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Post by Albertabuck on Mar 1, 2021 16:07:26 GMT -6
Don't think there is a thread going on this kind of tech yet, I can't be the only one looking into new services and equipment. I think I was the one who started a conversation over on the dark side a few years ago about what were good cell phones and such. Well I never did get a new one and am still with Telus. With that said, my old Samsung Rugby has pretty much run its course. Can't complain, in about a week it will be 8 years of daily use and being carried in a shirt pocket. Been dropped more than a few times, even had to fish it out of the shitter once lol, and the camera lens got so scratched up pretty much stopped taking pics with it a few years ago. Op system could no longer be updated and its now where even texting has gotten to be a PITA. So yea, time for new one. Reason that old Rugby made it all these years, it was tough, had the military specs, and it fit in a shirt pocket so it was somewhat protected and kept safe. But the day has come to get a new one. Closest thing I can find to replacing it, durability wise and keeping size to minimum, is one of those "Cat" phones. S31 is the one I am getting. Was recently discontinued, but still all current, right now even on sale for $250 at Visions. My brother don't like Android, but agrees for the price and what I really will use it for, its as close to my old one in all ways that one is able to find. So before I buy the new phone, I want to make sure that it is compatible with Telus here in AB. OMFG what a gongshow now even their technical support has become. That has now been kicked over to some third world country like everything else with customer service, and after being hung up on, having to speak to several different people, finally got someone who would actually look the bloody specs up online and confirm the bands and frequencies are compatible. But he is pissed I will not buy a phone from Telus lol. As I told him, I needed to source one somewhere else because none of what they sell is any damm good for what I want and need. Believe it or not, the prick actually started arguing with me about it lol. He did tone it down when I reminded him the conversation was being recorded on his end, guess he forgot about that, but the arrogance and complete ignorance of Telus' reputation and more in areas of Northern Ab was typical of Telus. Couldn't shut him up as he is blaming my outdated phone...till finally I pointed out I have their latest and greatest Chinese air card hanging out of my laptop, and since it has shittier reception than the phone, how was possible it was the phone...well that finally shut him up lol. I been having issues with Telus for years, even my municipality raked them over at a meeting about how pathetic the service is locally. In my yard I have visual sight of the tower 10 miles away. My options are limited, I could switch over to Bell, but they piggyback on Telus anyway, however it does seem Bell customers get priority service and signal over Telus. Have seen this many times holding phones side by side, Bell works, Telus don't. I really have had my fill of Telus, been with them for over 40 years when back in the day they was AGT. But enough is getting to be enough. So with that all said, anyone got any experience with these Cat phones? For the price of that one, hey if I only get half the life I did out of my old one, I'll be laughing. I know by most standards it would be deemed inadequate, but then, I use my phone for talking, texting, email and pictures, and only rare occasions do I access internet and thats it. Internet, thats what the computer here at my desk is for. And I need something I can pack in a pocket and keep safe and have with me when I need it. This newer one is a bit bigger than old one, think we gonna end up having to modify a few shirt pockets, but at just under 6 inches, it will fit in some as is. But if anyone got a better suggestion, by all means lets hear it. I been looking into different phones for about a year now, this was the best I could come up with that best fit my needs. The other models are listed at top of page...they have some kind of neat phones. Made by the Bullitt Group out of the UK. They are quiet common in Europe apparently. www.catphones.com/en-ca/cat-s31-smartphone/ |
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Post by bob123 on Mar 1, 2021 22:49:35 GMT -6
I dont know about the cat phone specifically, but I am a big fan of otterbox defender cases and a tempered glass screen protector. Glass screen protectors are way better then plastic ones which I cant stand, and can change it when it scratches rather then just having to live with it if you scratch the actual phone screen.
Mine is a samsung s7 and with those things together it took a 10 foot fall onto concrete and not a scratch.
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Post by jcalder on Mar 1, 2021 23:36:40 GMT -6
I've been getting irritated with size of phones for years. I use Apple stuff and my favorite phone was my 5S that I had back in.. 2013? Something like that.
