Rant Thread - What really grinds your gears?

[LOveWerks]

Welcome home here, LW

Cool Kaat. @Kaat72, the guide who shared her travels with us - which, was very cool, and I consider myself fortunate to have seen your tour. I've been abroad, and I've traveled the lower 48 of the USA - but, as a musician. I never really got a chance to stop and check out many of the sights and locations that I wanted to.
Thank you for the welcome, and I'm trying to get my better half to join AF, so that she can meet people like you, and if anyone here gets a chance to be a friend - even in cyberspace - they will love her, as I do.

She has the ability to enable the jaded, cynical people that we all know - even the 'psychic vampires', that drain your true energy - to find hope, wonderment, and peace within. That's why I'm so lucky... no, strike that last remark...

That's why I'm blessed.

LW

 

[LOveWerks]

If you are still planning to move to CO, I'd get a no-contract phone, and check out who has coverage where you will be living. The foothills can be hit and miss. TMO usually doesn't work and it varies between the others. You would also need to check on bringing your own device if you buy expensive phones. Not all places have LTE on some bands, yet, so you just might be in an area that requires a CDMA or GSM phone and an MNVO might not work.

Altitude is the problem.

@zuben el genub - The Answer Man. Here's where we're going to be living, besides visiting Denver where her family is.

Jefferson County, in-between Conifer, and Morrison... is somewhere in the 6,000 feet above sea level range in the foothills, about 15-20 minutes away from the venue Red Rocks - any ideas on what to suggest, as we're getting new phones any time now. Being a person who prefers a smartphone over CDMA (a basic cellphone, like the phones offered by Jitterbug), and - GSM seems to be popular in Europe... Please forgive my ignorance - MNVO, a mobile network virtual operator - doesn't that describe carriers like Boost, Virgin Mobile, any phone carrier that 'piggybacks' on a major carrier's data network?

LW

 

[zuben el genub]

I used to live there long before cell phones. We have comparable from CO SPGS environment. Friends have a house in Green Mountain Falls. They went from Verizon to Sprint. TMO doesn't work there. I remember other friends in Picketwire having to stand on a hay bale to get ATT to work. Getting signal over mountains can be a problem.

All of the carriers have some form of LTE - I'd say V and ATT might have more.
They all have coverage maps. They all have some type of help forum, too. You can ask.

Verizon is mostly LTE, but I think there could still be some spots of CDMA. They use SIM phones. You can't BYOD unless it is a V device.

TMO is building out Band 12 LTE, but is asking some phone mfg to turn it off. It's data only, and TMO wants voice (VOLTE)* in those areas, too. So only phones sold in TMO stores would be compatible. I'm not sure about MNVOs. They all use one carrier or another, but rules, phones, could all be different. Metro is part of TMO, but still switching from the old CDMA system.

I can get Band 4 on the Oppo.

*People see 5 bars of signal on the phone, and it's data only. They can't make a call.
So they gripe. You can't get e911 either.

As for signal - Moab, UT used to have warnings in all the motel rooms. "If you can't see the LaSal Mountains - no cell service" You need a GPS satellite type phone. You won't get any signal if you are canyoneering. I can use the Oppo out there, but most of the phones are Verizon.

At least in these days with fuel injected engines, you don't have to tweak a carb to get the car uphill.

 

[bjacks12]

T-Mobile has completed the Metro conversion from CDMA to GSM/LTE.

There is no 'MetroPCS' network anymore. It's the same network as T-Mobile. Band 12 is being built out in rural Colorado, but I don't know by individual area. Sensorly.com shows LTE coverage along the highway from Morrison to Connifer, but who knows outside of that(it relies on passive tracking on phones that have the app installed...so mostly travelers following the highway I assume).

Safest bet for coverage is probably Verizon. Looks like T-mobile will have coverage there, but who knows for sure when.

I don't really follow AT&T or Sprint's coverage, but keep in mind that on the Sprint MVNOs(Boost, Virgin, etc) they have a much smaller coverage footprint than if you're on Sprint postpaid.


CDMA doesn't refer to whether a phone is a basic phone or smartphone, but rather the type of radio/signal used. The two technologies are CDMA and GSM(with LTE being an evolution of GSM).

The vast majority of cell carriers have always used GSM, especially outside of the United States. Here in the US, Verizon and Sprint have been CDMA carriers while AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM. GSM uses a sim, CDMA has the information hard coded into the device. Prior to LTE, if you wanted to switch phones on a CDMA network, you had to call in or go to the store and have them switch it.

