Refer-A-Friend $25 promo card - how to use it.

If you happen to refer someone else, and receive a promo card in the mail, this is what you can do with it. Take it to a T-Mobile store, have them sell you a Direct To Account amount of $25, and then pay for it with the promo card. You will be responsible for sales tax, so you still need your own money for that.

Here's part of the receipt. You can see at the bottom where I made two separate payments.

7.125 percent sales tax. Holy Schneikies!

Of course this is only necessary if you want to have the amount added to your account balance. If you prefer to buy an accessory instead, then you don't need to know all of this.

(I tried to remove all confirmation numbers, account numbers, and other personal information from the image. Please let me know if I missed something.)

I have already scratched my screen.

I had my Nexus 4 for only about five months, but I still managed to drop it a few times, and it would occasionally have some company in my pocket. I didn't use a screen protector on it, and still that screen is in perfect condition.

Now as I mentioned in an earlier post, I dropped my Nexus 5 twice on Sunday. Since then I dropped it one more time. Now it has a 1/4 inch scratch on the screen. I'm guessing it's from the last time I dropped it. That was Monday night and it landed on a snowy street with some sand and ice mixed into the snow. I'm a little bit annoyed, but perhaps I will need to get a screen protector for this one after all. The screen is nice and bright so it should still shine through another layer of plastic too.

I'm happy the screen survived the two drops so well. This last drop happened when I was sliding out of my car, and therefore it had some lateral motion too. That's why I'm assuming it's the culprit. 

New Richmond, WI

As I drove around the area of my hometown in western Wisconsin this week, I kept an eye on my phone's cellular data connection. Now that I have an LTE phone once again, I am more interested in where T-Mobile LTE is available. The little 900-person town where I was raised still only supplies me with an abysmal "E" for EDGE network, which I believe is 2G technology. (Most people who live out there would never use T-Mobile for this very reason. They would more likely be on Verizon or US Cellular.)
Like most men, I needed to run to Walmart on Christmas Eve morning, and the nearest one is in New Richmond, WI. When I pulled into town, I learned that not only does New Richmond now have a Walmart store, but also LTE data!
When I was growing up, New Richmond was a town of just a few thousand people, and it is still not a large city, but it is getting to be an interesting place. Several years ago, the state of Wisconsin built a freeway from New Richmond to Houlton, WI, which is across the river from Stillwater, MN. What is significant about that freeway is the new bridge being built over the St Croix river at Stillwater. The new bridge will be completed in about 2 years. At that point New Richmond is going to explode with industry because the new bridge and freeway will offer the St Paul/Minneapolis area quick and easy access to New Richmond's cheap land and wide open space.
To me this is exciting because it is so near where I grew up. The city of Stillwater has been an annoyance for me because it is a bottleneck for any traffic from Minnesota to my home area. It has restricted urban sprawl from covering that area and stifled the local economy. Now that the new bridge is becoming a reality, it will be exciting to see the growth of industry and economy in New Richmond, Somerset, and even Houlton, WI. I believe the area will look a lot like Anoka, MN, where I work. Hopefully without the creepy occult vibe though (Anoka is the "Halloween Capitol of the World," which attracts a lot of weirdos). Obviously bigger companies recognize this potential too. Big companies like Walmart and T-Mobile.
This is not my usual subject matter for this blog, but the presence of LTE in New Richmond piqued my interest and made me want to write about it. I was actually pretty shocked to see "LTE" displayed on my phone. This also shows that T-Mobile is pretty serious about getting their LTE coverage in lots of places.

My first 72 hours with the Nexus 5.

Well, almost 72 hours. Close enough. I ordered the phone on Wednesday morning, it shipped Wednesday night. It was being stored in the UPS warehouse in Kentucky, so it arrived quickly. The package was waiting at my front door in Minneapolis when I arrived home after work on Friday.
The phone feels lighter than the Nexus 4, and it has a nice fit in my hand. I chose the white one and it looks really sharp. It still has a black bezel, just the back cover is white. The contrast of the black and white looks classy to me.
I put the phone on the charger immediately. It was almost at full when I received it, so it was ready to go by the time I finished showering and getting ready to go out. I put my SIM card in and I didn't even have to re-register with T-Mobile. It was simply ready to use after I restarted the phone.
That night I used Google Maps to navigate, and I could immediately see the difference in the data rate. With the LTE connection, the map is able to reroute almost instantaneously. It probably helps to have such a fast processor, but the Nexus 4 had a pretty good processor too. So I think the HSPA+ data connection was the limiting factor.
On Saturday I took the time to install SwiftKey Keyboard. I might not keep it. The higher resolution screen caused it to resize and now the keyboard is too large. It takes up more than half of the screen. Maybe I just need to play with the settings, but I'm not happy with it at the moment.
An interesting change is the reduced number of panels on the home screen. The Nexus 4 had 5 panels. The Nexus 5 has only 3 panels, and one of them is filled with Google Now. I haven't decided if I like it or not. I was actually thinking that I had way too many shortcuts on my N4 and a lot of times it was just as easy to open the app menu and find the app I wanted alphabetically. The main panel was the one I used the vast majority of the time. So I was irritated by the change for a moment, but in actuality I don't really notice the change. I was able to set up the main panel exactly like I had it on my N4. Now it actually feels pretty much the same. I am considering taking that second panel and removing any shortcuts I have there, and dedicating it to widgets only.
Speaking of widgets, they no longer appear next to the apps in the app menu. Now they are set up by long-pressing the home screen and then choosing "WIDGETS" at the bottom of the screen. At first I was afraid there were no more widgets, but I found something online that showed me how to find them. Without my calendar widget I would have been pretty upset!
Overall it feels the same to use this phone as it did to use the N4. It's almost the same size and the buttons are all in the same place. For some reason the USB port is flipped upside down, but that only trips me up when I'm plugging in the charger. Otherwise everything feels the same. It just looks more vivid and bold because of the brighter, higher-resolution screen.
Even though it's plastic, the phone seems to be pretty tough. Yesterday I was volunteering at my church. We had our Christmas services, and last night was the one time each year when I help with parking. Because I was working outside, I was not wearing my normal pants. I was wearing some bright red warm up pants (over a couple other layers) and their pockets were not a good place for a phone. The Nexus 5 has nothing grippy on it whatsoever. Because of this, the phone fell out of my pocket twice. It landed on a concrete floor both times. It must be pretty tough. It survived both drops without a scratch... on the screen anyway. We went inside to warm up between services, and it fell out as I sat down. It only fell about a foot or so. This first drop made the cover loosen slightly. I had to press the cover down and then it snapped back into place. The second drop was higher because I was standing. I was in my garage and while I was removing my boots it popped out of my pocket again. Nothing came loose but I see there is a slight ding in the plastic bezel. It's more like a tiny scratch.  I am impressed with how tough this phone appears to be, but I'm also glad that I found a rubber case for it on eBay last week. It was only $4, and it should arrive in a couple of weeks. Until then I will continue to be more careful with my new phone.
There seem to be a pretty good number of LTE towers around here. Unfortunately that does not include the outer suburb where I work. Hopefully that will change some time this year. I still have the "H" on my screen so I am getting the HSPA+ version of 4G here at work.
Overall I am pleased with this phone, but the two reasons I wanted a different phone were the slippery glass back on the N4, and the lack of LTE support. Now I have a phone with a plastic back, but overall the phone is even more slippery than the old one. And I don't have LTE at work yet. The rubber case will fix the slipperiness, and hopefully I will see LTE in the future. Yes I could have bought a case for the N4, but this is my Christmas present to myself!
I'm driving home to the Wisconsin backwoods for Christmas. I'm not expecting to have LTE coverage out there, but I will keep an eye on it to find out for sure.

On it's way

Apparently Google was under-promising so they could over-deliver. My Nexus 5 shipped yesterday evening, and UPS says it will be delivered tomorrow. Hopefully that means I can open up the box tomorrow after work, and get the phone on the charger. Then I will be ready to start using it on Saturday. I'm excited!

Happy day!

