Thursday, May 08, 2014

Phone Service

Last weekend we spent hours at the Verizon store getting smart phones and new service. The people were nice and helpful. I was quite excited. We spent a large part of the day playing with our phones like obsessed teenagers. Unfortunately, when we got home, our 4G network did not work well. We get 3G, but not 4G here at the house (two bars). Since I am very used to slow internet here in the country, it does not bother me much. It bothered Jesse, who has had a smart phone for a while, and said phone service was faster with our old service. It also upset Toby who is paying the big bucks to get 4G, but not getting it where he wanted it most. According to the Verizon folk, we are suppose to get 4G here. They have tried to help us by changing settings on our phones and finally having us call tech support.  A couple of times for a couple of minutes, we have gotten the 4G, but then it vanishes. Today, I am suppose to call Verizon tech support again to see if they can make things better. If they can't, Toby will take our phones back to the store. I have mixed feelings on this. First, Verizon is suppose to have better coverage everywhere else compared to the other services, so we should get our 4G when we leave the house - just not here. Second, chances are if we don't get 4G at the house now, we will soon enough as services are constantly improving. Third, it is just a hassle. On the other hand, the reason we went with Verizon is for the 4G service that we are not getting. Any thoughts?

2 comments:

Stefan said...

I think I'm too old, as I didn't find the smart phone features as something that adds value to my life. I mostly voice and text.

My unlimited data turned out to be 9 gig a month, and if I play too many youtube videos I can go over that.

I started out with 1 bar and after 2 years I have 2 and 3 bars, but if I go out to the acreage I don't have any service. My old sprint 3g worked at the farm, but t-mobile has no 3g or 4g out there.

I'm going to try a new company (not for mobile) that puts a dish antenna on your roof and like the old antenna TV, they serve internet for about $50 a month, which is half of what I pay now to plug my computer into my phone. But there's a $75 installation fee for the antenna. http://www.wispa.org/

Bag Blog said...

Compared to city-folk, my internet is very slow. Since it is faster than dial-up, which is what I used to have, I don't complain. The Verizon people were not helpful - saying that we can get 4G when we leave the house, so what is the problem? Actually, we can get it if we stand in the yard - just not in the house. How did we ever get a man on the moon?