Now that LTE has become standard, CDMA is slowly dying off. It's used only for 2G and 3G services on VZW and Sprint....but as LTE is built out and VoLTE becomes popular, CDMA will eventually disappear entirely.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

In & around the Colorado Springs area, supposedly T-Mo works just fine. My brother lives there & had Sprint for years (so that works, too), & he & his wife switched to T-Mo in the last year or so & they're happy with the coverage. He drives a route delivering Frito Lay snacks to grocery & convenience stores, so he must have decent coverage when he's out driving too, or I'd have heard about it.

 

[zuben el genub]

Green Mtn Falls is up the pass on HWY 24. It is a canyon and Verizon seems to have a lock on those communities. I was surprised when a friend switched to Sprint - I have another friend with Sprint and she can't keep a conversation going in the car up and down hills locally. (her husband is driving) I've had no trouble with TMO locally.
When Alltel had service, there was no roaming. Even the Vulcan's old Nokia flip couldn't connect.

TMO is converting the old Metro towers. There are still a few original Metro users that they are converting. Cost of new phones to users was the hangup, I think.

Like I said, the map shows the coverage, but only for TMO phones. Not unlocked like the Nexus and Motorola. They have asked unlocked carriers to hold off on band 12 until the unlocked phones support VOLTE. ZTE, Google, Huawei, and Motorola apparently agreed. The phones have to pass TMO's certificates for VOLTE.

The issue is VOLTE. In one way, I can understand, but for those folks who depend on Google Maps, it stinks. If you understand that it's data only and want an unlocked phone, it stinks.

If I switch the Oppo to what it calls Auto, only Band 4 appears. If I put it on 3G, I can get HSPA and HSPA+ for data. If I go down the hill, I lose Band 4. Voice and text work all over.

 

[LOveWerks]

In & around the Colorado Springs area, supposedly T-Mo works just fine. My brother lives there & had Sprint for years (so that works, too), & he & his wife switched to T-Mo in the last year or so & they're happy with the coverage. He drives a route delivering Frito Lay snacks to grocery & convenience stores, so he must have decent coverage when he's out driving too, or I'd have heard about it.

Thanks, @PattiCakeUS. On a phone coverage website (hell, I forgot - Senior moment...), it showed Sprint being strong.

If that's the case, then Virgin Mobile should be fine

LW

 

[LOveWerks]

It is inappropriate to begin the day here at AF - even at the RANT thread - without saying:
Good Morning! @PattiCakeUS, @zuben el genub, @bjacks12, @starkraving, @Dngrsone, @CrimsonToker, @Gmash, @EarlyMon, @ocnbrze, @Unforgiven, @kct1975, @sleedeane, @Lordvincent 90, @Kaat72 (cool cat..!), @mikedt, EVERYONE that has posted to me in the past, present and future.

I hope that everyone has a good Tuesday. Today is cellphone day - my wife-to-be wants to replace the awful LG LG720 piece of locked bootloader s***, and stay with Boost (which uses Sprint, and Sprint coverage in the area we're moving to in CO is good). (a little secret - it was a gift from her mother, who actually pays the monthly charge).

Yet, I'm trying to locate unlocked Android smartphones in Central NC - it seems daunting.

Rant of the day: "Driving in the pouring rain, behind a pickup truck with vertical stack exhausts, and the occupants of the truck are drunk, high or both - and the speed limit is 70 mph. The pickup truck guys are doing a wobbly 58 mph, and in the left lane - a continual stream of vehicles passing by prevent us from passing this vehicle. Arrghh! PITA Factor: 10+)."

LW

 

[Kaat72]

Mister LW... Good morning? I'm heating up a pizza for dinner...

 

[zuben el genub]

I don't think Sprint allows unlocked phones. You can unlock one but not bring it. Check Swappa. If you bought a phone from Boost, you would be OK.

 

[Bearsyzf]

Hello Staff.

 

[bjacks12]

Also be sure to check the Boost website to make sure that Boost has coverage.

Sprint could have great coverage there and still have nothing on Boost/Virgin/Etc. There's the full network for postpaid customers, and the prepaid native network for customers on prepaid and MVNO's. Sprint has the biggest difference between the two levels of coverage.

 

[LOveWerks]

Thank you to everyone @bjacks12, @zuben el genub, and to cool @Kaat72 (she said "Good Morning", 'Mister LW' - and said she was having pizza for dinner - Italian-Americans like myself have eaten pizza for breakfast ).

We went today and got two Sprint phones at Best Buy. Prepaid, but, for $80 a month (and, I've got 5 gb data per month - when I'm home, it's WiFi Central). Two Class 10 micro SD cards, 32 gB. Sprint covers the area we're moving to very well, according to the folks at Best Buy, who even looked up the data coverage where we're going to be moving to, and, the surrounding areas (including Denver).

After nine months of on-time payments, we can get real Sprint contract accounts.