Today I received my tuition reimbursement check. It's nice to have some money again! Now that I have the cash, I ordered a Nexus 5. I went with the white option, and 32 GB. I've always owned black phones so it will be fun to have a change. And since there is no SD slot, I went with the larger storage option. It's an extra $50, but I prefer to have it and not need it verses needing it and not having it. I made the same decision for my Nexus 4 and my Nexus 7. It's always nice to have plenty of storage.

I'm looking forward to having LTE access, and a longer battery life. I will be sure to post here about my experiences.

Whenever I order something, I always want it right now. I'm sort of childish in that way. Before I ordered, the site said it would ship in 1 to 2 days, but then after I placed the order, they told me it will ship on 12/23. The order was placed at 9:30 am on 12/18, so that would be 3 days, not 1 to 2 days. I am hoping they are just under-promising. Either way I just need to be more patient. It's not a gift so it doesn't matter if I have it by Christmas anyway. First World Problems!

I can see clearly now...

Having received the Android 4.4.2 update, it is now more apparent why the blue icons were grayed out. As displayed in my screen shot, the blue background now extends under the icons on the lock screen. I still don't like it, but at least it makes more sense now.

T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend follow-up - what's your time worth?

Good news! I was able to squeeze five hyphens into the title of the post! Even better news, I was able to take the promo card I received for the referral program down to the T-Mobile store and get them to apply the $25 to my account. I just had to pay sales tax on that $25 charge. It was good timing because tomorrow is when I will get charged my next $30 payment. But now I won't get charged anything because I still already had over $5 left and this promo card will put me over $30.

I have a T-Mobile store conveniently down the street from me, so it was not a big deal to go there. But if you don't, then is it worth the hassle? Also, it's not something they normally deal with, so don't be surprised if it confuses the employees at the store. The people who helped me were extremely helpful, but it still took a while.

Ultimately they were able to charge me $25 "direct to account," or something like that, and then I swiped the promo card before I swiped my check card. That took care of it and now I won't have to make a payment on my phone bill tomorrow. I'm happy!

Thanks for nothing?

Well I'm not really sure if this is anything to get excited about, or not. I guess I will have to stop over at the T-Mobile store down the street, and see what the heck this thing is good for.

I tried using it a prepaid card to refill my account. It would not let me do that. Maybe I can use it to purchase a prepaid card at the store.

T-Mobile Refer-a-Friend

Apparently one of you has used my Refer-a-Friend link. Thanks! I received an email a few days ago to tell me that my "Promotional Card" is on the way.
A reader contacted me last week to say that he had used my link, but since it takes a couple of months to go through, I think this is from someone else:

I'm not sure if the card will be something like one of those prepaid Visa cards, or something I can use to add credit to my T-Mobile account, or just some stupid marketing junk. Once I receive it and figure out what I can do with it, I will be sure to add a post here on my blog!

Google Voice changes: Good for MMS, bad for GrooVeIP

Many of us who use Google Voice have been wondering if Google even remembers they own this product. We have not been forgotten. In fact, here is mention of Google's plans from last spring:
https://plus.google.com/106636280351174936240/posts/DG6h32BWaQW

With more recent changes in Hangouts, they are slowly merging the two. There was an update describing some changes at the end of October:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NikhylSinghal/posts/MjyncJEbzxK

In May of 2014, Google is locking down Voice and barring 3rd party apps from accessing it. This means that GrooVeIP, Spare Phone, and Talkatone, as well as other 3rd party apps, will probably cease to function at that time. This is bad news for people who make use of these services. They never worked very well for me anyway. Skype was better, and you can still use Skype as a workaround because it does not access the Voice app directly. However, I still feel like the most reliable solution is to use the T-Mobile prepaid $30 plan and add a few extra dollars if you are going to use more than 100 minutes.

The good news is that Google Voice will start supporting MMS sometime in the next few months. In fact, T-Mobile already supports it. I shared a photo via messaging by texting from my cell phone number to my Voice number, and I received a text message in Google Voice saying, "MMS Received," and then the actual picture showed up in my Gmail. This is a great improvement for me. I have in the past had friends complain about not being able to text me a photo. Now they can!

Speaking of Skype, I will probably be ordering a Nexus 5 in the next month or so. I really want LTE support, and the better battery life. Once I have it, I will give Skype another try. I am hoping that with the LTE connection, the new phone will be able to perform well with Skype. Right now I don't know if T-Mobile even has decent LTE coverage in my area. But we shall see...

Nexus 7 on KitKat

Last week my Nexus 7 (2012) tablet was updated too. It has the same change from the blue icons in the upper right to the grayed out ones. I don't like this change, but it's nothing major. My N7 is WiFi only, so that status does not matter to me as much as it does on my phone. Overall I have not noticed any changes that feel intrusive.  I am pretty happy.

Here's a screenshot from right before the update, where the blue icons are still visible:

And here is the new 4.4 version:

Nexus 4 4.4

Last night my phone was updated to Android 4.4 KitKat. It seemed like it only took a few minutes to complete. I'm not able to tell if my phone is running any faster, but it's definitely not any slower.
The most noticeable differences is the lack of blue color for the data connection. They now remain grayed out even when connected with data. This is true of both cellular data and WiFi. It's annoying because I want to be able to see that status.
A couple more differences are on the lock screen. Now there is an icon to go straight to the camera, as well as something that makes it easier to bring up Google Now right from the lock screen.
I thought that this update would make the phone respond to the voice command "OK Google Now."  But it still only responds after I open Google Now by touching the box at the top of my home screen.
All in all the changes are very minor. Nothing to get anyone too excited.

Moto G

Well this is interesting. The new Moto G would work really well with what I've been doing. If it had been available a year ago, I probably would have chosen that over the Nexus 4. Now I have my eye on a Nexus 5, but for a person who is really trying to keep things at a bare minimum, the Moto G would be perfect. Here's their page for it:
http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/moto-g/Moto-G/moto-g-pdp.html

Here is a nice comparison of the technical specs:
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/125090-motorola-moto-g-vs-nexus-4-what-s-the-difference
Now when you compare the specs to the Nexus 4, you might still be better off with a used N4, but look at all the pretty colors on the Moto G! Plus you would have to shop eBay for the N4.

So ultimately this is a nice alternative to the Nexus 5, for someone who doesn't need the horsepower and just wants a cheap phone, that's also modern and nice. Combine this with a T-Mobile prepaid plan and you are going to have some okay service for a super cheap price.

FreedomPop Freedom Phone is in BETA!

Well I just received my invitation for the Freedom Phone beta test. I would have to shell out $105.99 to participate, so I'm going to pass. If I was not already in grad school with a big tuition bill hanging over my head then I might be more tempted. You can get 200 minutes a month for free, but I'm not sure if that is from Sprint voice service, or if it's some sort of WiFi calling. Sprint's coverage is not good up here in Minneapolis anyway.
I don't know anything about this phone though. Is it LTE? WiMax? I am assuming WiMax because if it was LTE, I think they'd be making a big deal about it. So it's an HTE Evo Design, but I don't know much beyond the few specs they list on their page:
CPU Speed MSM 8655 1.2GHz + SQN1210 (WIMAX)
Memory ROM 4GB eMMC, 8GB SDCard, RAM: 768MB
Camera SMP color CMOS with auto focus support 5 MP back camera, 1.3 MP forward facing
Connectivity Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed, WIFI: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, 3.5mm stereo audio jack. micro-USB
Battery 1520 mAh
So not exactly blazing fast, but 100 bucks with no contract? Sounds like a good tool for the right user.
Here are some screen shots from the email and the ordering page. Enjoy!

Nexus 5

The Nexus 5 is now for sale! $350 for a 16 gig, $400 for the 32 gig:
http://www.google.com/nexus/5/

I don't think I'm ready to upgrade, so hopefully Kit Kat comes to my N4 soon too!