The 6S was bigger, the 7 was the same as the 6S then the XS was pretty much at my limit of how big I wanted. A couple weeks ago I got a 12 Pro and after 4 days I brought it back. 6.1" screen was too much. Not that I couldn't use it but it was big, heavy and clumsy.
I have an iPhone 12 mini now. It's awesome, about the same size as my old 5S but with all the goodies of the new stuff. The camera is really nice and that's my favorite part.
As far as the carriers go, in Manitoba here I've had them all. MTS, Rogers, Telus, Bell and back to Telus. Found they all provide the same garbage service so we opted for the one with the cheapest bill with the most amount of data and roaming options. Having land 4 miles from the border we often get better AT&T service than we do from any of the Canadian carriers, plus unlimited calling to anywhere in the US which is handy for canola disk support calls.
Shoot for the large amounts of data due to streaming music in the tractors, I've cut back my internet usage on my phone a lot in the last year or so. I prefer my PC as well, my 32" screens are way nicer than a 6" phone screen, no fingerprints on my PC screen either, and there's something to be said about a real keyboard.
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Post by kenmb on Mar 2, 2021 6:55:29 GMT -6
I am like Bob. Still using Samsung s4 mini so about 7 years old but battery is getting pretty weak. Like AB, it is a phone and texting unit with a few internet access needs as required when running around the city and need to look something up. With Otterbox heavy duty case (defender?) it's the size of a deck of cards and a bit longer.
I can't break it. Can't count the times it fallen. Including when working up on a ladder onto concrete. Ive freaked people out throwing my phone to them from 10 feet away. Don't care if they don't catch it, it doesn't break. The most interesting trip it made was from my coveralls pocket into the floor grate at seed cleaning plant. Guy running the cleaner saw it come off the scalper on his monitor so grabbed it and gave it to me. That was about 4 years ago. Don't know how many elevators and augers there are involved between the dump pit at wooden elevator to seed cleaner.
Someday soon i need a new one but will be a small, plain old consumer grade one again with a good case.
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Post by bob123 on Mar 2, 2021 10:13:33 GMT -6
Yeah phone size is what really keeps me from buying a new one, but you can still get new old stock phones on amazon which is what I plan to do when I need a new one. An unlocked s4 is 60 bucks and an s7 about 150. Unless you really want high quality photos and arent using it for gaming theres not much benifit for phones made in the last 5 years.
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Post by Albertabuck on Apr 2, 2021 14:12:27 GMT -6
Well have added some new gadgets into my world recently and thought I'd pass along what I've learned thus far.
Went ahead and got that Cat S31 phone thru Visions for $250, which BTW they are now down to $200 on final clearance. That includes delivery thru mail.
Does fit in some shirt pockets but not all. Haven't actually put the SIM card in it yet, though I have been spending time learning how to use it. One thing I don't like is the new Android platform and how absolutely everything is Google this and Google that and everything has to be "shared". Like there isn't even a stand alone Photo Album, oh no thats all some online Google thing. Same with Phone contacts, thats all Google something and it uses the same lists for both, email account and the phone...I am not impressed with the Google everything system, and have been spending some time researching what different apps I can download for some applications that get me away from Google having access to every bit of my information. Like with my contacts lists, I now have to go thru everything and edit and change some so I don't have listings under the same first names for different people and so on. How Google got hold of my email accounts to start with was courtesy of Telus dumping all their email clients onto Google whether we liked it or not, after all these years of telusplanet,net and later telus.net who'd have ever thunk it we'd have all been better off using Hotmail back in the 90s lol.
Other than overall size and operating system, think the phone be all ok. Like anything takes some getting used to, gotta remember, I been using the same one now for over 8 years, old habits die hard lol.
