can you hear me now!?

[deveil]

being generally resentful of the tyrannical nature of such things as alarm clocks, doorbells and telephones, i tend to be a late adopter of some new technologies.

as regards phones: the point has been reached where i’ve now become a burden to friends and family. i’ve even been teased and made fun of on occasion (you know who you are, ellis).

so, cell phone service providers for the pulpit, woodstock and high rock areas - is one clearly superior or are there choices?

(i do like email. i find it less imposing, less insistent and more respectful. flush toilets, microwaves, velcro and crocs are also cool)

[jyoder111]

Verizon doesn't get service in the valley behind or up the back of Woodstock. Never had a problem anywhere else.

[pink_albatross]

Well, Gary

email is good, texting is good, but there might be some latency involved. Not great if your buddy wants to get rescued and his text/email only gets to your phone two days later.

Verizon has excellent coverage - in general. Daniel's LZ only works on the little hump in the field. Works on launch though. Woodstock launch and LZ - check. Pulpit launch and LZ - check. Bill's Hill launch - check (can't remember about LZ). Dickey's - can't remember.

If you want to wait, I'll try out my Virgin Mobile phone this weekend, which has by far the best plan for the sporadic user ($20 every 3 months, with unused portion rolling over).

-- ellis

[deveil]

oh, sorry ellis, i meant elVis. we still talk sometimes you know, but you're right, it can be sporadic - ever since he ‘left the building’ we’ve had to talk through this woman. ‘calls herself a medium. i’d call her medium-to-lousy. the reception can be very spotty. she says stuff like “oh, we can’t seem to reach him tonight, the crystal ball is cloudy” or some other such nonsense. now she’s raised her rates, again. i thought it would be a good time to look for a better service provider, certainly better than just medium. and like i said, maybe even go cellular.

Virgin Mobile, that was the name of one of his tours, right? or madonna, maybe it was madonna. we talk sometimes too. her mediums can rEally be a pain in the butt, call themselves priests and act all holier than thou. and talk about high fees - they're abusive . i ought to sue them.

yeah, definitely time to get a new service provider.

garyDemento

[silverwings]

Since Gary started this topic, I wanted to add that I am looking for recommendations regarding cell carriers for a new cell phone that I will be getting late this month or early next month. I currently have a cell phone through work with Verizon which works fairly good but will be giving up at the end of May when I retire. I intend on getting a 4G smart phone with qwerty and will primarily use it for phone & text & web access locally (including local flying sites and Hyner) and travel in the US primarily Florida & So. California. Any recommendations regarding carriers for my expected use would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[mcgowantk]

I have ATT and have good coverage whereever I go. However, I would not count on getting coverage at Hyner, but I doubt anyone would.

Tom McGowan

[CraginS]

At Hyner launch, I get bars purporting to announce Verizon service, but no service. No bars or service in the valley. But then, I have not known of any one to get service at Hyner.

On the subject of using SMS text messages when out flying - more than once I have had text and even voice mail delayed by many hours when at Pulpit and Woodstock. Not sure, but I suspect that is due to delays when only in analog mode; text might have to wait for a digital connection

[deveil]

tom, is your server either Tracfone or Net10? providers such as these seem to provide provide the best deals. so it's nice to hear that there are options. from what i've been able to determine, Tracphone sells only the GSM phones in this area, which means that the service provider that they deal with would be other than verizon. follows is some of what i came up with from the rough research that i did:

"TracFone provides five brands of service: TracFone, NET10, Safelink Wireless, Straight Talk, and Senior Value Cellphone."

"The TracFone-branded service allows a customer to buy airtime units to use on selected digital phones by Kyocera, LG, Motorola, and Samsung. "

"Which handset the user purchases determines what type of network the service uses."

"Tracfone CDMA phones work on the Verizon, Alltel and US Cellular CDMA networks."

"The Tracfone GSM phones work on the AT&T and T-Mobile GSM networks."

Under most circumstances if At&t or T-Mobile has service in your area then the only Tracfones you will be able to buy in your area will be GSM Tracfones."