UPDATE: Looks like Kit Kat is coming soon to my N4, and also my N7:
"Android 4.4, KitKat, which comes on Nexus 5, will also soon be available on Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play edition devices in the coming weeks."
That's a quote from this site:
https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/android-nexus-5/blog-post

Freedom Sleeve on 1Sale.com

This is not exactly breaking news, but I just stumbled across something on 1Sale.com, which was formerly called 1SaleADay.com. They are selling the big old clunky Freedom Sleeve for $30:
http://1sale.com/electronics/mobile-cell-phones/imw-c870w/

This site usually takes a couple of weeks to ship. The sleeve is pretty clunky, and it only directly connects with an iPod Touch 4th generation. You could connect to other devices via WiFi, as it can serve as a hot spot.

You do get some free internet access out of it, but I think this will only work on Sprint's WiMax network. Based on my experience, you won't be able to use it to replace your real phone. But it's still a sweet deal if you already own the iPod Touch 4th gen. Or at least it is worth considering.

1Sale.com is a clearing house/liquidator. So it's not the latest and greatest, but you get what you pay for. As long as Sprint keeps offering WiMax.

10 cents per minute

Just in case anyone else was curious, I intentionally burned through all 100 minutes this month so I would be able to see what my per minute rate is. And it is indeed 10 cents per minute. Following the advice of another blogger, I had added $10 to my account, and T-Mo has been dipping into that for additional talk time.

Moto X on Republic Wireless

This is a really great deal if you don't mind using the Sprint network:
http://republicwireless.com/moto-x

I had a mixed experience with Sprint data coverage, and they still don't have much LTE coverage. But for the price, it seems like a good way to go. If it was on any other network, I'd probably be more interested. But I'm not interested in anything on Spring in the near future. If you live in an area where Sprint has good coverage, then this would actually be a really phenomenal deal!

More confusion

It seems like almost everything related to the T-Mobile prepaid plans is confusing. Even when I went to add the additional $10 to my account, I had to try it twice. On my first attempt I ended up at a place that wouldn't let me add any money. I thought I did the same thing the second time but then it appeared to work. However it didn't update my account balance. After a few minutes I received a confirmation email and text, and today I can see my $10 balance. I've seen other bloggers complain about their site. I use Chrome as my browser, so maybe that's the source of the current problem.
At any rate, I now have a $10 balance available for any calls beyond my 100 minute limit. I still don't know for certain what the rate actually is. Maybe at the end of this 30 day period I will call an old friend and burn up all my minutes and see what T-Mo bills me.
I'm still happy about all the money I'm saving. Despite my ultimate disappointment with Skype, I'm still pleased to have such a cheap phone plan. My only "buyer's remorse" is related to all the money I spent on my Nexus 4. It's a great phone so I don't resent the specific device. I just with I had already owned a GSM phone. Then this deal would be truly phenomenal.

Speak of the devil

Last week I mentioned that I am interested in the Obihai VOIP adapters. Well this week they are having a sale. I'm still holding off until next year, but if you want in, the OBi200 is on sale at Newegg.com for $50 with free shipping. Use promo code EMCXLWV62 at the following link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833617008

I believe you will need to be signed up for the Newegg.com email marketing in order for the promo code to function.

Skype not so great, after all.

Well it's time for one more change. I'm finding that I still do a lot more textimg than I do talking, and after using Skype for several calls, it's just not as good as I had initially thought it was. It's still a great deal at $3/month, and next time I travel outside the US, I'll probably sign up just in case I want to call home. But for my day to day usage, I plan to follow the advice of another blogger. Sorry I can't remember who it was so I can't give him credit, but he recommended adding an extra $10 to my T-Mobile account. Then T-Mo can charge me a per-minute fee for anything over 100 minutes. I can't find a rate on their site, but he said it was 10 cents/minute, so that should get me another 100 minutes. And if I need more, then I can just add more money as needed. This is still a lot cheaper than what I was paying on Verizon.

So I'll see how this goes and I can always change back pretty easily.

P.S. I'm also considering one of the Obihai devices for my home, but I will wait until I see what Google decides to do with Google Voice in 2014. If it's free again next year, then it would make sense to add more hardware. But I won't know until then.

KitKat

So the new version of Android is going to be called KitKat! Just scrolling through this page will make your sweet tooth start to tingle:
http://www.android.com/kitkat/index.html

On the home page of Android.com, they also state, "Look for specially branded KitKat bars in a store near you that give you a chance to win a Nexus 7 or Google Play credit."

Here's an interesting quote from Googler John Lagerling, via the BBC:
"We realised that very few people actually know the taste of a key lime pie," he explained.
"One of the snacks that we keep in our kitchen for late-night coding are KitKats. And someone said: 'Hey, why don't we call the release KitKat?'
"We didn't even know which company controlled the name, and we thought that [the choice] would be difficult. But then we thought well why not, and we decided to reach out to the Nestle folks."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23926938

Now I think it's quite a shame that so few people have tried Key Lime Pie, because it's delicious! But that being said, it is fun to see Google trying something new with the co-branding of this product, and basically getting some free publicity via KitKat bar packaging.

I'm planning to try eating Paleo for a month, so I don't think I'll be rushing out to buy any KitKat bars today, but maybe in October I'll get on that. In the mean time I do have a jar of honey from my brother's bees, and he thought it looked cool to save some of the comb and seal it in the jar. So I'll have something else to gnaw on for a while.

Nexus 4 price slash

Wow! If you are a Verizon user who wants to try going to the prepaid setup that I've been using, the deal just got a lot sweeter! The price of the Nexus 4 is now $100 less than it was before. There are rumors of a Nexus 5 coming soon, but this Nexus 4 is such an incredible deal that it would still be the way to go, in my humble opinion. Here's a link in case you don't know how to find Google Play on your own. :)
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_8gb

The Nexus 4 pairs really well with the prepaid T-Mobile plan that I've mentioned in this blog. Even without LTE, I feel like I get pretty good speed on the data connection. I'll probably want LTE some time in the future, but it's not a burning desire.

Also, my roommate has an old iPhone 4 (or maybe a 4S) and he just switched to this plan. He says he likes it and he definitely loves the price. He plans to also get Skype to supplement his 100 minutes. Getting AT&T to unlock the phone only took a day or two.

Bye Bye Bionic

Well the Bionic is no more. Or I should say the Bionic is mine no more. I sold it on eBay as a bundle with the Lapdock, Otterbox case, and an extended battery. I listed a starting price of $50, and a "Buy It Now" price of $150 for the bundle. Some dude in Kansas bought it right away, as in less than 3 minutes after I posted it. So last night I took it down to UPS and shipped it off to him. Since it sold so quickly, there are those little tinges of "I should have asked for more," but overall I'm still glad to have cashed out and prevented it from becoming more clutter.
I think I need to go through my other stuff and start selling more of it. Tonight I plan to list my old nForce2 motherboard. It's from my first computer build, but it's actually the second motherboard I bought. I'm going to sell it with the CPU, RAM, and a Radeon 9600 video card. I plan to hook it all up again first, just to make sure everything still works. It's only about 10 years old!
I get clingy with my stuff. It's sad to see it go, but if it's just sitting in the closet taking up space, then it's really good riddance. Especially if I can make some money from it.

Nepotism alert!

Here is a video that Ford Motors made, but it features a product made by my employer, Graco:
http://youtu.be/punLeCP72ZI

Our stuff has also been featured on This Old House and other TV shows. But it's always exciting to see another one!

Referral confusion

Last night my renter/roommate returned from Ecuador. He had cancelled his AT&T service before he left since he was gone all summer. I was excited to tell him about the T-Mobile prepaid plan I've been using. And I said, hey, if you are going to sign up for it, then use my referral link.
He was cool with that, but then when he gets the link it says to go sign up first, and then come back and register on the referral program page. So now I'm wondering if this thing even works. I told him not to worry about it because I'm more interested in him saving money than I am in getting my referral bonus, but it's still pretty annoying that this all is so confusing. Why would anyone click my referral link if they make it so hard to use? I guess we'll see what happens after he receives his SIM card and activates the service. Maybe after I go through it all once, then I'll have a better understanding of the right way to do things.
I think he also needs to contact AT&T because his iPhone 4 is probably still locked.

