Friday, August 25, 2017

Lost Carriers in Montana, North Dakota & Tennessee

Three more wireless carriers have exited the cellular business.  DTC Wireless, east of Nashville, has stopped offering cell phones and is now using their network for fixed wireless for broadband Internet access.  DTC has a good network and should be able to offer a quality wireless product.

In Montana, Big Sky Mobile has discontinued service.  We're not sure if the network was operational but they have agreed to sell their licenses to T-Mobile which is waiting FCC approval.  The phone number at Big Sky has been disconnected but they continue to post on Facebook.  With this acquisition, T-Mobile has the potential for a substantial presence in Montana along with their newly-acquired 600 and 700 MHz licenses.


Also, serving both sides of the border between Montana and North Dakota, SRT Wireless of Minot has discontinued offering wireless phones and has sold their cellular network to Verizon Wireless.  Verizon plans to upgrade the SRT sites to 4G-LTE. If you have an SRT iPhone, you'll need to get it unlocked at one of the SRT stores before you can switch it to Verizon.  Fortunately, SRT will stay in business providing their other communications products, but make sure you switch before the end of the year.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Better Wireless Coverage for the Eclipse

Here is a full list of the towns the four major carriers will be boosting coverage either through network upgrades or through adding mobile cell sites:
AT&T
Madras, Oregon
Mitchell, Oregon
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Glendo Reservoir, Wyoming
Carbondale, Illinois
Columbia, Missouri
Owensville, Missouri
Washington, Missouri
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Beatrice, Nebraska
Verizon
Madras, Oregon
Bend, Oregon
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Sprint
Rexburg, Idaho
Silverton, Oregon
Madras, Oregon
Brownsville, Oregon
T-Mobile (key markets)
Madras, Oregon
Snake River Valley, Idaho
Carbondale, Illinois
Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Keep in mind, in the event of an emergency, Text Messaging is the most reliable form of communication.

Originally we were headed to Glendo, WY, but now that the word is out, we will be at an undisclosed location somewhere east of there...or west of there.  We will not be using any Interstate highways and instead of phones we will communicate by ham radio.  We're anticipating that the warnings about impassable roads, throngs of people and scarce supplies will cause everyone else to stay home and watch the eclipse on their phones (or TV?) instead.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

T-Mobile Toots Their Horn, But We Can't Hear It...Yet

T-Mobile has already started to use their newly-assigned 600 MHz spectrum:

"BELLEVUE, Wash.-- Damn that was fast. T-Mobile today announced it has begun lighting up its new 600 MHz LTE network — leveraging the massive haul of super-premium low-band spectrum won in the government broadcast incentive auction concluded earlier this year. The announcement comes only two months after the Un-carrier received its spectrum licenses from the FCC. T-Mobile’s first 600 MHz LTE network sites — the very first in the world — were just switched on in Cheyenne, Wyoming using Nokia equipment. Starting in rural America and other markets where the spectrum is clear of broadcasting today, T-Mobile plans to deploy the new super-spectrum at record-shattering pace — compressing what would normally be a two-year process from auction to consumer availability into a short six months.


"T-Mobile today also shared additional details of its 600 MHz LTE network rollout. This year alone, additional 600 MHz sites are slated for locations including Wyoming, Northwest Oregon, West Texas, Southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma panhandle, Western North Dakota, Maine, Coastal North Carolina, Central Pennsylvania, Central Virginia and Eastern Washington. Those deployments and other network upgrades will help the Un-carrier increase total LTE coverage from 315 million Americans today to 321 million by year’s end."

What's the catch?  There are no 600 MHz-capable handsets available...yet.  There will be, probably by the end of the year.  This is indeed an aggressive expansion and could be a game changer within a very short time.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

T-Mobile Respects Their Elders

As we watched the numbers of our Cellular Seniors web site, our site that specializes in senior wireless plans and phones, decline, we noted that today's "senior" has already been using cell phones for years.  They don't need someone to cater to their 'special' wireless needs...unless the carriers show up with a usable deal.  T-Mobile has come up with that deal, one that seniors can actually use.

T-Mobile's latest press release pokes fun at the competition who offer, "dumbed-down ‘senior’ plans with exactly zero data and — get this — night and weekend minutes!"  We pretty much wrote off these plans years ago and instead put a focus on how to get the lowest-cost service that a senior could receive some benefit.  T-Mobile's new "ONE Unlimited 55+" plan does the same thing.  Give those of us who don't actually live on our cell phone a plan we can actually use.

Here's what you get with this plan, just for not being a millennial:


With T-Mobile ONE Unlimited 55+, it’s just $50 for the first line of T-Mobile ONE and $10 for your second line with unlimited everything after $5 per line Autopay discount. Taxes & fees included.


T-Mobile ONE 55+ includes these other benefits at no extra cost:

  • Simple Global: unlimited text and data roaming and low flat-rate calling in 140+ countries and destinations
  • Gogo Inflight: get unlimited texting all flight long and 1 free hour of smartphone Wi-Fi on all Gogo-equipped domestic flights
  • DIGITS: use your T-Mobile number on compatible phones, tablets and PCs, and use multiple numbers on one device
  • Mobile Hotspot: connect all your devices to the Internet with included tethering data
  • Un-Contract: only you have the power to change the price you pay
  • T-Mobile Tuesdays: get thanked with free stuff every week just for being a customer

55 is fairly young for a age-based discount.  We won't tell you to take the deal, but it's worth putting on our reading glasses and look at it!