When is 3G being shutdown?

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@quadriped wrote:

GLIMMERMAN76

The first is actually a smart-phone, and way beyond my budget.  I called and the only one they have now is the Cingular Flip2.  I know the feature phones have already disappeared from some other sites or been replaced with junk.  I'll wait till my current 3-month payment is due to expire and decide then.

 

What's CDMA and LTE?

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I am trying to figure out how 189 is to high.  Its not a gophone so it has the real retail price is all.  Its not a smartphone tho as its running sonims own software.  It does use android but after playing with one its not a smartphone.

I'm trying to explain this politely, since other people's financial situations are beyond your understanding.

  I . can't.  spend.  $189.  on.  any.  phone.

And we are trying to explain "politely" that That. Is. Not. Our. Problem.

You could sell your 3G phone while it still has some value and get a landline.

Phasing out 3G is not a money-grab. There are good reasons for it. Obsolescence is a fact of life with high tech products. 

My finances are not your problem. Your problem is understanding that everyone's finances are different. 

I have a landline.  And if you think cell phones haven't become a money-grab, calculate how much hundreds of dollars people now pay for their cell phone usage, always being encouraged to get everything "unlimited."   Whatever happened to "budgeting your time" and "budgeting your money?" I'm not a Luddite because I choose to make most calls from home..

I consider this thread closed.

Finances being front and center:   I’ll play a little devils advocate.  

1.  Wait until At&t says you can’t use your current phone.  They offered free phones when 2 g was shut down.

        And false economy?

2.   Why keep 2 services?   Close to 60% of Americans do not have a landline, White pages are passé.  The cost of a landline has become unreasonable.  You can port your landline to cellular and have one service cheaper than you are paying now for 2.  

   The cheapest landline offer for local service only around me is $15 a month, but usually companies want $40, and your paying $8.33 for emergency cell service, if your paying on time, you have buckets of credit on your account you aren’t using. 

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@lizdance40 wrote:

Finances being front and center:   I’ll play a little devils advocate.  

1.  Wait until At&t says you can’t use your current phone.  They offered free phones when 2 g was shut down.

        And false economy?

2.   Why keep 2 services?   Close to 60% of Americans do not have a landline, White pages are passé.  The cost of a landline has become unreasonable.  You can port your landline to cellular and have one service cheaper than you are paying now for 2.  

   The cheapest landline offer for local service only around me is $15 a month, but usually companies want $40, and your paying $8.33 for emergency cell service, if your paying on time, you have buckets of credit on your account you aren’t using. 

 

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@lizdance40 

I am trying to figure out the unlimited number cost.  I pay 33.64 per line on my account with tax for unlimited plus.  I also write off my line and the data bucket charged to my line as a business expense.

@lizdance40  Just to note, Ooma (and many other VOIP services) are quite a bit cheaper (than the dedicated home phone services), my "home phone" is ~$6/month (not including the base unit cost).

Obviously that's assuming you have a wired (or similar) ISP, but I'd bet most people looking at this have some sort of access at home?

When you break it down, that $15-40 is pretty steep, given that (almost all) the providers are, in most cases, simply adding a VOIP solution on top of their data pipe, the same as Ooma.
Obviously if we're talking about a real "land line" that's purely copper-based (to the box anyway), it's going to be more (if you can even get it, the areas with this service are getting pretty far-few-between), but I'd bet this is a REALLY small percentage these days.

@GLIMMERMAN76  We pay about 60/line, with taxes, that's a screaming deal you have there!

@GLIMMERMAN76 

I write off every penny of the Verizon prepaid, and 1/5 of the family data and the tablet line access as business expense.  With both carriers expense added together, about $200 for 6 lines, So I pay $33 per line.   35 gigs of data between the plans

I'm going to jump in here and no I don't work for Att I'm just bored and came across this blog while looking in to the veteran discount. The convenience alone is almost reason enough to upgrade but the services are getting better I don't think of it as a money grab, the service is getting better the technology is improving and that costs money. Someone said they just bought a GPS for the car. IMHO that's your business but the fact is it will need to be continually updated as roads and infrastructure are constantly changing. Eventually they will stop updating the particular GPS that you bought and it to will be phased out. It's much more economical to just maintain one device when the updates are free anyway. Not to mention a cellphone now days is more than just a communication device, it is literally a personal assistant. I'm in a wheelchair with severe nerve damage and have limited motion in my arms. My cellphone no matter where I am in the world turns on and off my lights for me. It opens, locks, and unlocks my doors, and yes even my garage doors. It starts my coffee brewing. It dictates my grocery list and lets me know when I'm out of something. It lets me know if I left the garage door up, or if I left a door open. I can use it to close them, adjust my thermostat and even view my mobicam cameras live or record from them directly to my phone. It does all of this when I'm home away or even in another country My cellphone is my personal assistant.

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