Motivation

I built my first computer in 2002. At the time I was working at a place that sold computers. We were given some training on computers and it got me all excited. I also was living with a friend who had built his own computer in the past. So I ordered a bunch of components and built my first PC. Athlon XP processor, Windows XP, etc. Very exciting.

Now I am about to take an accounting class. We have some reading due the first day, so I'm getting an early start on it. As I read about balance sheets and income statements, I noticed a growing desire to reduce my expenses. Then I remembered that I already had that desire. My whole experiment with my cell phone, or lack there of, has been motivated by the desire to reduce my expenses.

Since then I've also reduced the bill for my DSL connection at home. I would cut it completely but I promised my renters, in writing, that I would provide high speed WiFi for them.

Now if I could just bring myself to sell my new car, and get something old and cheap, then I'd really be making a difference!

Skype is working better than expected.

This weekend I used Skype while I was out driving around. I drove from the outer northern suburbs in to Minneapolis, about 20 miles, and my call stayed connected the entire time. I had assumed that the call would drop when I switched towers, but it never dropped. There were a couple of times that it got a little bit choppy. I am assuming I had a weaker data connection at those times. I also used it when driving on the south end of town and it worked well there too. I was not covering the same 20 mile distance as the previous time, but it was still nice to be able to rely on it. I'm so happy with it that I am considering a Skype number. So far I have just been letting incoming calls go to voicemail and then calling back right away. It might just be worth it to have that Skype number so I can skip the extra step. But for now I plan to sign up for multiple months of Skype phone service so I can save a few more dollars off the already bargain price of $3/month.

It's going to take me about 10 months to make up for the $400 I spent on the Nexus 4. I'm going to be keeping an eye on T-Mo's LTE rollout and I'll probably be shopping for an LTE phone in the future. Maybe an S4 or HTC One after the prices come down some more. Especially if I can find a good deal on a used one.

FreedomPop LTE

Well there is no press release on their website, but FreedomPop's homepage is now showing an LTE hotspot called the "Mifi 5580 LTE." I won't be testing this because I am content with my T-Mobile setup. This is still on the Sprint network. I've heard the Sprint network is not able to maximize the bandwidth of LTE because their infrastructure is too weak. So until the infrastructure is beefed up, all they can promise is potential. Just having LTE does not do anything for you if you can't handle the data. Also the price of the device is $150. All that being said, it still give each owner a free 500 Gb of data each month. And as Sprint improves its network, it will keep getting better performance. So this might be the perfect travel companion for some folks. I know I enjoy the option of taking my Overdrive Pro and plugging it into my laptop. Also I just read a post on FreedomPop's blog which states that they lifted the 99 cent maintenance fee for unused accounts back in June. So you can now keep one of these in your travel bag and you don't have to worry about turning it on once a month.

Apparently the phone service they plan to roll out is going to be available for Android phones that works on Sprint. So if you have an old Sprint, Virgin, Boost, or other phone set up for Sprint, you should be able to bring it to FreedomPop. I'm not sure if there is going to be a requirement for it to be CDMA or LTE, so be careful to check on that if you plan to use their service.

Looks like I'm out of luck with my Nexus 4, but I still like the deal I currently have with T-Mobile and Skype.

T-Mobile referral program

If reading about my experiences makes you want to switch to T-Mobile too, you can help me out by going through this referral link:
https://mbsy.co/gwsT
I get some sort of promo credit of $25 if you sign up. It's worth a shot, right?

Skype works great

Last night a friend called me on my cell phone. I'm down to only 9 minutes remaining of the 100 monthly minutes. So I told him I would call him right back. I have Skype set up as my default phone call app, so I just open my call history, and his number was right on top. I clicked on it and my phone immediately called him from Skype. We talked for about 10 or 15 minutes and everything was just as clear as it was when he called me. So the bottom line is that when I'm at home, it works great on my Nexus 4. I still have my Bionic so I think I will give it a try from there too. And I also need to test it while I'm out and about. I assume if I am driving and change towers, it's going to drop the call. But I need to experiment a little bit with that. All in all, for $3/month, I'm excited about how well this works. Totally worth the money!

Skype trial

For the moment I am just going to try Skype for one month. A month of unlimited minutes is only $2.99, so it's worth the risk. For now I am not going to sign up for a Skype number, but if the service is good then I will consider a Skype number in the future. Since I do have 100 minutes from T-Mobile, I will still use them for my incoming calls, and then just make all the outbound calls on Skype. Within the hour my caller ID will begin showing my cell phone number when I make calls with Skype. That's free and I don't need a Skype number for it to work. So in a few weeks I will decide if this is the finally solution or if I am better off just paying by the minute for extra minutes from T-Mo.

With the future of Google Voice being so uncertain, I also hope Skype is my alternative to that. If the service is ever discontinued or gets too pricey, I might just get a Skype number and give that to all my friends as my new phone number.

Skype: loud and clear

Did you know that you can call an 800 number with Skype, even if you don't have any credits in your account? I called my bank this morning with Skype (using the Skype app on my Nexus 4 phone) because I'm almost out of minutes from T-Mobile. The woman who answered said she had no problem hearing me. I was at home on WiFi at the time. This afternoon at work I called myself to test the line and I could hear myself load and clear. No delay at all, and no echo. That was not on WiFi, so I was on the cellular data connection. After messing around with all of those other VOIP apps, and even spending money on some, it was downright shocking to hear how good the connection sounded. I am now considering a subscription and a Skype number, so I can forward Google Voice to it. But I need to sleep on it, and probably experiment some more first.

T-Mobile vs Sprint

Today I was reading a story about how slowly the LTE rollout is going for Sprint. They have hit a lot of set backs and their spectrum is very limited. In fact, their spectrum is so limited that their LTE speeds are choked down to less than the speed of HSPA+ on other networks. So there I was sitting around with my device that operated on the Sprint network, waiting hopefully for LTE speeds in the future, and even when they arrived they would have been sub-par. The speeds on the Nexus 4 have been more than sufficient and coverage is a lot better than Sprint's.
So now I don't feel so bad about not being able to access LTE on my Nexus 4. Plus I should be able to download the Android 4.3 update later today. Very exciting!

Nexus 4 on T-Mo Prepaid

Well it looks like my affair with FreedomPop and their Overdrive Pro hotspot is coming to an end. I received my Nexus 4 last night and the data speeds feel a ton faster than what I was getting through FreedomPop. In the Minneapolis suburbs the WiMax coverage is pretty lousy, so I was on Sprint 3G most of the time. Now when I see the little "H" above the signal bars on my N4, I know it's going to be quick.

Apparently Google made a change that locks out the LTE hack on the N4, but I'm so accustomed to the crappy speeds of WiMax and Sprint 3G that HSPA feels really fast. I haven't tried to stream video yet, though a friend of mine does it on his N4 on T-Mo and it works great for him. I'll have to watch some YouTube next time I hit the treadmill. [Update, video streaming works fine when the "H" is displayed.]

I turned on data tethering so my N4 is sharing with my Nexus 7 tablet. Hopefully T-Mobile can't see that since they are both Android devices. I'm using the $30/month prepaid plan that does not include tethering (which is an extra $15/month).

I plan to downgrade my FreedomPop account to get only the free 500 Mb of data per month. The Overdrive Pro hotspot could still be useful on occasion for my tablet. It will be good to have as a backup in case I want access to Sprint's WiMax or just have a dead battery on the N4, or if I need to use it for my laptop. I'm pretty sure I'd get busted if I tether the N4 to my Windows laptop.

I feel like I've spent a lot of money on gadgets recently. $45 for the hotspot, $180 for the tablet, and after tax and shipping the new phone was almost $400. Actually when you add another $10 for the T-Mobile SIM card, is was just over $400. The phone will pay for itself in 10 months because I'm saving $40 per month, if not more. I guess the tablet is just frivolous spending, but there is no buyer's remorse because I really like it!

