What You've Just Bought!

[PP Mguire]

7 yrs ago I most likely was using a provider phone (Actually it was T-Mobile that I had, before they went "pink") and I was coughing up around $150. for my cell service. Today I only spend half of that, actually we do get a teacher discount for a few bucks, but I rounded up. Looks like we also get 2gb data on each phone too. I know I can go cheaper, but I'm o.k. with what I got. Is it expensive.... maybe it is for you but not to me. If I can get two lines for under $100. I'm o.k. with that. If Verizon starts jacking up their costs, I can switch in a heartbeat because I am not on any contracts and my phones are unlocked. And I think I could get a discount if I allow those with grubby dirty money hungry paws to have access into my bank.... but I am never going to let anybody do that.

Think you're confusing the point. Is $70 expensive for 2 lines, no. Problem is, it's expensive in context because it's 2 lines with capped data compared to competitors offerings especially at only 2GB even if it is per phone. The contrary being, if I had only 2 lines without anything extra it would be in the $45 range after taxes and no autopay discount but that includes unlimited everything still.

I had T-Mobile in 2010 and 2011 and dropped them in favor of AT&T until 2014 when I went back after the big change. Back then they were just as bad as the others and had way less coverage.

And I think I could get a discount if I allow those with grubby dirty money hungry paws to have access into my bank.... but I am never going to let anybody do that.

If this is referencing the autopay, then that's rather obtuse ignorant boomer talk. Unless you pay with cash at a kiosk they already have your card number or bank details. In my case it's a linked CC that I would use to pay for the service anyway.

 

[Joe C]

I do not use more than 2gb of data so your point is mute.

If this is referencing the autopay, then that's rather obtuse ignorant boomer talk. Unless you pay with cash at a kiosk they already have your card number or bank details. In my case it's a linked CC that I would use to pay for the service anyway.

I would think you of all people would know what happened just recently in TX, Ya'll had a big freeze and the power utility co took what they wanted out of people accounts with outrageous fees. That is Not boomer talk. I call it "keep yo dirty grubby paws off my $$$" Why would anybody give their right to their accounts to somebody they do not know? These corporations are Not Our Friends! Do Not trust them with access to your account! Why do you think they have to offer a discount? Because they are going to make sure they get paid before you can buy food

Edit: I suppose that if you have very little to none in your bank.... then it does not matter if they can take nothing out...LOL. I am speaking of a direct withdrawl from your account. Of course you can pay with a debit or credit card but they can not just "take it out" without your consent. That is what the Auto-Pay does, gives some corporation a legal right to pull out your $$$ without having to ask when or how much

 

[Joe C]

The capped data only applies to 3G/4G tower access. So from home or work, I use that wireless for free data. I also have unlimited call and text. Don't have a 5G phone

 

[PP Mguire]

I do not use more than 2gb of data so your point is mute.

It's moot, and no it's not. The point is you're overpaying for substandard service in 2021 whether you use more than 2GB or not. Do you know how much I use on a monthly basis? Less than 1GB. If this was your home internet I bet it'd be a different story, oh wait it was because you cancel contracts to get cheaper rates. Don't be sour because you're paying too much, seriously I bounced carriers as much as the next person because I understand the hustle of not being screwed from the big names. The whole internet thing is honestly why I made such a big deal about it. You are fighting to the bitter end to pay way too much for capped service but will bounce ISPs from year to year to get a better bargain on the same shit.

I would think you of all people would know what happened just recently in TX, Ya'll had a big freeze and the power utility co took what they wanted out of people accounts with outrageous fees.

Yes I do, and I fully understand that it was the shitty companies charging variable rate customers that extra PCRF because they were bouncing the electric charge cost from the generation utilities to the customer. I know it should have been ERCOT taking that fall because it was their fault for sitting on their ass a literal decade from the last time this happened after promising Texans it would winterize their lines and generation plants but never did. Because they're not regulated they just tossed the burden down until it hit the customers, and those with variable rates got screwed. I don't have a variable rate plan, and the co-op I'm in hasn't changed their rates since 2002 which is why I'm mining. Like Trotter and his experience with Cricket screwing him, it was the 3rd rate companies doing that like Ambit. When I had Ambit I never had them on autopay because they were screwy with their bills and I didn't trust them. I went over every single bill in PDF before paying to make sure the numbers added up.

