Black Friday...

 

Talking with Steph yesterday, she was pissed at Verizon because they charged her $35 each for an "activation fee" for the new iPhones they bought.  They did the switching themselves - Verizon didn't have to do a damn thing.  I told her we were checking into Visible.  Yes, it is owned by Verizon (we know we like their coverage with our traveling), but the plans are one price - no bullshit add-on fees and taxes.

I signed up my phone for their 15 day free trial - the coverage is the same as Verizon, but I could easily switch back and forth on my phone... and found the Visible download speeds were faster than Verizon... what's up with that???  We started the process to switch Joan's phone over last night.  I'll be working on mine next.  No going back.

Today is Black Friday - I'm happy to not be out there fighting the crowds.  Not sure that is much of a thing anymore, since you can buy anything you want on-line, and retailers have been offering their "Black Friday Sales" since the day after Halloween.

On another topic: I did get out on my motorcycle late yesterday afternoon.  I think it has been 12 years... or maybe about 10 days.  Whichever - it has been way too long.  It was in the low 70s, mostly sunny, and a light breeze... and it was great.  That will have to hold me over, 'cause Mother Nature turned snitty again overnight; fog and drizzle when we got up this morning.

It's a good day to not be standing outside, waiting for a store to open.  ;-)

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Old dog, learning any tricks...

More cell phone stuff.  We have been using cell phones since the days of the bag phones.  For you whippersnappers out there who don't know what I'm talking about, this is a bag phone...

 Cell phones were large, with large batteries - you weren't going to carry them around in your pocket, so they came in a purse-like bag.  For around $50 per month, not including the price of the phone, you got 30 minutes of talk time.  Any call you made to a number outside your home cell tower got billed for a $2 fee plus long distance charges.  A short phone call to the next town could result in a $5 call.  If you were away from your home cell tower, you also paid for roaming charges - $2 per day for each cell tower when you were roaming.  So, if you happened to move from one cell tower to another (assuming there were cell towers where you were traveling) during a call, there was a separate $2 fee for each.  Needless to say, you didn't use the phone for idle chit-chat.

Then came the brick phone, which was still too big to put in a pocket.  Phones got smaller, but you still had to pull out an antenna on the phone when making a call.  Then, my first small cell phone, that Joan and Steph called my "spy phone" because it was small enough to carry in a pocket.  Also, I had that one "jail broke," so I could receive calls on that or a larger phone; yes, both with the same number.  When the cell company figured that out, it was "pick one or the other."

Over the years, there have been other phones, as technology improved.  Two Motorola Droids before a series of iPhones.  When I saw that first iPhone, I could see the photography industry was in for some major changes.

That walk down Memory Lane brings us to today.  After decades of overpaying Verizon's continually rising prices, we are committed to making a change.  When we were traveling coast to coast to coast, Verizon had the best coverage - I felt they were the best solution for us, especially with my "grandfathered" unlimited data coverage.  We have been with Verizon for 25 years.  I am learning that a lot of people switch cell carriers like some people change socks.  I don't know what constitutes "a lot," but we have been reluctant to make that change.

Researching different cell phone service providers, I find that some include the "fees and taxes" in their advertised price, many don't.  That's what led us to Visible.  Doing their 15 day trial (free, with no commitment), I found out I can have two different carriers on my phone, including two different numbers.  Visible assigned me a number with the local area code; our Verizon coverage has phone numbers that we have had for more than 25 years.  We will retain our long-time phone numbers when we complete the change.

With both providers connected on the same phone, I can switch back and forth, or set it so I receive calls from both and select data from one or the other.  It makes it possible to really compare data speeds on the same phone.  I had Steph call me on each of the numbers - no difference.  Well, except the $$.