibility between carriers, etc., and the current business environment; if it had been this way in 1900, I think we'd have to buy 47 different adapters just to plug a lamp into a wall outlet.
I think we should have mandatory compatibility regulations.
>This includes a 3 hour client conference call while parked at a turnout
>on the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia where I
>think it was 20 miles line-o-sight to the cell tower in some town
>waaaaaay down the mountain. That's a new definition of nuthin'.
>
>By definition, we don't camp in major metro areas. Yes, the Wilson
>repeater does provide about 1.5 more signal bars than without. Still,
>we're getting good voice out of the Ting phone.
>
>The downfall of Ting is you are still locked into a CDMA phone. The
>apparent upfall of Ting is you can roam on the best nationwide voice
>network. And you definitely do NOT want to use a lot of data with
>Ting. The whole point is it's cheap for voice but still allows you to
>have a smart phone with minimal data costs.
>
>I can justify the single grandfathered unlimited data Verizon phone as
>a
>company expense. When we've got two corporate client notebooks using
>it as their network access for VPN, I have no flamin' idea how much
>data
>is sloshing back and forth. And I don't care, because apparently with
>4G, Verizon has no cap on tethered WIFI data. It also gives us a
>fallback at no extra cost if our DSL dies. Like when the power went
>out a couple weeks ago and we had to finish a software release by
>candlelight.
>
>On Sun, 2013-07-14 at 22:47 -0400, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
>
>> In my opinion, Verizon is the best for working out in the boonies.
>My folks are in Jasper and my wifes' are in north central Ohio.
>Verizon is the only thing that works. (Haven't tried ATT. Don't like
>them.) That's one reason I keep it. Ting works on the Sprint network.
>If they had coverage out there, I might switch. But, you still pay $
>60 / mo for 3 GB of data I think. As it is, I still have two dumb
>verizon phones and a myfi 4g modem that I only pay to turn on when I'm
>on a trip to Ohio. Otherwise, I have to stick to wifi.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Ron
>>
>>
>> Neal Rhodes <neal at mnopltd.com> wrote:
>>
>> >I couldn't make the Verizon Shared device dollar numbers work to my
>> >advantage and got my wife a phone from ting. So far it's just fine
>if
>> >you consciously don't use the data size much. (i.e. use wifi when
>> >possible)
>> >
>> >I'm retaining my Verizon unlimited account for the time being until
>> >they
>> >really piss me off. But it's getting harder and harder to cost
>> >justify.
>> >
>> >On Sun, 2013-07-14 at 18:08 -0500, Brian Mathis wrote:
>> >> I was looking into Share Everything for my parents, and after
>running
>> >> the numbers (and seeing other comments online), those plans are
>only
>> >> designed to get more money out of you. It might be worth it for a
>> >> family of four where everyone has their own phone and some members
>> >use
>> >> a lot while others don't, but for one or two people, it just
>didn't
>> >> seem to make sense.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ❧ Brian Mathis
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Sun, Jul 14, 2013 at 1:50 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE)
>> >> <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> This message is for those of you, if any, who have verizon
>> >and
>> >> don't have any smart phones on your plan. I have an old
>> >> family share plan with two dumb phones, 750 shared
>minutes,
>> >> and 250 text messages on one phone. I talked to a verizon
>> >rep
>> >> yesterday to see what my smartphone options are.
>> >>
>> >> For purposes of this discussion, I'm talking about
>bringing
>> >my
>> >> own used device rather than buying one from verizon.
>> >>
>> >> One option they rave about is the share everything
>unlimited
>> >> plan. For this, the dumb phone costs $ 30 / mo, the smart
>> >> phone costs $ 40 / mo, and the 2 GB (used to be 3) data
>plan
>> >> costs $ 60 / mo. So, that totals to $ 130 / mo.
>> >>
>> >> However, the rep said I could actually keep my old plan,
>> >which
>> >> costs $ 75 / mo, and add a smart phone for $ 30 / mo. So,
>> >> that only adds up to $ 105 / mo. So, while I would not
>have
>> >> unlimited minutes and texts, and would still have 2 GB of
>> >> data, that's $ 25 / mo cheaper. I don't know if I'll do
>> >this,
>> >> since I can still use my tablet at wifi hotspots. But, I
>> >> thought I'd pass it along.
>> >>
>> >> Sincerely,
>> >>
>> >> Ron
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >>
>> >> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth
>keyboard
>> >> and K-9 Mail.
>> >> Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the
>touch
>> >> screen.
>> >>
>> >> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you
>> >> might want to
>> >> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from
>> >> alternate energy
>> >> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email
>> >messages
>> >> very quickly.)
>> >>
>> >> Ron Frazier
>> >> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
>> >> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>> >> Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
>> >> Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU
>> >>
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >>
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
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>>
>> --
>>
>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9
>Mail.
>> Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.
>>
>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want
>to
>> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate
>energy
>> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very
>quickly.)
>>
>> Ron Frazier
>> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>> Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
>> Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU
>>
--
Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)
Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU
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