Monday, September 21, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
How to know which carrier is right for you.
[Currently seeking partners from all carriers to sell phones on this blog. Must be an "Authorized Dealer" in Northern California.]
***Sumbit your wireless phone question now...be on the next podcast!***
Before I cover the carriers, think about what you require. There are three technologies used in the US, each with its own strengths. [IDEN is not mentioned because those users should be using PowerSource phones (IDEN & CDMA in one phone). Look for the "ic" in the phone model over here if this applies to you.]
Do you need access outside the US?
Get a GSM (Global Standard for Mobile) phone, or a hybrid phone.
Want to be guaranteed the clearest calls and fastest transfer rate (of 3G, WiFi & WiMax are excluded for simplicity)?
Get a CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access).
Don't like proprietary-ness?
GSM is an open standard.
Need a SIM card (small card containing the phonebook, under the battery)?
GSM, though you can buy a good cheap USB cable for CDMA phones to backup your phonebook, or do it wirelessly with Bluetooth.
Before you begin, start with this article from Consumer Reports.
The next question used to be "Contract or Prepaid?" MetroPCS changed the game by eliminating contracts for users of their service, just like Sprint changed the high prices of a decade ago. [The downside is losing the "six-second increment," and as a result, if you go over the current sixty-second increment by even one second, you are charged for the next full minute. Hang up at the phone at the fifty second mark to disconnect from the tower in time. This is true of all providers except satellite phones. This search shows that Inmarsat allows for 15-second increment, for example.]
Contract - Best rates, best coverage, best support.
PrePaid - Recommend Verizon or AT&T, because they own their networks. The others pay them for access. Avoid Jitterbug and Tracfone unless you use the phone less than 100 minutes per month.
Verizon (CDMA): Largest network, best customer service, best tech support, highest prices overall. Vodafone (world's largest mobile carrier) owns a substantial stake, so they have the best selection of GSM/CDMA hybrids. With the rollout of 700Mhz, they may well cover the whole country with no dead zones. Sold from 2001-2005
AT&T (GSM): The original monopoly attempts to reconstitute itself. Please watch this Colbert Report video. The jokes got cut off the end, but the point is made. He didn't even go into the full detail (i.e. Pacific Bell). Sold from 2005-2008.
T-Mobile (GSM): Being owned by the second largest wireless carrier in the world (Deutch Telekom - GSM) helps, but their data prices are higher than you might expect. Be aware that for data, they are the weakest. Never Sold.
SprintPCS (CDMA): Though the technology is excellent, the company is determined to be third-place. Their Wimax partnership may change that. Customer since 1997. Sold from 2001-2008
MetroPCS (CDMA) Because they don't subsidize phones, you must pay full price, plus you must buy a phone to sign up for their service. Once you do, you can now migrate your CDMA devices over...a big plus. Never Sold.
Cricket (CDMA): If you never leave your neck of the woods, this has good flat-rate pricing. Not good for internet...those customers should go to MetroPCS. Never Sold.
***Sumbit your wireless phone question now...be on the next podcast!***
Before I cover the carriers, think about what you require. There are three technologies used in the US, each with its own strengths. [IDEN is not mentioned because those users should be using PowerSource phones (IDEN & CDMA in one phone). Look for the "ic" in the phone model over here if this applies to you.]
Do you need access outside the US?
Get a GSM (Global Standard for Mobile) phone, or a hybrid phone.
Want to be guaranteed the clearest calls and fastest transfer rate (of 3G, WiFi & WiMax are excluded for simplicity)?
Get a CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access).
Don't like proprietary-ness?
GSM is an open standard.
Need a SIM card (small card containing the phonebook, under the battery)?
GSM, though you can buy a good cheap USB cable for CDMA phones to backup your phonebook, or do it wirelessly with Bluetooth.
Before you begin, start with this article from Consumer Reports.
The next question used to be "Contract or Prepaid?" MetroPCS changed the game by eliminating contracts for users of their service, just like Sprint changed the high prices of a decade ago. [The downside is losing the "six-second increment," and as a result, if you go over the current sixty-second increment by even one second, you are charged for the next full minute. Hang up at the phone at the fifty second mark to disconnect from the tower in time. This is true of all providers except satellite phones. This search shows that Inmarsat allows for 15-second increment, for example.]