.http://www.compare-prepaid-cell-phones. ... -CDMA.html
.http://www.compare-prepaid-cell-phones. ... Deals.html

-------------------------

.also:
."Carriers
Currently, TracFone uses the networks of several different cellphone carriers to provide service.
For GSM models:
AT&T
T-Mobile
Claro (Puerto Rico only)
For CDMA models:
Verizon
US Cellular
On TracFones with SIM cards, the carrier can be identified in the same manner as any other SIM-based phone, by interpreting the SIM number.[citation needed] On T-Mobile phones, the first line of the SIM number will end in "SIMT5", on AT&T/Cingular, the first line will end in "SIMC4", and on Claro, the first line will end with "SIMCL7"
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TracFone_Wireless#Service

[bustedwing2]

I have Verizon and never a problem with coverage in Pa,Md,Va,Nj,De,Vt and points in between,However I haven't been flying sites other than Pulpit,Ridgely,Bills(didnt use phone),haven't been to HR in a while.Locals here in McConnellsburg get spotty coverage with AT&T,as I did before I got fed up with them and swapped carriers.A smart phone is nice,you can get weather,news,utube videos,game schedules,maps(zoom to street level read the signs see one way arrows),bit pricey monthly service fee.LG Vortex, 100 bucks online with a 1 year commitment(contract).Got it because they didn't have any refurbished(not being sent back=good)of this model. good luck richb

[lbunner]

Congrats to John M! I use AT&T and have no issues in all my travels (except Hyner) although I did have to walk around a field a bit north of Big Spring, TX to finally get coverage.

[pch]

TracFone, Net10, LG600G, 300min/60days=$30.= happy camper.
Peter H.

[deveil]

that helps clarify things, thanks Peter.

Tracfone will not sell me an Lg600G for the falls church area.

Net10 will sell me an Lg600G for the falls church area.

which then would mean that any phone bought from Tracfone directly(for this area) or through a brick and mortar location and which specifies Tracfone as the server would use ATT.

and any phone bought from Net10 directly(for this area) or through a brick and mortar location and which specifies Net10 as the server would use Verizon.

i believe that should be a pretty solid deduction, as Net10 and Tracfone phones use either GSM OR CDMA and not both. Verizon uses CDMA technology while ATT uses GSM technology

and you would be having Verizon as your actual server, Peter. at least i hope that's true 'cause if it's not then all of the above is crap, with me being the spewer.

btw, both Net10 and Tracfone offer services beyond prepaid, all the bells and whistles it would appear.

[pch]

Net 10 is owned by TracFone, no? I have no idea who the network provider is for my Net10 phone. When you really get right down to it; aren't they all pretty much the same? I'm basically an Amish/luddite. I don't fly with a radio OR a vario, so as far as I'm concerned...I bought my phone on-line with 300mins/60days, $80.(included extras) so my calls are short (don't call me, I'll call you - email or Skype is even better - free). I like the prepaid because it's only $15/mo. Good luck out there in cell phone shoppingland.

[pch]

GSM = Get Screwed Man? CDMA = Cell Dilema My Ass?

[deveil]

it would seem that we share some predilections. also my situation is different from most, who are almost required to have one and thus using them becomes second nature.
i was told that the carrier can make a difference in some situations/locations, thus the "can you hear me now!?" so i wanted to get one that would be most useful as well as cost the least bucks(more money for beer), also i was raised to be frugal.
it's apparent that the net10 and tracfone aRe the best deals for sporadic users, as i intend to be. verizon and att both offer prepaid plans but they throw in "miscellaneous" fees. and as it turns out, yeah, it appears that both att and verizon can do the job, and i don't know if that was generally known.
flying without a vario (cool) would support the "back to nature" philosophy but i think that even knOwing about Skype puts your credentials in jeopardy.
gary
interestingly, some amish sects won't have a phone in their homes but can have one out by the barn and they are allowed to use pay phones (in my youth i had a summer job working with an amish carpenter) (and i realize the amish thing was just a throw away line). i also knew an old oLd timer who told me about hollering across a hollow to his buddy so they knew when the other was leaving their house to head off to work and they could meet up along the way. 'guess progress ain't all bad, considering.

good thing i didn't call you and run on like this, on your nickel! hah!

[pch]

Gary, it's actually more like .10cents per minute minimun. In Japan we used the Taiko drum for commuication relay between villages. It's just that I was paying AT&T $80./month for 2 phones, now it's only $30.($50. more for beer ingredients - home brewer). My son got me into Shype(kids these days).
Peter