Thinking I am going to try to find some kind of pouch the phone will fit in, and use velcro to hold it in those smaller size shirt pockets, biggest reason I got 8 years out of the old one was I kept it safe and protected, want to do the same again now. And damm phone no good if you don't have it with you, for me its at times a piece of saftey equipment, when you are alone and no one is expecting you, good to have a way of getting help if the need arises.
Ended up having another couple rounds with Telus tech and customer service, which BTW is now in El Salvador, was seriously thinking of pulling the pin and when I called in about that did finally get someone who did seem to know some things and was willing to put in some effort. He did still refuse to put me thru to Loyalty Retention Services though...that seems to be Telus' way of trying to ignore customers like me who been around since the days of Alberta Gov.Telephones. Reason I had actually tried calling again before, was got offered a deal on this "smart hub", basically its a cell phone based internet connection for rural areas, not unlike an air card which I have been using for years now. This smart hub though, is supposed to be a lot faster data transfer, and the data packages for it are massively cheaper than what an air card runs. Getting information as to how the two compared in real time, that proved difficult, but did finally get some confirmation it would have better reception and service than an air card.
So I figured, anything gotta be better than what I got, so go to sign up for it, and of course, Telus says no...oh thats a personal account offer, you can't get that on a business account, sorry....well thats when I dug in my heels and said hold on folks...you sent that offer to a business, thru a Telus business account email addy and even personalized the offer to both, my company and myself...you offered it, now stand behind it, otherwise I will forward it along to the CRTC that you are conducting business under false pretenses.....well phone went silent for a few seconds, then hear some clacking of a keyboard, then this...well sir, we can make that work after all, yes we will give you that offer on your business account with one exception, there will be a $20/mth extra charge on the data, there is no way to match the exact price in the offer, it can not be done.
Well I looked at it as winning about 3/4s of the battle and now that I have it, absolutely no regrets of going ahead with it.
The machine itself is about $280 outright, ZTE Smart Hub MF279T, $45 hookup fee which includes SIM card. I was going to buy it outright, however if I did a two year contract, I could get the machine for only $200, so save 80 bucks overall. There was three different data packages, I went with 500GB for $100/mth. On a personal account that is available for $80. There is a larger and smaller package as well. On my air card, I was paying $112/mth for 15GB, so massive difference.
As for the machine performance, proof is in the pudding, pings out at average 25+ mbps up and 3-5 down. Air card at exact same location, 3.2 up, 1.3 down at best. Have seen the hub running into the low 30s. I'm impressed. Machine runs an internal antennae, with provisions to add an external one if needed. Air card and cell phone reception here is sketchy at best, especially in house, hub almost constantly running a good med strengths signal, however there is the rare time it seems nothing is there, but I think thats on Telus's end not mine.
I had been looking into Starlink, but its not available yet this far north, Explorernet seems to be a massive disappointment to many, and local wireless setup, they put their towers where it was cheap, rather than best location, so there are massive dead areas, like even with me, their closest tower is four miles away and at 30 feet above ground they can't even pick it up, so options were limited.
So I would say, if you have decent cell service, an economical high speed setup might be one of these smart hubs. Haven't turned the air card off yet, but will be after the weekend. Oh and BTW, unfortunately, they run locating gps in them hubs, and I got an email from Telus once I set it up, its location specific, if I take it somewhere else to use it, it will be blocked. To me thats bullshit, I am going to look into that and see if there is a way around it.
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Post by torriem on Apr 2, 2021 18:34:14 GMT -6
While I'm not a fan of cluttering the night sky, as far as Telus and others are concerned, the faster Starlink rolls out the better! They will have coverage farther north within a year I think. We've put down a deposit on starlink, and I know of someone not far from me that already has it working. If only we could get connectivity through a smaller receiver, like something in a cell phone. That would put the pressure on the cell companies if starlink could do voice and data to small devices virtually anywhere in the globe!