Two HTC Desire 626s. Not too bad, but, the gal at Best Buy said that Apple was buying out HTC (? first I've heard of this... I remember the lawsuit that Apple won against HTC for infringement rights, but, I've been out of the loop... if it's true, then... HTC may not be any longer...).

I had very good service from my EVO 4G back in the Gingerbread days, and my 3VO after that - before I really had health issues, housing issues, and LIFE issues. Now, however, things are going my way... and, I think we made the right decision. The new system update takes care of the Stagefright problems, and... once again, thank you - fellow Ranters of the Ground Gear realm.

LW

 

[kct1975]

Glad to hear more good news from you LW!

IMHO, going with Sprint is a good choice. Personally I have been with Sprint for almost 10 years, and I am really happy with them.

The Sprint signal strength and signal coverage has gotten better and better over the years. Also the Customer Service has greatly improved too.

The phone you chose, I believe, is a good mid-priced phone, that I think you'll be happy with using.

As for HTC being brought out by Apple, I have never read or heard that. I have figured that if business continued to get worse for HTC, that they would get acquired by another company. All rumors I have read and heard are that Samsung would eventually acquire HTC. Personally I think that the Best Buy clerk either heard wrong or doesn't know what she is talking about. I'll do some research on subject, and see what I find.

In the meantime, enjoy your new HTC phones, and your Sprint service.

 

[LOveWerks]

Good morning, fellow ranters - going to see my psychiatrist - their operation is closing down... my new doc will be the same as my fiancée's ... we'll be nuts in stereo...

LW

 

[LOveWerks]

Jeez... did I clear this thread, earlier today? I surely hope not. Today was insane. My psychiatrist's office was, in reality - closed. Mail piled up under the door, and those little grey rubber lock covers were on every door that entered the premises... driving among the idiots, for what? That's a forty-minute haul! At least - I paid off my fiancee's car title loan... the interest on that sucker accrued to the tune of $5 per day. When she called them this morning to get the payoff, she was blown away. "You mean to tell me that one month's worth of interest is over $150? No way! I want my car title back, and you will never see me ever again!"

She was p*****. I am tired. May all of us fellow rant-people get some deep, blissful sleep...

LW

 

[mikedt]

Motorola, a Lenovo company.
HTC, a Lenovo company.
Lenovo , an Apple company.

 

[bcrichster]

Motorola, a Lenovo company.
HTC, a Lenovo company.
Lenovo , an Apple company.

Aww... ...say it isn't so?! [emoji24]

 

[kct1975]

Motorola, a Lenovo company.
HTC, a Lenovo company.
Lenovo , an Apple company.

Ohhh nooooo! [emoji33]

 

[zuben el genub]

Don't see anything but competition in financial or tech news here. Do you mean an Apple-like company, or it is mainly in China?

 

[bjacks12]

Jeez... did I clear this thread, earlier today? I surely hope not. Today was insane. My psychiatrist's office was, in reality - closed. Mail piled up under the door, and those little grey rubber lock covers were on every door that entered the premises... driving among the idiots, for what? That's a forty-minute haul! At least - I paid off my fiancee's car title loan... the interest on that sucker accrued to the tune of $5 per day. When she called them this morning to get the payoff, she was blown away. "You mean to tell me that one month's worth of interest is over $150? No way! I want my car title back, and you will never see me ever again!"

She was p*****. I am tired. May all of us fellow rant-people get some deep, blissful sleep...

LW

Those title loan places are all scams that prey on people who are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I remember somehow getting into a job interview at one during college. I noped the hell right out of there. The owners were probably the shadiest people I had ever met.

 

[LOveWerks]

"I'm goin' thread huntin' heah in, I say, I say, AF. There's somethin' a little nyeeeeeeeeeeesh about a guy who can't find a root thread in Xenforo!"

Thank you for the encouragement, Foghorn...

Wish me luck. The old format was so much easier to locate information in. Now, even with the fancy-dancy search - you usually end up with the same old "No results found."

May everyone get well-rested, and tomorrow is Friday... that's something that many of us look forward to. Except for myself. Friday is just another day in the week. The weekend usually means more work around the property, et cetera... but, I'm truly happy - so, if anyone out there writes 'kwitcherbitchin'', I'll understand.

With smiles,

LW

ps - like my new avatar? He's ours - a Border Collie (or, an Australian Shepherd, depending on who you're talking to) named 'Laddy'

 

[Dngrsone]

Friday is the first day of my work week.

 

[kct1975]

Friday is the first day of my work week.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Dngrsone]

Sorry to hear that.

It's all good... It's generally quieter on the weekends; though I get to squeeze a little easy overtime out, as well.