? Cell Phone Provider?

[arpt209]

I'm powerful curious about anyone else who lives out in the boontoolies, as to which cell phone provider you have and what kind of plan? My phone doesn't work unless I get in the vehicle and go for a ride. I had to go to town today and fought the battle of a no-good cell phone when I tried to call my darling bride to see if she had thought of anything else she wanted me to pick up. Stupid phone wouldn't work. When I got home I called the-pay-as-you-go provider and spoke to a very persistent lovely, young lady from somewhere in the Middle East. In spite of her lovely accent, after a couple of hours on the landline I had the phone shut off. I don't expect miracles. I know there's nothing that'll work from the house, hence the landline. I'm in the market for a company whose phone will work when I do have a signal. Don't need unlimited talk & text plus a whole bunch of megabits of data, just want to make & receive phone calls. I have a camera, I have a GPS. I have a computer at home. Last month I used 7 of my 100 minutes for $10.00. Yup, I'm cheap. I don't spend much time on the phone. If I want to talk to someone I'll call to verify that they'll be available & then go & see them. You can't give out free necktie rides over the telephone.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I think it all depends on which boontoolies you are in.

Here at home there is and probably never will be any. Down in Oregon GCI/att worked decent for quite a few years. Then GCI changed agreements to T-mobile and it totally sucks for service. Thinking about switching to Verizon except they won't let you get it if you have a kodiak address:/

There are a bunch of cell signal boosters out there, the one I tried gave me a couple extra bars but didn't really seem to help get/make calls, it just showed more bars
Maybe someone will pipe in with a booster that does work.

 

[Wagtail]

Unfortunately, you do live out in the boontoolies. Which means that you, and the few neighbours around you, are not profitable enough for a telecommunications company to invest in a tower. It's as simple as that.

Around here in St Helens the only tower is for Telstra, so if your mobile phone is with any other provider (Vodaphone, Optus, etc...) you're SOL until you get close to the Big Smokes of Hobart or Launceston.

Even with a Telstra mobile phone, I need to stand by a certain spot in my house to get a reliable signal... or go outside (always 'fun' during the Winter).

The folks in Pyengana (next town over from me), with perhaps 60 people, still don't have coverage. Well, that's not entirely true; if they drive up to the top of "Puddin'top Ridge" they can get a bar or two.

Fortunately, our federal government has an industry incentive (subsidy) plan to encourage the tel-coms to build towers in blackspots around the country. But it still takes time for that to happen.

 

[oosik]

I live out in the boon docks and as far as my only phone is concerned - two bars is and will always be max service. I can not get a land line out here. My service provider is AT&T for which I pay $40 per month. My monthly use is less than five minuets - my annual usage is less than 40 minuets.

With all this joyous news - I still have to stand out on the front porch, summer or winter, to make/receive a phone call.

 

[TractorGuy]

Get on your computer and search for cell towers near you. If you don't have one within 10 miles forget about it. If you do then shop with the provider or it's resellers for the best deal to suit your needs.

 

[k0ua]

Get on your computer and search for cell towers near you. If you don't have one within 10 miles forget about it. If you do then shop with the provider or it's resellers for the best deal to suit your needs.

Best answer so far.

In my neck of the woods, we often go to clients homes in my line of work and we need internet access. We turn on the hotspot in our phones to get that access. We have found Verizon to be the most reliable provider in this area. They are not the cheapest, but their coverage is the best.

 

[Citydude]

When we bought our property we knew going in that a landline was unavailable and cell phones would only work when we went up the ridge a few hundred feet to find service. When I had my pole barn built, the foreman was getting and receiving calls where my our phones wouldn't get even one bar. He was using a flip phone and I asked who his provider was and it was Verizon, the same provider we use. I explained that my phone is useless and he told me that his company uses flip phones and have service in areas smart phones don't. Puzzled, I quizzed him and he said in his opinion, the smart phones rob voice data to run the apps they all come with. I never verified if his opinion was correct. That was good enough for me.

I ordered a flip phone on line as the Verizon stores don't showcase them in their stores where I live. I now can call and receive calls on my flip phone on our property. I miss my smart phone however having the capability to use the phone up there is awesome.

 

[DMax82]

Some of this information might be useful...How to Easily Boost Your Cell Phone Signal at Home

 

[ovrszd]

When we bought our property we knew going in that a landline was unavailable and cell phones would only work when we went up the ridge a few hundred feet to find service. When I had my pole barn built, the foreman was getting and receiving calls where my our phones wouldn't get even one bar. He was using a flip phone and I asked who his provider was and it was Verizon, the same provider we use. I explained that my phone is useless and he told me that his company uses flip phones and have service in areas smart phones don't. Puzzled, I quizzed him and he said in his opinion, the smart phones rob voice data to run the apps they all come with. I never verified if his opinion was correct. That was good enough for me.

I ordered a flip phone on line as the Verizon stores don't showcase them in their stores where I live. I now can call and receive calls on my flip phone on our property. I miss my smart phone however having the capability to use the phone up there is awesome.

I did not know that. Sounds logical though!!!

 

[TheMan419]

Do you have reliable internet service at home? If so you can get devices that will convert the cell call to VOIP. That only helps in that you can use the cell at home. It does not help when you are out and about in areas with poor service.