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Post by Beerwiser on Apr 2, 2021 21:13:32 GMT -6
Wow is telus ever raking you over the coals. I have switched to koodoo quite a few years ago after being with telus forever. No difference in cell service, but customer service is way better. I am paying 55 a month comes with 12 gig of data unlimited Canada calling and text. The wife phoned last week and got 18 gig for 65 with all the same features. No contract either. As far a starlink goes, I can't wait. I am on the tip of service, probably be available for fall which is fine by me. I don't sit in the house that much in summer. Needless to say I put my deposit down for starlink.
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Post by torriem on Apr 3, 2021 9:48:41 GMT -6
I'm sure you could put the starlink receiver briefcase on the roof of your tractor so you can watch netflix while on autosteer!
Bus seriously I do hope this lights a fire under the incumbent ISPs in Canada to step up their game and actually be competitive. They've had a pseudo monopoly for far too long and are way too addicted to cashing checks for mediocre service. I live right next to a cell tower and my phone can get 100Mbit/s up and down easily. Yet my cell-based home internet is artificially limited to about 20. I'm hoping smartlink (which should be about 100 down) will be a reason for them to simply drop the artificial limit.
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Post by Beerwiser on Apr 3, 2021 14:07:50 GMT -6
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Post by Albertabuck on Apr 3, 2021 18:42:40 GMT -6
Yea I'm paying 55/mth for my cell, that includes everything including data, which I don't use much as the phone is for talking and texting, hardly ever use it for anything else. I have some wuzzy long distance thing for all of North America and up North too, that all ties back to '99 when I switched from my old Motorola brick to the bag phone, them phones practically lived in the KW, was for working in the patch I had them, thats how and why my mobility account is all commercial business, not personal. As for the package I have on that phone, to get the long distance and more, if I ever let that plan go, would cost three times to get its modern day equivalent. I'm surprised that Telus doesn't try to force a change to update it, but unless I cancel it, they can't touch it under current rules and regulations.
Shows how things have changed. I was one of the last hold outs with the analog phones when things went all digital. Telus couldn't shut down the analog network until everyone was off it, was some CRTC ruling, well I was one of six in Western Canada that wouldn't give up my good old bag phone that worked so awesome. Come down to the last four days, got a call from some bigshot in Vancouver, and he was pleading with me to let them give me a new digital phone, and I made it clear, I knew for a fact that none of the digital phones worked like them old analog. Even the digital bag phones were crap, my old YJ used to work better than most digital in the beginning lol.(yea I was a cheap prick, I ended up with a YJ at a sale and used it instead of getting an XJ like most others all had lol)
We got talking about where I had been with mine and how well it worked in places up North, like Northern AB and BC into the Territories, places where there was no real service, but with a good antennae on top of a high hill if the weather was right, with the external antennae on the roof, was just like sitting in the house on the land line. He couldn't believe it, but then he admitted the other five holdouts were all in Northern AB and like me, were involved in oilfield...well he admitted now he understood why so many had been so unhappy about losing them. Then out come the bribes, got a brand new top of the line Motorola Razor 2 for free, think that was like @700 retail back then, and even gave me a $300 credit towards a booster if I required one. Run that little Razor for several years, around home it worked ok, was nice to be able to pack it around in the pocket and now we were texting and more. Never did bother with a booster, I was out of the patch about that time and so wasn't a real necessity anymore.
Now that I think about it, maybe thats why Telus likes being a dick towards me, maybe they still pissed over having to give me that fancy phone 15 years ago lol
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Post by kevlar on Apr 7, 2021 21:09:42 GMT -6
If you think Telus is bad, you should give MTS Bell a shot, they are terrible! A couple years back Manitoba's only provider had to break off into different companies and allow others into the game, since that they became progressively worse. My wife and I finally had enough so went shopping around and ended up going with Telus at the end of March. Can't remember all the details exactly, but I have the same plan as before with 15 Gigs of data, my wife upped her data to 25 Gigs, and when we switch the house phone over, we will be saving around $100 a month combined as to what we were paying before with Bell MTS. They seemed really helpful at the store when we were switching over, so hopefully the service stays the same. Bell MTS was impossible to deal with. Their contracts meant nothing, they would change at will.
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