FreedomPop's "Freedom Phone" is still intriguing. Whenever it comes out I will consider getting that service. If it is compatible with the Nexus 4 and it's cheaper than $30/month, then I might switch. The great thing about my current setup is that I'm not held to a contract. The bad thing is that T-Mobile could change their offerings and get rid of my $30 plan. But either way, I love having options.

So frustrating!

Last night I finally broke down and ordered a Nexus 4. I was all set to go to Costco and buy a GS4 on AT&T. But I am a capitalist, and I vote with my dollar. AT&T's "NEXT" program is insulting to the intelligence of anyone who made it past 3rd grade math class. And I hate the idea of getting into a two year contract with AT&T anyway.

So all that to say, I checked on that $30 prepaid plan from T-Mobile to verify that it's still available. Looks like it is, so I ordered a SIM from them and the N4 from the Google Play store. This morning I received a shipping notice with a tracking number on it already. And of course half an hour ago, the announcement comes out that Google is having an event next week:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57594154-251/google-event-next-week-could-usher-android-update/

Yes, we all knew that something was rumored to happen in July. It's just funny that the DAY AFTER my order was placed, this announcement came out. $350 is still a great price on a new smart phone, and hopefully I can hack the LTE antenna on the N4. And maybe they won't even announce any devices. Maybe it's just the new version of Android. Or it's still possible that only the Nexus tablets are getting updated. Google has been giving the impression that they're getting out of the phone business. Plus it's all for the best because I truly need a real phone. So it's good that I didn't procrastinate any longer. And if they do release a new phone and it's just completely mind-blowing, I can still buy it and move my SIM card over.

By the way, I am still loving my Nexus 7 tablet. It's great! It just doesn't work well as a phone.

Nexus 7 on sale at Staples

Just in case you don't read the Cheapskate blog on Cnet.com, now you can get a Nexus 7 for even less than I paid for it. I paid $180 for a refurb, and I'm very happy with it. It's a great little tablet and I use it all the time. It's just big enough to use as an eReader too. I tried using the Kindle app on my phone and it just wasn't big enough. But on the N7, I read Kindle books, use my Bible app, and surf the internet. It's really great. I had to turn off Bluetooth because every time I would get in my car it would run more slowly, and even froze twice. I have not been streaming music very much lately, so I just turned off Bluetooth and everything is good again. Despite the Bluetooth problem, I still highly recommend this tablet. My phone had problems with the Bluetooth in my car too, so it might be something with my car anyway.

The link is below, but you also need coupon code 20098 to drop the price to $169. This is for a new one. Mine is a refurb and just like new, but this really is new:

http://www.staples.com/Nexus-7-32GB-Tablet-from-Google/product_100604

New hardware

My Nexus 7 arrived a couple nights ago. The battery life on this thing is great. I gave it a full charge the first night. Then yesterday I watched about 45 minutes of a movie on it, played some games and did some web surfing. I never put it on the charger yesterday, but it was plugged into my computer for a few minutes while I transferred some movies. It says it has been on battery for over 25 hours, and it still has 17% remaining. So I'm very impressed.

But unfortunately it has not improved my VOIP performance very much. There is a setting for the microphone volume in GrooVe IP that somehow I never noticed before. I turned it up on both my Droid Bionic and my N7, and that helps a lot. But wherever I have tried both devices, the performance is the same. I did not get a chance to try it on my friend's Comcast internet yesterday, but here at the office today I only have a 3G connection on my Overdrive Pro, and only a 60% signal at that, and both devices work fine. The sound quality is excellent, with only a slight delay. The delay is comparable to what I usually expect from a cell phone.

Yesterday I was trying them both from my car because I wanted to see how the Bluetooth was working. I believe I was connected to my home WiFi at the time because I was still in my garage. They both worked pretty poorly. I probably need to turn up the volume for the Bluetooth microphone on both devices, because there is a separate setting for that.

I was hoping this new Nexus 7, which is a lot more powerful than my Bionic, would solve all the problems I've had. Unfortunately this does not appear to be the case, because both devices are performing the same as far as VOIP is concerned. It looks like I am going to have to go back to getting a real phone again. Admitting defeat is not an easy thing to do, but I have to be practical and realistic. I'm getting lonely without a phone. I could get a better mobile hotspot, but the service would cost me almost as much a normal cell phone plan. I would also prefer to wait and see what the next generation of phones will bring, but I probably will need to get a phone some time this month.

So now the next question is do I want an HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, or Galaxy Note 2? Decisions, decision. I'm leaning toward the GS4, but it will all depend on what deals are available for each of them. And if there are any trade-in deals available, it would be nice to get rid of my Bionic that way.

New reports coming soon!

I ordered a refurbished Nexus 7 this weekend. I'm hoping it gets to me by Wednesday and then I will be able to test these various apps on a more powerful device. It only has to ship from Illinois to Minnesota, so hopefully it will be here soon. Once I get some testing done I will be able to write some more significant blogs. If it does get to me by Wednesday, I can try it at the home of a friend who has internet from Comcast too. I'm curious to see if the upload speed on my DSL is to blame for some of the problems I've had, or if it is just my decrepit device (aka Droid Bionic) at fault. I look forward to reporting back soon!

Verizon's VoLTE technology

So Verizon is planning to get rid of all connections except LTE. Makes sense to do it that way and simplify things. The efficiency should save them a lot of money. So does this mean in the future their customers will only need to pay for a data plan, and then calls just count toward the data total? I'm not optimistic.

It seems like they are trying to accomplish the same thing that I've been doing with VOIP over WiFi. My cheap hack does not really work very well with my current hardware, but with Verizon designing it all, the VoLTE system should work pretty well, and save them a lot of money. So I'm just wondering if that savings will result in a better rate for the consumer. I won't be holding my breath. Just wishful thinking, I suppose.

Here's my source for the VoLTE news:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57591213-94/verizon-says-first-lte-only-phones-to-arrive-in-late-2014/

P.S. Speaking of my current hardware, I'm planning to buy a new tablet soon. Once I have it I will report on how well the various VOIP apps perform on it. I'm hoping they do better than my poor old Droid Bionic. The Bionic's performance has been abysmal, but until I have a faster piece of hardware it's hard to know what is to blame. Even on my home WiFi (DSL) my call quality is inconsistent. This fact leads me to believe that the Bionic is the problem, or at least part of it. I'm also looking to forward to other options coming in the near future.

Patience

It can be hard to wait for things. I keep thinking about buying a Nexus 7, but it's almost July and I hear tell that Google will be releasing the sequel to the N7 in July. I hope that's true. There have been some nice sales on new and refurbished N7 tablets, sometimes as much as $50 off. It's hard to resist but I keep telling myself that the new one will be here soon!

I'm also waiting to see what the Freedom Phone is all about. On June 5th, FreedomPop posted to their blog, "Our game changing service comes with a guaranteed 500MBs of free 4G data, 200 voice minutes and unlimited text messaging, not to mention free unlimited calling between FreedomPop users. It will also, be available on a several popular Android phones." But since then there have not been any more details. They just say it's coming "later this summer." Whatever that means.

My scheme to ditch Verizon works great, as long as you only want to send and receive text messages. And only SMS for that matter, not MMS. If someone sends me a photo it does not even tell anyone that a message was rejected. I'm getting impatient for the Freedom Phone because I don't need a phone, until I need one. Then it's annoying because the VOIP system isn't really working for me.

Of course I could always try using Skype instead.

Talkatone

I test-drove another app last weekend. It's called Talkatone. The paid version is $20! Fortunately the free version was available so I gave it a whirl. It seemed to have less of a delay than GrooVe IP, but the sound quality was not as good. I guess that's a fair trade-off, however I could not find any setting to tell it to turn on when I boot up my phone. I'm sort of absent-minded, so I don't want to have to remember to open the app after every time I restart my phone. I'm assuming the full version has that feature, but I'm not going to pay to find out.

I definitely have a bias towards GrooVe IP because it's more familiar to me now. I feel like this plan is not really working anyway and I'll probably be returning to a more traditional mobile phone service later in the year. I am waiting to see what new deal is offered with Freedom Pop's Freedom Phone. I'm also thinking I might hold out until Samsung releases a new phone with the Snapdragon 800 processor, because that looks pretty awesome.

