Cell phone

[hellosailor]

skip-
Dead certain. It is standard policy across all carriers, to allow only authorized makes and models to connect. So you can buy a Tracfone with a year prepaid on a GSM network, but no one will unlock it or service it except Tracfone. I happened to be looking at an HTC "developers edition" of a phone, which has less bloatware and is carrier-agnostic. I was thinking of trying out Verizon, and that phone covered all the bases. Except, there was a note that Verizon refuses to authorize them, because they can be used elsewhere. Google has had the same problem with some of their superphones as well.
All the carriers know that if they can commit you to a $600 phone that only works with them, you aren't going anywhere else for a while. So the smaller guys may be more generous, but the big ones certainly aren't. Yet.

[Kenomac]

I guess for some of you, seeing is believing.

Verizon iPhone 6 on T-Mobile international unlimited data plan, using the TIM Italian network, 3G.

Hotspot turned on and working.

[a64pilot]

Ken, your overseas, and I believe the phones are truly unlocked for overseas use, however they are not 100% unlocked in the US.
That is my untested belief anyway.
They play with words as you know, like the "unlimited" plans are usually limited to 10 gig hotspot, and your throttled to 2 G speed above a certain point.
I would not be surprised if they have a definition for unlocked that is similar to their definition of unlimited.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Ken, your overseas, and I believe the phones are truly unlocked for overseas use, however they are not 100% unlocked in the US.
That is my untested belief anyway.
They play with words as you know, like the "unlimited" plans are usually limited to 10 gig hotspot, and your throttled to 2 G speed above a certain point.
I would not be surprised if they have a definition for unlocked that is similar to their definition of unlimited.

My wife and daughter are using the same set up in the US. We're on the same family plan.

[RobPatterson]

I use a Motorola Droid in Mexico via Verizon on their travel plan. Works great. My wife wanted a new phone after we arrived in La Paz so she got a pre-paid Samsung Galaxy from Telcel and that works great too. We can use either as a hotspot but we have a wirie setup to get WiFi signals so we don't use phone data very much.
I think the Verizon CDMA issue is pretty much a thing of the past.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

My wife and daughter are using the same set up in the US. We're on the same family plan.

So you are saying that a Verizon IPhone 6 on T-mobile in the US will hotspot?
If so that is good news

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by ReMetau

Were you able to use the phone as a hotspot? Every time I tried it using an unlocked Verizon phone and a different SIM, it would say checking for service authorization and fail.

This was a few years ago when hotspot was just coming along and was an extra charge so neither of us had that on our account. What I did was put her ATT SIM in my Verizon phone and made a call to a third number. Worked perfectly and her number showed on the caller ID. I also tested my Verizon SIM in her ATT phone and that also worked.

[CaptsWife]

We switched to Google Fi quite a few months ago. As I'm sure you're aware, it uses Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular networks. The only other cell phone carrier I've ever used was Verizon because I believe it has the best coverage in the US (I've lived and travelled in very rural areas of the US and I always had good service). But the cost......wowza!

So far, we have not had any issues with coverage in the US, but I'll admit, I don't travel much anymore. We bought the plan (and you must use their phones - we bought the older, cheaper ones) because it is purported to work in all the countries we will be travelling to (Bahamas, Caribbean, Central America). For us, service is still untested as we haven't left the US (we did go to Cuba which it is supposed to work there, but Cuba is a different circumstance, needing to buy "time" which we didn't try as we really didn't need to call anyone), so we will see. I did read reviews and blogs about it and it is "supposed" to work.

Picture quality is not as good as the Samsung phones, FWIW.

Bottom line for us, in the US, it's working fine and we pay almost 2/3s less than what we were paying with Verizon.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

skip-
Dead certain. It is standard policy across all carriers, to allow only authorized makes and models to connect. So you can buy a Tracfone with a year prepaid on a GSM network, but no one will unlock it or service it except Tracfone. I happened to be looking at an HTC "developers edition" of a phone, which has less bloatware and is carrier-agnostic. I was thinking of trying out Verizon, and that phone covered all the bases. Except, there was a note that Verizon refuses to authorize them, because they can be used elsewhere. Google has had the same problem with some of their superphones as well.
All the carriers know that if they can commit you to a $600 phone that only works with them, you aren't going anywhere else for a while. So the smaller guys may be more generous, but the big ones certainly aren't. Yet.

If this is all correct I don't understand how I just now took my wife's ATT SIM from her iPhone put it in my Verizon Samsung Galaxy (using an adapter since the SIM sizes are different), called my land line with the Samsung and the caller ID showed my wife's ATT number.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by CaptsWife

The only other cell phone carrier I've ever used was Verizon because I believe it has the best coverage in the US (I've lived and travelled in very rural areas of the US and I always had good service). But the cost......wowza!

I firmly believe that every cow pie in the US has a Verizon tower. *grin* Seriously, their coverage is good. AT&T is and has been catching up. The difference is marginal on a grand scale but if you don't have a signal you don't care. Sprint and T-Mobile are scrambling for a distant third.