That is Not boomer talk. I call it "keep yo dirty grubby paws off my $$$" Why would anybody give their right to their accounts to somebody they do not know? These corporations are Not Our Friends! Do Not trust them with access to your account! Why do you think they have to offer a discount? Because they are going to make sure they get paid before you can buy food

It absolutely is, because they have to provide the bill before they charge. Anybody who got sideswiped by those huge amounts are fools for not paying attention to their bills whether they're on autopay to begin with, and they're idiots for not setting up withdraw amounts on their accounts. In fact I would never put a bill that can vary so greatly on autopay because it's stupid. If somebody plugged in an extension chord in the summer to their air conditioner that's connected to one of my outside outlets that I didn't know about it could shoot my bill up. This is one reason why I don't have water or electric on autopay because people are crazy enough to do that shit. On the other hand, my T-Mobile bill amount is texted to me 2 weeks before the due date and it gives me ample time to ask why it may have changed but that hasn't happened in 7 years. I didn't always get a discount, I'm receiving it because I've had on time payments for a lengthy period of time without fail.

Edit: I suppose that if you have very little to none in your bank.... then it does not matter if they can take nothing out...LOL. I am speaking of a direct withdrawl from your account. Of course you can pay with a debit or credit card but they can not just "take it out" without your consent. That is what the Auto-Pay does, gives some corporation a legal right to pull out your $$$ without having to ask when or how much

Yes my autopay bills are on my CC and they have to provide you with a bill before they take the amount out (and because it's my CC, I can fight it before I even have to pay it back and I do subs the same way on Paypal for my own protection). Every utility will send you a form of electronic bill before the due date if you sign up for paperless billing. No charge to that card can be greater than $305 for autopay protection and fraud protection, I set this amount up manually. I have similar things setup for my bank and debit card, as well as Paypal and Cashapp. That's why I said it's boomer talk because you're saying "give access to account they do not know". If you swipe any of your cards anywhere you're giving literally anybody access to that information and trusting the company that you're using your information at is setup properly to handle that information securely. You get skimmed at any of these locations it'll be worse than having a simple bill autopay for a company I've known to never change my bill if you don't have any kind of protections setup for yourself on your accounts. You act like it's handing your info over to ransomware criminals when unless you pay your phone bill by cash you're doing quite literally the same thing without the payment automatically occurring. The only difference is I don't have to login and enter my info and you do. They still have your billing information regardless. You think it's not already in their system if you don't tick that box? Think again.
To make matters worse, any time you enter that information in manually on their website you're taking a risk of that info being skimmed off your PC via malware, keylogger, or something malicious you may not know about. Is it a slim chance? Sure, but that's why I said boomer talk. The paranoia factor is too great over something you do more frequently without realizing on systems you don't understand apparently. A step further, if your billing information is saved it's quite literally the same thing. The only difference is taking the extra two clicks to hit pay vs it occurring automatically. Either way unless you pay cash they still got that same info. Oh and hey, they got all your personal identification saved on their systems too from when you signed up for that service.

It's no different than the "info Google/anyotherbigtech gets from you" or "mUh PrIvAcY", you're on the net in any form it's moot. You have a phone, it's moot lol. Hence, boomer talk. I see this same kinda shit day in and day out on Facebook, but ironically it's the same people sharing shit that's malicious and can't understand why their accounts get hacked so much.

 

[Joe C]

Do you know how much I use on a monthly basis? Less than 1GB. If this was your home internet I bet it'd be a different story, oh wait it was because you cancel contracts to get cheaper rates.

Seriously????
You stated you have a contract for unlimited data service but only use less than 1gb data? I'm not even gong there to ask why.
I do not cancel contracts Because I have no contract. I merely stated that if Verizon jacked up my rate, I would switch, but I have no reason to switch because Verizon has not screwed with my rate for several years now, and if I wanted cheaper rates would I still be using Verizon?
I'm not going to spend anymore time reading all that you wrote...Sorry. Just not in the mood to read a long rant story. Enjoy and have a great Day! The weather here is awesome today.
I am also not under any contract with Concast either... yea I know I'm paying a few bucks more than I was a month ago ($20.) but going with AT&T really sux so bad I'd rather pay Concast a little more. My internet service went from $70. to $90. but my internet cable tv is still $20.
Regardless on how you feel that I am getting "screwed" on my services...
Internet service 450gb dwn & 24gb up, no discounts = $90.
Cell phone service for two lines, teacher discount = $66.50
TV internet cable channels, no discount & 30+ local channels are free = $20.
Landline phone service, no discount. I use Ooma.. I just pay Fed and Local 911 tax = $7.
I'm over $100. less for all of my media services than you pay for just your cell phone services. Call me an ignorant boomer and antiquated services... but at least I'm a happy ignorant boomer at the end of the month $$$.

Edit: the bottom line is; How much $$ do you want in your bank at the end of the month v.s. how much Corporate America wants to take that from you?

 

[Trotter]

Anyhoo... back on topic.

My MiL is really liking the battery life of the Moto G7 Power so far. I charged it up Friday and she's at 75% on Monday evening.