In the mean time I am still enjoying the cost savings of not having a traditional contract for my mobile phone service.

More on GrooVe IP vs "PHONE for Google Voice & GTalk."

Last week I blogged about making calls when my hotspot was only getting a 3G signal. Tonight I was able to test both GrooVe IP and "PHONE for Google Voice and GTalk" on hotspot with 4G as well as my home WiFi, which uses DSL from CenturyLink.

I was on Skype with my friend Javier who lives in San Francisco. He has AT&T service for his iPhone. I first called him using GrooVe IP on my DSL WiFi. The call had a delay slightly longer than Skype, but sound quality was good and we could converse pretty easily. I shut down the app and opened PHONE and had pretty similar results.

Then I switched to using my Overdrive Pro hotspot, which gets a 4G signal here at home, but a fairly week one. The signal strength is only about 10 to 20%. Both apps had a long delay. I could hear Javier clearly, but my voice was very tinny and mechanical to him. Additionally, when using the PHONE app, Javier could hear a delayed echo of his own voice. On GrooVe IP there is an advanced setting for echo cancellation which I have enabled, but PHONE does not have that option. So really the call quality is still pretty even for these two, but because GrooVe IP has the advanced options, it wins this round.

I'm not going to bother testing the PHONE app any more because I feel I have enough proof that GrooVe IP is as good or better than PHONE. I think having the free version of either one would be fairly equal. PHONE incorporates the SMS function of Google Voice as well, so if that matters to you then it should be a consideration. But I don't care about that. Since I already paid money for the full version of GrooVe IP, I'm going to stick with that.

It was nice to finally be able to test it. I've been feeling like a hermit lately because I don't trust my phone for making calls. After proving that my convoluted solution does indeed work, I can start making calls again, at least when I'm home on DSL anyway. In places where I have a stronger 4G connection, I should be able to use the Overdrive Pro for making calls too. But in the meantime it works well for texting and Facebook.

Another piece of tech - my homemade DVR.

I was recently informed that Windows 8 does not include Windows Media Center. Not that I have plans of purchasing Windows 8 in the near future, but that's still a shame. I run Windows 7 on all of my computers, and nowadays my desktop is really only used as an HTPC. Part of the reason is because I also have a laptop and a smart phone, but the other reason is that it works really well as a DVR. I've used it with two different TV tuners. I first used one that connects via USB, and it was fine. But I wanted something that attached more securely, so I bought a tuner card. It's an Asus card and I only use it for the OTA signal from my old TV antenna upstairs. I had a 1 GB hard drive already, but when I saw a 2 GB drive on sale, I picked that up and then set it as the save location for Windows Media Center.
It was extremely easy to do all of this. I think a person with a laptop could do this using the USB tuber and also an external hard drive. I never had any intention of paying a monthly fee for DVR access. So taking my existing computer and adding the DVR functionality was a no-brainer.
The Asus card included software, and I believe the USB tuner did as well. So in theory you wouldn't need the Windows Media Center software to use a PC as a DVR, but it's so slick and easy that I never even considered using anything else.
It's too bad that Microsoft doesn't offer this as a free add-on for Windows 8. It's yet another reason for me to skip it. Until I get a touch screen monitor, there is no reason for me to use it anyway. And by that time I might be using an OS from Google on my PC instead.

"PHONE for Google Voice & GTalk" for Android by Mo+, another free VOIP app.

On my original post in this series, I added a comment that you could get an app for iOS called "PHONE for Google Voice & GTalk." I turns out this same app is available for Android too. Both are free. A friend told me on Facebook that he download the app for his iPod Touch and it worked great. So I thought it would be worth downloading it to my Droid Bionic too.
First impressions are good. It looks sharp, not a lot of settings to mess with, and it displays network strength during a call.
I dislike the tiny dialpad available during a call. When dialing the number you want, a full size dial pad is displayed. But during a call the dialpad that you can pull up is a miniature one.
Right now my Overdrive Pro is on a good signal, but it's only 3G. I shut down GrooVe IP and made a call with PHONE but the sound was only one way. I could hear the other end, but they could not hear me. Their voice was delayed a lot, about 2 or 3 seconds.
I disconnected the call and exited the app, then opened GrooVe IP again. I made the same phone call, and the lag from the other person was again about 2 or 3 seconds, but my voice went through loud and clear, and it was not delayed at all. So GrooVe IP wins this round. These are definitely not ideal conditions for calling, so I need to try them both when the Overdrive Pro has a good 4G signal, and also on my DSL's WiFi at home.
I'll post my results later, but in the mean time feel free to comment if you have any experience with either of these apps, or the app called Spare Phone, or if you have suggestions for other apps I should try.

FreedomPop's new mobile service

"FreedomPop's new service will give users a guaranteed 500MB of 4G data for free, unlimited texts, and 200 voice minutes per month. Users registered on the network will also be given free unlimited calls to each other. The service will launch later this summer on several phones running Google's Android operating system." - CNET

I assume they are waiting for the LTE launch to do this, but maybe not. Either way, it sounds like just what I need. Hopefully I can still pay $20/month to get more data. This would theoretically eliminate the need for the apps GrooVe IP and Spare Phone on Android, and "Phone for Google Voice" on iOS. It would be really nice to have a VOIP client from FreedomPop themselves, so I can complain to one place when it doesn't work!

The only negative I see is if you have to buy a special phone for this. And I'm betting that will be the case. I'm planning to buy a tablet this summer and run it off my Overdrive Pro too. But if I could have both devices share the same account, then I'd still be game. Or just use the 500 MB of free data on my phone, and do all my surfing on my tablet using the 2 GB that I purchase.

Very exciting prospect.

Update, here's the link:
http://www.freedompop.com/phone
It appears they are not waiting for LTE after all, because it won't be until later in the year. This says they are launching the "Freedom Phone" this summer. I'm still very interested. I doubt they will let me use both devices on the same account, but I will definitely ask them.

Here is the source of the CNET quote:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57587715-94/freedompop-goes-freebie-with-new-mobile-service/

Sunshine

When the Overdrive Pro is on the charger, it can get too hot and then it stops charging. I'm glad it stops because an exploding battery would be very inconvenient. I normally place it up on the dashboard of my car when I'm driving because then it sits on top of a vent, which keeps it cool so it can keep charging. And normally I leave it there when I am home because inside the house I have my home WiFi. Since I have an attached garage it's usually not a problem. But yesterday I went to the car wash and then left my car in the driveway for a few hours so it could dry. The sun was shining on my Overdrive Pro and it got extremely hot. It actually caused it to seize up (become unresponsive). I had to pull the battery and cool everything off for a minute. Once I put it back together it was fine again, but I was really amazed at how hot it had been. Lesson learned. Don't leave a sensitive electronic device in the sun, especially when it's black!

Verizon annoyance

One thing I would suggest to anyone else who might want to try this: Disable Backup Assistant+ (if you can) before disconnecting from Verizon. Mine keeps trying to run but it can't access the server. It's not a huge deal, but it's annoying. I will probably have to root my phone to get rid of this app. My phone is not rooted and it won't let me uninstall or disable the app. I tried deleting all the contacts that were being backed up, but it still wants to run.

Spare Phone: An Alternative to GrooVe IP?

I've mentioned in the past that there is an iOS app you can use to accomplish the same thing that I do with GrooVe IP, but now I see there is another Android app available.

It's called "Spare Phone" from Guidology, and it claims to be better than GrooVe IP. Here is the product page:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.guidology.sparephone

Now I don't actually have any complaints about GrooVe IP, but according to the reviews, Spare Phone will work on a weaker signal and give a clearer connection. Both apps let you tweak a lot of things under the hood, but I don't want to mess with that unless I have to do so. It might depend on which device you are using, because the default settings on each app could be better on one device and worse on another.