I have AT&T. My wife has Verizon. When we travel together we can compare. Sometimes there are dead spots for Verizon. Sometimes there are dead spots for AT&T. When AT&T has a signal it's generally faster.

On delivery I have crew with all kinds of services. Coming in from offshore you can tell who has what as the text messages and voice mail notifications start rolling in. Whether Verizon or AT&T is "better" depends on where we are. Some places are anomalies: parts of Maine only work well with US Cellular and parts of the Carolinas are just flat dead along the ICW (at least at water level). For whatever reason Deltaville VA is a hole for all providers. NYC is always a problem although I suspect that is from loading not coverage.

I stay with AT&T because I find the international coverage to be best. My wife stays with Verizon because for her heavy US travel obligations the slightly better coverage makes a discernible difference.

Between personal and work we have seven phone numbers (down from eight in the last few months) spread over six area codes, not including three local SIM numbers that are still working in the Bahamas and Caribbean. Someday I hope to get us down to three but that will mean retiring and giving up fax. *grin* For those keeping track, we have NO landlines. Everything is either cellular or VOIP.

There are emotional implications as well. I've had my 703 base number for 40 years. People I went to high school with can still reach me. Janet feels the same about her 602 number. Google Voice gives us a "home" number that rings both phones. Everything else is VOIP of one flavor or another.

Regardless, all the phone numbers mean keeping our two cell phones connected is pretty important. The difference between my AT&T and Janet's Verizon is really small. Comparing with crew, on the water, with T-Mobile, Sprint, US Cellular, Straight Talk, yadda yadda yadda there is a noticeable difference.

Coverage outside the US on local system is a moving target. In most places it's pretty darn good.

[a64pilot]

I think I am going back to Verizon, just cough up the extra cash
I cut us down to one phone, and for 5 gig of data, actual cost was over $60 with Verizon.
Going to straight talk, which has worked great for our daughter for the last year ( she was the guinea pig). Anyway we have 8 gig for $45 there, but as I discovered no hot spot, which is strange cause it works on her Samsung, however when I started looking hot spotting is not authorized, so you are going against terms of service.

We are now just Retired and beginning cruising, so I'm trying to cut all cost I can down, cause of course they add up.

Now I am stuck with Marina Wifi, which of course is nearly unusable, and has long times it's down completely.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I think I am going back to Verizon, just cough up the extra cash
I cut us down to one phone, and for 5 gig of data, actual cost was over $60 with Verizon.
Going to straight talk, which has worked great for our daughter for the last year ( she was the guinea pig). Anyway we have 8 gig for $45 there, but as I discovered no hot spot, which is strange cause it works on her Samsung, however when I started looking hot spotting is not authorized, so you are going against terms of service.

We are now just Retired and beginning cruising, so I'm trying to cut all cost I can down, cause of course they add up.

Now I am stuck with Marina Wifi, which of course is nearly unusable, and has long times it's down completely.

Congratulations on your retirement, from previous posts its been obvious you've been counting the days.
Hope its everything you want it to be and more.
Adjusting the money to the new paradigm can be abit tuff, its just a habit thing, good luck.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I think I am going back to Verizon, just cough up the extra cash
I cut us down to one phone, and for 5 gig of data, actual cost was over $60 with Verizon.
Going to straight talk, which has worked great for our daughter for the last year ( she was the guinea pig). Anyway we have 8 gig for $45 there, but as I discovered no hot spot, which is strange cause it works on her Samsung, however when I started looking hot spotting is not authorized, so you are going against terms of service.

We are now just Retired and beginning cruising, so I'm trying to cut all cost I can down, cause of course they add up.

Now I am stuck with Marina Wifi, which of course is nearly unusable, and has long times it's down completely.

I'm currently on Verizon and looking at changing to a different plan. I think that the prepaid plans offer the same services, speed, etc but at a pretty good savings. I see only two things that I question. From the Verizon website.

- Video streams up to 480p. We may prioritize your data behind other customers during times/places of network congestion.
- Mobile Hotspot and Tethering not included. You must have sufficient account balance at time of renewal to cover the Monthly Access to use the service.

The meaning of the first is obvious, a prepaid customer is the orphan child and will get only the leftovers if there are too many eating at the table. The second I think it means you can do tethering/hotspot but at additional charge. For now this isn't a big issue for me but might be at a later time.

Still trying to sort this out. You might want to look into that option and see what you think.

[CapnCrunch]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Verizon will tell you plenty of wrong info, just to get you to stay with them.

I can attest to that. Both Verizon and AT&T folks have outright LIED to me - the former to get me to stay and the latter to get me to switch.

[captfolly]

...been using Google fi phone service for about 2 years and two trips to the Bahamas...it just works
..! no sim card change, nada, when we were in range of the Bimini tower it just said "welcome to the bahamas"... anyone calling my number it would ring if we were in range of a tower...no extra data charges and used it as a hotspot too...phones are expensive , we bought a used nexus 6 on Amazon...billing is awesome simple...best phone service I have used...and yes it is an unlocked Android phone...and no contract either...

fair winds,

George