Not sure if devices like Amazon.com: SolidRF MobileForce 4G Cell Phone Booster For Car, All Carriers: Cell Phones & Accessories work or not as I have never had the need to try them.

 

[PILOON]

LOL, same problem here.
On my front porch I have 2 marks on my railing to rest my elbows. Between them my cell works.
On the road to town we all know the cell 'hot spots' and slow down when approaching as for sure somebody is making a call.
We ave fiber optics 2 miles from home but ma bell won't upgrade for us to use TV or phones so we have private 'hi speed??' and no land line phone whenever mother nature downs the power lines. (the fiber optic terminal need battery power to be able to operate the land lines and those batteries only provide 12 hrs of service). Consequently with a 12 hr + power outage we are totally without communications.
Note that we are only 1 hour north of Montreal, one of Canada's major metropolitan areas.
China is better off than we are!

Another 'cell phone peeve'
Unless I have a phone link I cannot take a photo. WTF?

 

[OKnewguy]

One thing to consider, is Google Fi, they are a mvno for T-mobile, Sprint and Us Cellular. The phone will pick the provider with the best connectivity. The big problem is you can only use a few phones (basically all Google phones, some Nexus all Pixels and Moto x4) I have heard that they are gonna open it up to more phones in the future.
Dave

 

[1stDeuce]

You need to find someone with a phone that works where you want it to and use that provider, and that's all there is to it.

In places I frequent, Verizon almost always has service, while AT&T is iffy... That said, we've had a few times were AT&T has a signal, and I've got nothing on Verizon... (Wife's work phone is AT&T, our personal phones are on verizon's network through Page Plus)

If Verizon ends up having a signal, I would recommend buying a used phone you like, and getting service through Page Plus. I pay $32/month for ~1000 minutes and I think 2G of data... I've never hit either limit. I think Page Plus has phones you can get too, I just prefer my Casio C811, and the wife is on an old Casio flip and a $12/month plan, also through PP.

 

[MossRoad]

We have t-mobile for the price and customer service... great price. Great customer service.They work great in/near towns. However, we have a running joke that if you can see corn, your t-mobile service will soon die! While they make claims about covering ninety-X percent of people, and its true, that's because ninety-x percent of people live in urban areas. My recommendation.... stay away from T-mobile if you ever want to leave town and communicate.

 

[k0ua]

We have t-mobile for the price and customer service... great price. Great customer service.They work great in/near towns. However, we have a running joke that if you can see corn, your t-mobile service will soon die! While they make claims about covering ninety-X percent of people, and its true, that's because ninety-x percent of people live in urban areas. My recommendation.... stay away from T-mobile if you ever want to leave town and communicate.

That's why we have Verizon. I have only found once place where we needed data service that we couldn't get it. It was a creek bottom farm far from any town. Fortunately the client had wifi, so we could conduct business. But 99 percent of the time we have data access with Verizon. Certainly not the cheapest, but we feel we have to have it for our work. (Senior market Medicare insurance)

 

[MossRoad]

That's why we have Verizon. I have only found once place where we needed data service that we couldn't get it. It was a creek bottom farm far from any town. Fortunately the client had wifi, so we could conduct business. But 99 percent of the time we have data access with Verizon. Certainly not the cheapest, but we feel we have to have it for our work. (Senior market Medicare insurance)

Yep. If its your business, its a business expense. We have 4 lines, me, wife, adult kid1 and college kid2. Unlimited voice, data and text. Data is hi speed up to 3gig per month and then throttled back to 3G after that. Streaming music doesn't count against that throttle point, and the kids have music on pretty much 24-7. Their customer service it really good..... they apologize profusely for their lousey coverage! :laughing: No contract. $134 per month after taxes, etc... So, about a buck a day per phone.

 

[woodchuckie]

Having one bar of signal cell phone very ify. I have excellent internet and wifi. I set my iphone on wifi calling and have great service. no extra cost.

 

[JRobyn]

In our particular spot, by far the strongest signal is Verizon, so we have no reasonable choice except to use their network. We tried StraightTalk (MVNO using the Verizon network), but actual service was really crappy, particularly with any "smart" applications. Have used "direct" Verizon for several years now with decent service, but still marginal/fringe. It's a "benefit" of being in the boondoggles.

 

[George2615]

Having one bar of signal cell phone very ify. I have excellent internet and wifi. I set my iphone on wifi calling and have great service. no extra cost.

Same here. Inside my house the phone has one bar and drops to no bars just moving a foot or so. I enabled wifi calling on the cell using the procedure in the link that DMax84 provided. Next time I get a call I'll see how it works or if it drops the call. Never knew my smarter than me smart phone had that feature.
Thanks for the info.

 

[PILOON]

LOL, on my porch railing I have 2 paint marks, one for each elbow.
Holding the cellphone with right hand to the right ear gives me 1 bar if I don't move.
Ain't technology great?
Oh, I am 1 hour north of Montreal, not at the north pole.

And add that with frequent power outages my land line goes down as the batteries at the fiber optic station need a phone co truck to keep them charged.
We just hope that no emergencies occur.
On the other hand with my genset I can watch TV via my dish. (but no phone and no internet)