Contract - Best rates, best coverage, best support.
PrePaid - Recommend Verizon or AT&T, because they own their networks. The others pay them for access. Avoid Jitterbug and Tracfone unless you use the phone less than 100 minutes per month.
Verizon (CDMA): Largest network, best customer service, best tech support, highest prices overall. Vodafone (world's largest mobile carrier) owns a substantial stake, so they have the best selection of GSM/CDMA hybrids. With the rollout of 700Mhz, they may well cover the whole country with no dead zones. Sold from 2001-2005
AT&T (GSM): The original monopoly attempts to reconstitute itself. Please watch this Colbert Report video. The jokes got cut off the end, but the point is made. He didn't even go into the full detail (i.e. Pacific Bell). Sold from 2005-2008.
T-Mobile (GSM): Being owned by the second largest wireless carrier in the world (Deutch Telekom - GSM) helps, but their data prices are higher than you might expect. Be aware that for data, they are the weakest. Never Sold.
SprintPCS (CDMA): Though the technology is excellent, the company is determined to be third-place. Their Wimax partnership may change that. Customer since 1997. Sold from 2001-2008
MetroPCS (CDMA) Because they don't subsidize phones, you must pay full price, plus you must buy a phone to sign up for their service. Once you do, you can now migrate your CDMA devices over...a big plus. Never Sold.
Cricket (CDMA): If you never leave your neck of the woods, this has good flat-rate pricing. Not good for internet...those customers should go to MetroPCS. Never Sold.
How to extend your battery life.
The easiest way to extend battery life is to turn off your phone. This one act not only conserves power, but will give you a bump in time due to physics, but I Am Not A Physicist. I just know my experience over six personal phones (soon to become seven, going from Sprint to MetroPCS) and hundreds of customer phones.
A big secret is that acquiring signal uses power in addition to the power the transmitter draws, so going into Airplane Mode will extend your battery life in areas of shaky signal.
The scientific advance is that transmitting the signal within the phone itself (getting rid of the wire from the antenna to the phone) is projected to extend battery life 5-7 times, once implemented.
A big secret is that acquiring signal uses power in addition to the power the transmitter draws, so going into Airplane Mode will extend your battery life in areas of shaky signal.
The scientific advance is that transmitting the signal within the phone itself (getting rid of the wire from the antenna to the phone) is projected to extend battery life 5-7 times, once implemented.
Use your phone while it is technically off.
On some Nokia phones, if you set the alarm and power off the phone, it still goes off.
I am not talking about that.
Once I get it encoded, I will embed the video of me playing Snood with the phone off. You know it's off because the area with the signal bars literally says "Phone Off."
In your settings menu, you should see a setting called either "Airplane Mode" or "Flight Mode." This gives you the power to turn off your transmitter, so you truly have a PDA (all phones have calendars and calculators, even the lowly Sanyo 4900 or Motorola C139 qualify on some level).
I am not talking about that.
Once I get it encoded, I will embed the video of me playing Snood with the phone off. You know it's off because the area with the signal bars literally says "Phone Off."
In your settings menu, you should see a setting called either "Airplane Mode" or "Flight Mode." This gives you the power to turn off your transmitter, so you truly have a PDA (all phones have calendars and calculators, even the lowly Sanyo 4900 or Motorola C139 qualify on some level).
Thursday, January 1, 2009
How to make sure your voice mail/text message gets through.
Make sure you learn the system you are using, both the voicemail/text as well as your device and the recipient's device. The more you know, the more control you have.
In the case of voicemail, there is a tendency to hang up. I suggest hitting # (or 1 in some systems) to get the menu, then hit 1 to send. Many require two presses of the 1 to assign urgency on the way to sending. You will be told the message was sent, and you shouldn't assume a send without hearing that message.
Likewise with texts, you should wait until the process is complete. It's worth the peace of mind.
In the case of voicemail, there is a tendency to hang up. I suggest hitting # (or 1 in some systems) to get the menu, then hit 1 to send. Many require two presses of the 1 to assign urgency on the way to sending. You will be told the message was sent, and you shouldn't assume a send without hearing that message.
Likewise with texts, you should wait until the process is complete. It's worth the peace of mind.
Friday, October 17, 2008
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