I finally changed both my phone and the carrier, and hope things might become better. It's still just the first day but so far the folk haven't really pissed me off and that's a surprise and a comfort. There were several issue that lead to this; primarily apathy of the personnel at my old carrier but also just constant little annoyances. One month for some yet unexplained reason the bill was a penny more than usual and I failed to notice the difference and just sent a check for the normal amount. Then I started getting past due notices so tried to pay the penny but they have a policy of not allowing online or credit card payment of less than a dollar. Yossarian would understand. Now I use my cell phone for some really strange things it seems, I make calls. I don't watch videos on the phone, listen to music on the phone, surf the web from my phone, take pictures with my phone, just calls and texts. Unfortunately I also had a really really really really bad vertigo attack last week that left me lying on the bathroom floor and so sick there was no way I was going to get to my phone even if it was necessary. I do wear, and have always worn a watch, so the new Dick Tracy Two-Way Radio Wrist Watches definitely looked like the solution for a very real problem. I headed in to the carriers office to find a person near the door playing a game on his phone who gave the very definite impression that I was intruding unreasonably into his life. I explained that I got an email saying I was eligible for an upgrade so I'd like to add one of the new watches. He said I would need a second line and they no longer had the almost no data option line like the one I currently have and I'd need to upgrade my current line and add a second line. Oh, and he'd need a $75.00 deposit plus taxes up front but could then order the watch. Oh, and that my current phone was a Microsoft Phone so it would not work with the watch. Once there was a little boy who order a Captain Midnight Glow in the Dark Secret Decoder Ring. Each day he would wait patiently for the mail to come; yet day after day, no box arrived. He was a good boy and always said his prayers but finally "There is no God" sprang from his lips. He went to bed, hiding beneath his covers lest God should strike him dead during the night. But the box came and the ring glowed green in the night. So I didn't go quite that far but I did go to another carrier with an office pretty close to where I live. And they had the watch, and a phone that would work with the watch, and a plan for Old Farts, and could port both phone and watch to my old number and they had them in stock and the total monthly cost was only about ten dollars more than the single line with the old carrier. And the watch too glows in the night.
I’m glad that it worked out for you in the end. I think that the majority of cellphone plans are rip-offs. They try and upsell customers to the more expensive plan, sell insurance on the phones (I never buy that), and then all of the taxes and fees.... it’s out of control! You’re encouraging me to shop around.
That's a good story. I have only had a cell phone for about three years now. At first they charged for texts. I don't text, so if someone sent me a text, my bill would go up. Now, I have unlimited text. I still don't text. I just have a flip phone that I make and receive calls on. I am on an Old Farts plan, too, and pay about $54 a month for my phone and my wife's phone. That way I don't get lost in the Walmart. I quit wearing a watch when I retired. The Dick Tracy thing sounds neat though.
@jar I really like your story and am glad it worked out for you in the end. I am finding these new millennials know nothing when it comes to customer service. It's like a foreign concept to them. For all you old farts that just use your phone to make calls or the occasional text that someone send to you, look at the phone carrier "Ting". I had them for about three years and my In-Laws are still with them.
I am not in the USA but that sounds incredibly expensive! My wife has a €5/month contract for voice and text only (she doesn't need data) and I pay €10/month for a contract that includes 1GB data. That is for a SIM-only contract, by the way. But €150 already buys you a capable phone that lasts several years. -- Pitralon forever - Real pens have a nib - If it doesn't tick, it's not a watch.
Yup. Talk is not Cheap in the US. Update and all is still working but did find first issue. The watch has an "Health" app that came on it and is always sending me encouragement or instructions; and so far there is no way to turn it off or uninstall it.
Good or bad I don't know but I remember when you had a phone in your house and if no one answered it meant you weren't home. Then answering machines came along. Sometimes I want to go back to that. Fast forward to today and I find my phone useful in many ways from assisting with navigation, photos, calculator, and other stuff. I don't Facebook or twitter but I could if I wanted to. I dumped my blood sucking carrier a while back for a pay as you go outfit from Walmart that does everything I want and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Buy a phone, pick the amount of usage you want and that's it. No account and I don't think they even have my name and address. It works perfectly.
Can you transfer your existing number to a Walmart phone? I've got a smart phone and it can be handy (driving directions especially), but it can also suck you in to wasting a lot of time. All I really need is a line and the ability to text.
I don't want to shill for the company but with a little Google fu you should be able to find what you need.
You can use their Straight Talk service, and transfer your number. It is a “pay as you go” service, but you can set it up on an auto pay through a card, and it works no differently than any other carrier. They send me a text every month a few days before they charge for the month, and notify me on the day of the charge. I have never had to deal with pre-paying, or recharging. I have four phones through them, two with 12 gigs high speed @$45 a month, and two with unlimited @$55. I use one as my work phone, and travel a good portion of the Midwest with it. Generally no service problems except in areas where everyone has service problems. I use a lot of mapping and GIS data point entry type stuff, and have no troubles. No more or less than when I had Verizon. Downsides are that customer service is in India, and was horrible. . I have only had to use it once, a few years ago. That was activating a new service. Most everything can be handled from the website, which works quite well. You cannot set up a hot spot, which would be nice. You can buy a separate hot spot plan, but they rape you for data. You need to buy your phones outright, or pay an insane monthly payment to buy in installments. That is no big deal to me, especially since with Apple, every time a new model comes out, the last one becomes really cheap. Overall, I strongly recommend. Verizon gave me ulcers for enough years.
I don't have any experience with Straight talk customer service since I haven't had any issues. Verizon customer service on the other hand.... I returned a phone 6 months ago, have the receipt and they still after several calls think I owe them 500 for the pos. Since it was actually in my wife's name good luck collecting...
Just had my watch and phone start shouting at me. Seems Amber Alerts go out to all the phones on the network automatically. That's nice but I do wish they did those when I'm not sleeping.
Your phone likely has a "Do Not Disturb" feature that silences alerts unless allowed by you. It silences the phone entirely at night. You can program special exceptions (like family members) and sleep in peace, while only your people can make your phone ring at night.
I would expect cell phone use to be cheaper in the USA than here, because you have a much larger market. But what I also tried to point out is that a SIM-only contract is usually the cheaper option when you can live without a high-end phone. -- Pitralon forever - Real pens have a nib - If it doesn't tick, it's not a watch.
Me too. Everything else is cheap in the US, but try and talk on your phone, that's where we compensate for the other low prices Perhaps it's lack of competition? I don't have the cheapest contract, but with free Tidal streaming, free text, 20 hours of talk and 20GB data per month I pay the equivalent of 24 USD per contract. Other carriers have eg. Spotify instead or some other music service, but that's the general price here for such a package. SIM-only.
I am surprised how much less every year my phone company wants my business. I have never seen a utility so desiring to get rid of me as a customer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
It's almost a week now and I figured out how to get rid of all the games and stuff that came on the phone so now it pretty much works the way I like. There are still some built in apps I'd like to get rid of on the watch but I will learn to live with them I imagine.