Also, I like GrooVe IP because there is a "Lite" version which is free. Spare Phone costs a few dollars. GrooVe IP "Lite" only works on WiFi, but since that's what I'm using then it's all I needed. Plus it allowed me to try it and make sure it worked first. I ultimately purchased the full version of GrooVe IP because I wanted to support the developer and have access to advanced settings, but I would not have had to do so.

Still, it seemed like it was worth spending a couple bucks to see if Spare Phone was better. I bought Spare Phone and tried to use it. I was at work where I had a 3G connection only, but 4 bars. I called myself at my desk, and I could not hear myself at all. It was just a one-way connection. I've had a couple of bad connections with GrooVe IP as well, so it could be just a fluke. I tried it again today, and it worked.

It seems like in the short time that I have used each app, they are pretty close to the same in call quality. Calls can be pretty tinny & mechanical sounding, and I've had people tell me they can hear an echo. So all things being fairly equal, it seems like GrooVe IP "Lite" is the winner because it's free. So if you want to try doing what I'm doing, and only use WiFi, just grab GrooVe IP Lite and save yourself the extra cost of paying for an app.

I'm not going to ask for my money back. It will be good to keep Spare Phone as a "spare phone" in case I'd ever have problems with the GrooVe IP app, or in case it works better on other devices I purchase in the future. I like to have a backup plan, especially when it only costs a couple of bucks.

I wonder if a future version of the Google Hangouts app will incorporate VOIP calling and eliminate the need for a 3rd party app. Something to ponder.

Calling on 3G

Today was a busy day at work but then after 4 pm the calls just stopped. That happens sometimes but usually on a Thursday I will still get a couple of calls after 4 pm. But just to make sure the office phone was not having another outage or something, I called our 800 number from my cell phone.

My Overdrive Pro only has a 3G connection right now, but it does have 4 bars. My goal was just to make sure it would ring through to my desk. Which it did. But to my surprise I could actually hear myself clearly on both ends. There was a slight delay, but not any worse than a normal cell phone call.

So, once again using Google Voice via GrooVe IP, and doing that over the FreedomPop network, I actually successfully made a call while on 3G. So that's pretty cool! I'm still looking forward to the LTE roll out and better coverage, but this is good news for the time being. Maybe I will be more brave in the future when I have a strong 3G signal.

No USB for Bionic Lapdock

I tried connecting my Overdrive Pro to my Droid Bionic Lapdock directly via USB, but it looks like there is no driver support available. So I can only connect via WiFi. It still might work as a charging station for it, but I need to play around with it some more.

Ooh, I like this:

"FreedomPop's high speed wireless internet service runs on Clearwire's 4G WiMax network. The service will expand to include Sprint's 4G LTE network in 2013."
From http://www.freedompop.com/about.htm

I imagine I will need to buy a new device to get access to the LTE service. Perhaps the "Tri-Fi" hotspot, also from Sierra Wireless, will be offered later this year. I would be interested in that because Sprint is supposed to be expanding their LTE network in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metro area throughout 2013. Hopefully there is some sort of trade-in deal. It would be really sweet if they offered something like the Freedom Sleeve with LTE (and 3G backup) because that would make it less cumbersome than the separate hotspot.

I am not sure who told them the price would would count towards the LTE hotspot, but here is a related quote:
"So if you get an Overdrive Pro now, and want 4G LTE support in the future, you're going to have to trade it in. The $39.99 price will go towards getting you an LTE hotspot. LTE devices will also have the ability to roam on 3G." 
From http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2418028,00.asp

I hope that is an accurate statement. I had LTE on Verizon and enjoyed the speed of it, just got tired of the cost. It would be worth kicking in a few more dollars for the speed of LTE at FreedomPop prices.

Milwaukee

Well if you live in Milwaukee, FreedomPop probably won't work for you. At least for now. I was there over the weekend and never saw a 4G signal even once. So it served the purpose of letting me use Google Voice for text messaging, but not for phone calls. That was good enough for me, but it would not really be a good thing for someone who lived there.

Interestingly enough, Wisconsin Dells had 4G. But I guess that makes sense because it's a touristy place and a lot of different Sprint customers would use their WiMax 4G there. I stopped at Culvers on my drive down and I thought about making a call to see how it worked, but I wanted to get back on the road so I didn't test it. Most of the entire stretch of I-94 in Wisconsin had 3G coverage, with only one blackout south of Eau Claire. I drove I-94 all the way from Hudson to Oak Creek (south side of Milwaukee).

On a side note, I got 40 mpg in my Sonata on the drive home. So that was pretty exciting. Best mileage I've ever seen with this car. It has Bluetooth built in to the radio, but the Droid Bionic runs really slowly when connected to Bluetooth, so I've been leaving it disabled on the Bionic lately.

I'm not alone.

Great quote from Ashton Kutcher:
"People are going to start looking at cellular and have that same feeling that I'm not getting that experience I should get, that I want to get, and deserve to get -- consumers are really entitled."

The quote comes from this article:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-57585932-10356022/ashton-kutcher-on-why-twitter-is-messed-up-and-more/

He makes another good point just before that:
"If Apple wanted to turn on a unified hot spot, I don't think I would need a carrier."

I agree with him. I'm not as hung up on it coming from Apple, but since all I want is data then I would be interested in this service from whoever offered the most reliable connection at the lowest price. When I read this at the end of the article, it made me excited to know that I'm not the only one looking for an alternative to the cellular providers.

Is FreedomPop's 3G of any real value?

So far it appears that I won't be able to make calls over the Overdrive Pro when I am on 3G. There's just not enough bandwidth. In defense of both services, neither FreedomPop nor GrooVe IP would tell you this should work. GrooVe IP works great when I'm on a broadband connection at home. FreedomPop works great for texting via Google Voice, using Facebook, or light web browsing. They just don't seem to work together very well. FreedomPop does sell a sleeve for the iPod touch that advertises it works with VOIP, and that sleeve only uses the 4G (WiMax) connection. Which means I should be able to make calls on 4G.

So that makes me wonder if I really get any value out of the 3G service. It lets me browse Facebook on my phone, but do I really need to do that? Texting via Google Voice would probably still be handy, but is it really worth the money? If I can use FreedomPop's free 500 GB of 4G only service, it would save me another $20 per month. So the real question is, how much of a tight-wad to I really want to be?
When I am out and about this summer I will get a better feel for how I use it and the real capabilities. If I have 4G coverage most places, and I find that I use less than 1 GB of data, then I should probably consider downgrading.

AT&T GoPhone as backup

If I had a compatible phone already, I would consider getting this as a backup:
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans/voice/sku4940399.html#fbid=zB0VoXYPmTv

Because I only talk on my cell phone a few times each month, this would be a great backup for places my FreedomPop does not have a good enough connection to let me use VOIP. I would still use GrooVe IP whenever I could, but this AT&T option would be nice as an alternative when needed.

Option for my old Verizon phone are not as appealing:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/prepay/processPrePayRequest.do?&type=ppmonthSP

My feedback letter to FreedomPop

The FreedomPop website has a note that says this is all in open Beta, and they want feedback. So here is what I wrote to them:

Hello,

The positive feedback is that I like how small the Overdrive Pro device is. Fits in my pocket nicely. I like that it's a USB connection so I can use the car charger for my phone and keep it powered when I'm in the car. And I like that I can tether it to my laptop via USB. I bought it to use over WiFi with my phone, but this is a nice bonus for PC use. I also like that it has a switch to mute the speaker. The beeps are helpful at times, but it's nice to be able to silence them. And I also think it's cool that the device monitors battery temperature when charging so it doesn't overcook the battery.

My negative feedback is that you supposedly "activate" it when I place the order, so that 3 GB offer for the first month is misleading because I only have 2 week to use all of that. Granted I didn't pay for it, but it's not as good of a deal as it was purported to be because I really only get 2 weeks for free. And then even though it is supposedly activated, the 3G does not work right away. This is annoying because in my home, I only get the 4G signal from one corner of my house. Once I updated the PRL and profile, the 3G works great, but I'm wondering why you can't do that at the factory so it works right out of the box. I don't feel like this was truly "activated" until I did it myself, and I don't think the free month should have begun until after I did so.

