Category: Verizon

Why Straight talk is better than Tracfone!

Paul

English: Samsung Intercept open in my hand and... Image via Wikipedia

Would you pay more for your Minutes?

I’ve read how some people are really liking their Tracphone service but I have a few questions about that.  We’ve all had those times when we don’t always use all our minutes.   I know I sometimes don’t use my 1,000 minutes and 1,000 messages but It is better than paying for 120 minutes and that includes messages.

I’ve talked about how I like my Straight phone and I must say that I have been happy with the phones that I have bought.    I’ve had my reasons for staying with Straight talk, and one of the more reasons is that they have unlimited talk and unlimited data when you need it.   I’ve dropped down to the 30$ cards because I no longer need unlimited data which is 45$ a month.

Would you pay more for less?

Tracfone seems to think that we would want to pay more for less.   Why would I pay more for their minutes.   I am always looking to buy minutes for less.   I know people aren’t always thinking about cost versus price but if your are like me and use your phone more than 120 minutes per month than you will definitely want to consider looking for something other than Tracfone.

Isn’t Tracfone and Straight Talk the same?

There are two separate companies but Tracfone owns them both.   I am quite certain that most people think that they are exactly the same.   I disagree, they don’t have anything in common besides the phones.   Everything else  is all different and that is fine with me.   The Customer service is basically part of Tracfone but again, it isn’t exactly the same.

I don’t need Carry over minutes!

This is the one thing that really bothers me about Tracfone, they let you carry over your minutes but that is besides the point.   I don’t need carry over minutes if I have 1,000 minutes to use per month.   I  have already used 200 minutes and I still have half the month to go.  I’ll probably use 400 minutes before this is all over.   If you really think about it, it is probably cheaper than Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint’s contracts.   I’d probably pay $40 to $60 a month for  400 minutes.   That is after all I guess but I am sure that if you look at their plans you will see the prices.

I think I will keep with Straight Talk because of everything that I get with it.

Which one do you like or prefer?

Paul Sylvester

Recycle your Cell phones!

 

 

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How to get the most out of Straight Talk phones (Tips and Tricks)

Paul1 Reply

English: Hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus at its... Image via Wikipedia

If your like me!

You will always want to get the most of your Straight Talk Phone (Affiliate link). I’m going to talk about how to get the most out of your prepaid phone and not have to worry about signal strength as much.   I know it can be difficult to figure out which one is right for you but I will discuss some of the things that you might need to know before buying your Straight Talk Phone.  It only takes a little research to find the answer to the next few questions.   Once you answer these questions you should be far better off.

The questions you need to answer are:

  • Where will you use the phone primarily?

  • What features are you looking for?

  • Which carriers are more reliable in your area?

  • Is it important to always receive phone calls? Can they go to Voice mail?

as you can see there are several things you need to consider when you about to buy a Straight Talk phone.   Phones are linked to different carriers from what I can see and understand.  That is the may reason why you might not have much success with one phone and have great success with another.

Do your Research!

This is the most vital thing you can do.   Even though most times doing the research will lead to nothing it is very important.  Some things to help you find your answers to those questions are just asking Google or your favorite search engine these question:

  • What carrier is the (INSERT Straight Talk phone) on or Uses?

  • What are people saying about (INSERT Straight Talk phone)?

  • What is the coverage area for (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, ETC) in (Zipcode)?

Now doing that will provide several different results and each one is going to have to be considered before buying your phone.   However you know which carrier each phone uses than you are far better off with knowing if you will have great coverage or bad coverage.   This is the essential because you will not enjoy your phone if it does terrible.

Here is what I know!

I’m going to help you figure out some of what has been said in the mobile industry as to which carriers are using which phones.   I won’t have a complete list because even I don’t know all the phones but I will generalize some of these and let you decide which ones you might want to buy and use and maybe even help me by commenting and tell me your phone and what carrier.

  • Straight Talk Android Phones(The Samsung Galaxy Precedent (Affiliate link) and LG Optimus Q (Affiliate link)) — Will run on the Sprint Network

  • Straight Talk Samsung T404G (Affiliate link) — Runs off the At&T network.

  • Straight Talk LG 620g (Affiliate link)– Runs off the T-mobile Network.

These are the only ones that I have heard about but at least this will give you a starting place to look and use when you are looking for the best possible coverage for your prepaid cell phones.   If I find out more phones this will be updated but as for right now this is all I have and if you have more information on phones just make a comment and I’ll will update the list.

Paul Sylvester

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Network Connectivity and Vista’s TCP/IPV6

Paul1 Reply

So I’ve been having problems with Vista and Network Connectivity.  I’ve got a DSL modem that would from time to time just drop connection to the internet or at least I thought it was that.  So I’d check the modem everytime this happenes.  It would say I was connected to to the network but not be on internet.  I went searching and found this really good forum discussion on Verizon and DSL.  After reading all there was people were talking about the IPv6 protocol was the main culprit.  So I figured I’d see what happens when I disabled the IPv6 Protocol from my system.  It worked no more connectivity issues.

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How do I disable the IPv6 Protocol?

In order to fix this problem you have to do some simples steps.  Here is how I fixed it.   Right Click > Select “Network and Sharing Center” > “View Status” for either Wireless or LAN. > Properities

It will be here that you must do something important to get this to work right.  You will have to uncheck the  Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6).  If you have both wireless and Lan.  You will have to do it for both of them.  There must be a problem with IPv6 because after doing this my system hasn’t lost connectivity and this is wireless.  You should also reboot your system to make sure it takes into account.  Uncheck it then press ‘OK’ and reboot.  After that you will be smooth sailing.  Although this is easy it is essential to note not all DSL modems are the same and it can be several reasons why it would be doing that for you but for me.  It was the fact that IPv6 isn’t fully developed and from what I hear from people it won’t be available for several years so right now in time, it isn’t any thing I can use right now.

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When are they expect to start using IPv6?

According to all I hear in the nextr 5 to 10 years at the earliest but some people estimate longer more on the lines of 15 to 20 years.  It will take a lot of work to make it available to all.  It has to be part of the whole internet.  It will take millions of dollars for it to be deployed.  If you have any ideas on how to get this to work on vista.  Leave a comment to better help others figure how to fix this.

Verizon Wireless Opt-Out Plan For Customer Records

Paul

An anonymous reader writes to let us know that Verizon Wireless is planning to share its customers’ calling records (called CPNI) with “our affiliates, agents and parent companies (including Vodafone) and their subsidiaries.” The article explains that CPNI “includes the numbers of incoming and outgoing calls and time spent on each call, among other data.” Some subscribers, it’s not known if it’s all of them, received a letter in the mail giving them 30 days to opt out of this sharing by calling 1-800-333-9956. Skydeck, a mobile and wireless services company, seems to have been the first to call attention to the Verizon initiative on their blog; they also posted a scan of the letter (sideways PDF) from Verizon.

Man that just boils my biscuits. I say we all call them and complain and tell them that we do not want it!! If you believe what I believe it isn’t right