I got three days out of the battery on the S20 FE, but that was weekend. I will probably get two during the work week, but at least the wireless charging is nice when I am sitting at my desk.

 

[PP Mguire]

You stated you have a contract for unlimited data service but only use less than 1gb data? I'm not even gong there to ask why.

THAT is the point, it comes NATURALLY with unlimited data. I'm not paying extra to have it, it's just there. Divide 90 bucks for service cost by 6, I'm paying 15 bucks a line that has unlimited. They don't even offer limited plans. Get it now? Doesn't matter how much my bill is at the end of the month because I chose to have this hardware and the extras on my own phone for work reasons.

I do not cancel contracts Because I have no contract.

How about reading before arguing? You have stated before in the other OT thread that you cancel your ISP service after your deal ends to save a buck. That agreement is a sign on incentive and companies like Spectrum, AT&T, and Comcast still hold contract deals which is part of that incentive and why you pay less.

and if I wanted cheaper rates would I still be using Verizon?

Exactly why I struck this up to begin with. You're arguing to the death trying to point out flaws that don't exist with what I pay for when it's clearly insanely cheaper. Yet on the other hand have had no issue openly admitting you will swap ISPs once their sign on deal is done. Get it now?

I'm not going to spend anymore time reading all that you wrote...Sorry. Just not in the mood to read a long rant story.

Because you're in the wrong, it's rather typical and it's not a rant. People hate arguing with me because I'm extremely detail oriented and in this case you can't argue numbers. You are overpaying for 2GB service in 2021 period.

I am also not under any contract with Concast either... yea I know I'm paying a few bucks more than I was a month ago ($20.) but going with AT&T really sux so bad I'd rather pay Concast a little more. My internet service went from $70. to $90. but my internet cable tv is still $20.

It went up because your incentive is over, aka that contract is over lol. Almost every major ISP does this, whether they hold you to that term is a different story. AT&T did not for me, they just wanted their hardware back and when they got it tried sending debt collection services after me for hardware they gave me a confirmation number on receipt of lol.

Call me an ignorant boomer and antiquated services... but at least I'm a happy ignorant boomer at the end of the month $$$.

Edit: the bottom line is; How much $$ do you want in your bank at the end of the month v.s. how much Corporate America wants to take that from you?

I am extremely pleased with what I have. My cell service is unlimited and cheap, the cost comes in the hardware which you refuse to pay attention to. I even spelled it all out for you and even included a screenshot of the raw service price without any autopay discounts. I called you a boomer because of the boomer talk (the auto pay and payment details, you ignored why that was wrong), and cherry picking details to try and stay on top is also heavily boomer. Yea, I'm paying $300 a month, why? Because I'm paying for 2 high end phones and 2 last gen watches (that were just released when we got them) with Apple Care and insurance for all 4, including Apple Care and insurance for my last phone. By the end of the year all but one of those will have been dropped off the cost dropping my cost nearly down to 100 with insurance on 2 phones still. Clearly all the numbers got ignored because you want to suit your argument, very Democrat of you.

TL;DR
By December my bill will be close to 100 for 6 lines of unlimited that I don't pay extra for with only 1 phone being paid on (29 a month). Vs 70 for 2 paid for phones, no insurance, and 2GB lines. Data used at the end of the month is irrelevant, the argument stemmed from your admittance of swapping ISPs after the incentive is over to save a buck a while back. You stay with Verizon over loyalty, if you started off with that we wouldn't be here. You wanted to rant about autopay, paranoia, and my bill instead. I proceeded to tell you why you were wrong.

Anyways, for an early birthday present my friend/guitarist bought me a Focusrite 2i2 so I bought a brass slide since mine got stolen some time ago. Also bought some onesies and booties for the baby coming

 

[Joe C]

Anyhoo... back on topic.

My MiL is really liking the battery life of the Moto G7 Power so far. I charged it up Friday and she's at 75% on Monday evening.

I got three days out of the battery on the S20 FE, but that was weekend. I will probably get two during the work week, but at least the wireless charging is nice when I am sitting at my desk.

Wireless charging sounds nice. Did it come with your phone or did you buy it separately?

 

[Trotter]

Wireless charging sounds nice. Did it come with your phone or did you buy it separately?

Comes standard on the S20 FE 5G. I didn't realize it at first but was checking the specs on GSMArena and noticed it. It is also water/dust resistant (IP68) like the other Galaxy S phones.

Since I got the FE I gave the Moto G Power 2021 to my wife. She keeps wanting to charge it because her old phone wouldn't go more than a day.

 

[Joe C]

I have had an S9 for a couple years now and I'm still happy with it. The only thing I do not like is that they removed the option to have a removable back to replace a battery. I did not get a wireless charger with my S9.