Also the lack of communication on the backorder was pretty lame. It would have been nice to have been advised that it would take two weeks to ship. I did not expect to receive it the next day, but since the meter was already running on my first month, this was all pretty disappointing, and the lack of a known ship date made it worse. I think you probably received a lot more orders than you anticipated, and probably were overwhelmed, but I suggest improving communication with your future customers so they know when to expect it.

Overall, I think I like the service. It's only been a few days but it appears to be working effectively. I am being hypercritical because I work in customer service myself, and you asked for the feedback. I think in the future I will recommend this to friends who want to unplug from their cell phone carrier, but I still need to use if for a while and make sure I'm confident in it before I start making recommendations.

Kind regards,

John J. Koenig

Update 5/23, FreedomPop wrote back to say that they are going to give me another 1 GB extra for free next month. So that's pretty cool of them.

FreedomPop - growing pains.

I think FreedomPop is a victim of their own success. They seem to be overwhelmed at the moment. First it took them about two weeks to ship the Overdrive Pro, so it was about two and half weeks by the time I received it. I responded to that automated message with a question about delivery, and it took them a couple of days to respond.
Now when I go look at my account I get an error message that says my account is suspended because of a billing problem, and I need to enter a new credit card. Well they were able to bill me for the Overdrive Pro before they shipped it, so it seems to work just fine. I happen to have a second check card with a different number, so I changed to that number and the error is still there. But they have not cut off my service anyway. So I guess my account is not suspended and that whole message is just an error. I sent a screenshot to their customer service and hopefully I will hear back from them soon.
The other thing that's uncertain is how accurate the accounting is for the amount of data I have used. It says I've used 141 MB, as of the end of yesterday. That may be correct, but it seems low. The numbers displayed on the device seem a lot higher, but that may just be a bad perception on my part. Because I have 3 GB of data to use, and only a week left to use it, I've been trying to use it a lot. But it could be that I just don't have a fast enough connection to use tons of data. I'm actually starting to think that I might downgrade to the 500 MB "Pro" plan because it's only $4/month. But I'll see how much I am able to burn through in the next week, and then see how much of the 2 GB I am able to use next month.
I just logged in to my account again, and the error message seems to be gone. It was there for a day or two, but hopefully this means it's corrected now.

FreedomPop - getting the 3G connection to work.

I noted earlier that it took a couple of weeks to receive my Overdrive Pro device. In the time I was waiting, I received an automated email message that gave me some tips for getting the 3G working. So they must be aware that it doesn't work out of the box. I forgot about this when I received it, and had to figure it out on my own. But if you are a fellow owner and need help, here's a link to their suggestions:
http://www.freedompop.com/faq_answer.htm?categoryId=22019471&categoryTitle=Devices%3A%20FreedomPop%20Overdrive%20Pro&articleId=23689026
I only did the update to the profile, not the PRL. So I'm going to update that tonight when I am on a 4G connection again.

FreedomPop, Google Voice, and dropping Verizon.

I've been on Verizon for years. Almost a decade, I think. Great coverage, never had any customer service problems, and I get a 17% discount from work. A couple of years ago I decided to spring for a smartphone and I bought a Droid X from Costco, which meant I also had to sign up for a data plan. I got a discount on that monthly fee too, and it was unlimited data. Then about a year later I dropped my phone and of course the screen shattered. So I found a Droid Bionic on eBay. When I activated that, I was delighted to learn that this 4G phone would also have unlimited data. That was exciting, and it sure was fast! Good times were enjoyed for several months. Then last summer Verizon announced that they were getting rid of the unlimited data plan. When I was ready to upgrade my phone, I would have to choose a new plan. For the same price as unlimited data, now I would only get two gigs. That did not seem like a good deal to me at all. So I started looking around for other options. Also, I don't talk on my cell phone very much. I talk on the phone all day at work, so even though I'm an extrovert, I just don't spend a lot of time on the phone outside of work. So it irritated me that I was shelling out about $75 a month for a service that no longer fit my needs.

I signed up for a Google Voice account some time last year and enjoyed playing around with that. It seemed to work alright, but they explicitly stated that they are not a phone replacement service, just a call forwarding service. So its usefulness was limited, but it did save me some overages on my text plan because the friend who texted me the most would use that number instead of my cell phone number. The texting on GV is SMS only, so no MMS. And that means no photos or other attachments, and only one person at a time. No group messages. But hey, it's free!

I started looking around for a VOIP app that would let me make calls with GV, and I quickly found a great app called GrooVe IP. So that was exciting. As long as it has a solid data connection, it makes and receives calls via my GV account, and it works really well. 

And then I discovered a cool bonus when I went to Europe. I was able to use my Google Voice account over WiFi while I was there. I could text people back home just fine because it was not over a cell phone network, it was all just using the internet. I was also able to use my CDMA/LTE phone to call the US for free, because I was not using CDMA or LTE, I was using WiFi. I only ever called my work voicemail, so I don't know if it was lagging really badly or not. There was not a live person on the other end to complain. But it was exciting to learn that my phone could be operated exclusively with a WiFi connection.

So that just left one question remaining: How do I get a reliable, affordable mobile WiFi hotspot? I had looked at Clearwire in the past, and also hotspots from the major cell phone carriers. Most of them seemed to work out to about $50 per month. So that was a nice savings, but not worth the hassle. Plus the coverage was not always stellar. I had seen a service called FreedomPop which was reselling Sprint coverage, but only the 4G WiMax coverage, which has a lot of gaps. But coincidentally, while I was in Europe I received an email from FreedomPop promoting their new Overdrive Pro which has both 3G and 4G service. Their two gig plan is only $20 per month, and when you go over it's only one cent per meg. So I excitedly placed an order for on of them on April 30.

I guess a lot of other people excitedly placed an order. too. It went on backorder and I didn't receive it until May 17. When I did receive it, only the 4G data worked. It was not able to connect to the 3G. This was annoying because there was only one place in my home where it would get 4G. So I set it in the window and let it connect, and then signed in to the admin page. I had to update the 3G profile, or something like that. Once that had been done I could get 3G. Woo hoo! The Overdrive Pro device is pretty light. It contains a battery that charges via USB and then will last over 4 hours. You can also tether it to a laptop via USB, and the settings allow you to have WiFi turn off or stay on while it's tethered. The device measures 2.5 x 2.5 inches, and it just under 3/4 inch thick. It also has a physical switch that mutes the little beeps it emits when it is connecting and disconnecting to data signals. That is handy because I don't want it making noise when I'm at work.

Now that I had it working, I went to my Google Voice account the next day and signed up to have my cell phone number ported to them, which cost $20, and also resulted in my Verizon account being cancelled. I actually felt a little bit of anxiety as I clicked "Submit" and got rid of Verizon. This was all very exciting back when I was realizing that it might work, but then to jump in and try it was a bit scary. But I did it anyway, and the next day I received an email from Google which said it was all complete. On a Sunday even! 

So now I'm free. The FreedomPop account is not a contract, just a month by month arrangement. So if it does not work out, I can drop it and go sign up with AT&T, or whoever. It certainly seems affordable, but the reliability has yet to be seen. I tried to make a phone call from the cafeteria at work yesterday, and I could hear the person I called, but they could not hear me. Last night at home, when I was on my CenturyLink WiFi, I took a call and there were no problems. So I guess it just depends on signal strength. I also have GV forward to my office phone, so during the day I shouldn't need it anyway. The other negative comment I have is regarding the free first month of service. They active your account the day you place your order, and the clock starts ticking. So I only have 10 days or so to try it out before I get billed for the next month. So it's free, and it's still a good deal, but not as much as it seemed. And then there is a deal to pay $3.50 more per month to have unused data rolled over to next month, but at a max of 500 megs per month. So that's not actually a great deal after all. I need to cancel that piece. It's better to risk paying an extra penny per meg if you need it.

I will keep posting my thoughts and experience on here as time goes on. FreedomPop also has a free service for 4G only and only 500 megs per month. If it seems like that's all I need, then I will probably drop to that at some point. I guess we'll see how it goes.