We Need More Short Numbers
We used to have 8 precious easy-to-remember numbers: 411 for directory assistance 211 for long distance assistance 611 for telephone repair 911 for emergencies. When we added 311 for government, 511 for road information, and because everybody needs to call…
How to Pick a Cellular Plan
Shopping for a cellular plan is perhaps the most confusing thing you will ever shop for. It’s as fun as eating cardboard and less informative then buying a refrigerator. But there are some very simple rules to follow to get…
Try 5G LTE Today
Tired of your battery running down? Tired of constantly dropped calls? Want better coverage, especially in outlying areas? If you are having these problems… Consider “5G LTE”. Go to your carrier settings on your phone. Turn OFF 5G and choose…
How to Stop SPAM Calling
I don’t know why we make SPAM calling so easy. I offered one suggestion on how to stop it here. It must be that decisions are being made by politicians/managers (same thing) who don’t really solve problems. We don’t need…
T-Mobile Tracking Changes
If you are a T-Mobile customer, you need to act fast. They are changing their privacy policy … to be more like the others. Starting April 26th, T-Mobile will begin monitoring which websites you visit, and can view and analyze…
T-Mobile Customers Seeing Magenta
T-Mobile is rapidly transforming into a big, bad customer exploiting carrier. It’s customers should be seeing red, er, magenta. John Legere transformed T-Mobile from a broken-down carrier with a dysfunctional network into the un-carrier. His brilliant transformation strategy was simple:…
The History of the Dial Pad
The history of the Touch-Tone dial is remarkably complicated and fascinating. Today we all know the 12 button dial with 123 at the top and * and # in the bottom left and right. (Why aren’t there emojis for Touch-Tone…
Bell Divestiture & Un-Divestiture
What this diagram says to me is that AT&T got it completely wrong in the way they divested themselves in 1983. The fact that it smashed apart and then all came back together is evidence of that. It is important…
Widespread Internet Outrages hit Northeast US
People should be outraged by this. The Internet was designed to be robust, self healing, unstoppable. It was designed so if one route blocked traffic would get rerouted around the blockage. That was the most fundamental design principle. The Internet…
US Carriers Should Invent Great Service
Here’s an idea for US Cellular companies: Offer customers full access to all networks for truly great service. There is no longer any technical reason why your phone cannot access and roam to all towers on all companies. Since all…
UnCarrier is Uncool
T-Mobile is no longer the un-carrier. John Legere the inspired rule-breaking maverick executive that led T-Mobile from being a broken down jalopy to the industry leading cellular company is gone. The suit-and-tie folks are now fully back in charge and…
How to de-Fi your iPhone
I have a new iPhone 12 Pro Max. The main selling feature for me was the dual-SIM capability. I travel internationally a lot (Or, I did before we went into mass-hysteria mode.) So having my main SIM and a local…
Thoughts on iPhone 12 Pro Max vs iPhone 7 Plus
I upgraded my five year old iPhone 7 Plus for a new iPhone 12 Pro Max. I got a $1,500 model with maximum RAM. It is genuinely surprising how little the iPhone has changed in five years. Here are my…
Google Fi Fumbles on iOS
I was very excited when I upgraded my iPhone 7 Plus to a new iPhone 12 Pro Max. The biggest, most exciting feature was dual SIM capability. It was exciting because I could use Google-Fi for international traveling and also…
No Thanks on the MagSafe
My wife and I upgraded recently to iPhone 12 Pro Max phones. It was exciting since we were on iPhone 7+ and 6+ phones. One of the big selling features was wireless charging. So we gave it a try and…
CenturyLink Gigabit Fiber is Amazing
Like pretty much all of Comcast’s customers, I hate Comcast. It seems to be the fundamental teaching in MBA school that you aren’t a good manager unless you get all of your customers to hate you. So when I learned…
Verizon Wireless for $25/mo
I could never have imagined that Verizon could make shopping for a cellular plan more complicated. But in the past several years they have found ways to make it so utterly complicated that even Verizon can’t keep their facts straight….
Apple Silicon
I am pretty stunned by Apple’s M1 “Apple Silicon” processor announcement. In a surprisingly good way. I’ll start with the conclusion: Apple seems to have developed a superb, outstanding, brilliant, design. This could be a genuine game changer for Apple…
It’s Time to Require Mandatory Roaming
COVID-19 has painfully made me aware of howe terrible the US Cellular network is. It is frustrating beyond polite words to have garbled text, “Call Failed” and one-way audio when conducting business. Yet, this happens to me every day. I…
Let’s Re-Open the Economy
Harvard has revealed how we can do it. Let me extrapolate how it would work: Whenever you go out in public you take a COVID-19 quick test. That test is your 24 hour pass to go to work, to go…