I'm Back In Business

Photo by Vojtech Bruzek on Unsplash

These days, everyone has a cell phone. People do everything on it. They check email, navigate their apps, text, surf the Internet, and call their friends and family. Some people also use their phone for business. Kids have cell phones. I was leaving for work one day and the kids were waiting outside my condo complex for the school bus. Two of them were sitting down and looking at their phones.

I bought my first cell phone around 2003. When we were going on our vacation, I wanted a cell phone to have in case we had to call 911 for an emergency. I didn’t use the phone for anything other than that. The phone was so small, it looked like a vertical rectangle. The screen was so small. I don’t even remember what the phone number was. I went with the TracFone service.

My second cell phone came a few years later when I upgraded. It was a larger phone and it had a small antenna poking out of the top. Again, I used it for emergency use only. And it was with TracFone.

In 2017, when I was moving, I decided I needed a better phone. The moving company needed a phone that they could call to notify us when they were coming to pick everything up. Plus I needed it in case they got lost. I drew them a map. It turns out they did get lost. Can’t you trust anyone? My landline was going to be shut off and I couldn’t take the number with me, so I had to get another number when I landed at the new place. True I was only moving 15 miles away but the logistics of transferring the number would take 10 days and I didn’t have that amount of time. How could I be without a phone for 10 days? I picked up the new phone at Walmart. It was an unlocked phone, which means I could take it to any provider. After careful research, I chose US Mobile.

Everything with US Mobile was great. I could pay a low amount of something like $5 a month for 100 minutes of talk and 100 texts. I had no data plan. If I needed to access the Internet, I would connect to public wifi. The places I connected were Supercuts, Publix, Walmart, and the local hospital. Usually it was just to check on a product or while I was waiting to get my haircut.

I had apps on the phone but I only used Google Maps and the web browser. I did use the phone to access my local library, which has an option to read the books online.

When I acquired a new job, I had another use for the phone. I had to use it to call and text with co-workers. Then one day, one of my managers sent me an image. I couldn’t open it without getting the data plan. So that day I added the data plan for an extra $2. In fact, I changed my whole plan so I could have the data plan starting every month. So now I was paying $7.57 for my phone service. Imagine my surprise the next month when I didn’t have data anymore and my plan was reverted back to my original plan. That should have been my first inkling that something was amiss with this service.

Everything appeared to be working correctly. I could receive texts from my work people. Then one morning, my manager needed me to come in earlier than expected. He tried calling me 3 times. I didn’t know that part at the time. He finally texted me. He asked me to come in early.

Once I got to work, he explained that he’d been trying to call me. My cell phone is on my nightstand right next to my bed. If he’d called me, I would have jumped out of bed (i.e. hit the ceiling). It’s only 12 inches or less from my ear.

He told me that it went straight to voicemail. I told him that I didn’t have it set up that way. I had it set up to go to voicemail on the fourth ring.

Once I got home, I used my landline to test the cell phone. I called my number and it rang as it should. Then I hung up and called again. It went straight to voicemail. I called a third and fourth time. Voicemail. Then I re-started the phone. I called and it went through. Second time, voicemail.

I decided to jump on their chat support online. After trying everything they said, they decided my sim card was old and I needed a new one. Upon receiving it in the mail, I proceeded to switch the sim card. The problem was still there.

I jumped on the chat support again. I told them what I had done so far. This new support person said they could help me. I went through the whole spiel again. If you can believe this, I was on there for over 3 hours. I had to have my dinner later because they were still trying to figure it out. At one point, they said I needed to connect to wifi and then they could fix it. I didn’t have access to wifi. I told them I would get back to them. Then they said I had to switch to their 5G coverage for my problem to disappear.

What do you think happened next?

I needed my cell phone desperately. I couldn’t deal with this anymore. I researched new cell service. After one or two days of research, I found a new service and a new cell phone. With this new service, I would get unlimited talk and text. I chose the 5GB data plan. Since I purchased a phone from the service provider, I received $50 off the service since I paid for a full year.

Two days later, I got my new phone. It was like Christmas morning. I opened up the box and was amazed at how nice the phone was. I didn’t break the bank either. It wasn’t the cheapest phone and it wasn’t the most expensive. It was right in the middle.

I contacted my current cell service provider and asked them for the code I needed to port my number over to the new service. They wanted to know why I was leaving. I gave them the short version this time. They said they could help me fix my phone problem.

This is how the conversation started and ended:

Me: I need my account number and code so I can transfer my number.

US Mobile: What seems to be the problem?

Me: I need my acct number and code please

US Mobile: I can help you fix whatever it is.

Me: Listen, you are going to give me my acct number and code now!!!! I already have a new service.

US Mobile: Okay. I understand.

Then it was a nightmare just to get the code. The acct number was no problem. It arrived in an email but the code was not there. Then they tried again. They couldn’t do anything right. Eventually, they sent the code.

Once I went over to the new cell provider, it said it was not a valid code. I contacted thru support the new cell provider and told them the problem. Within 3 minutes, they successfully ported my number over.

Later that day, I went back to the old provider and went on chat. I announced to them that I wanted to cancel my service. They immediately said they could help me figure out my phone issues. 🤣 I told them I’m on a new service. They said they understood. Supposedly they deleted my account. I was supposed to be notified and wasn’t. I got back on chat and asked them about it. They said they hadn’t deleted it. I told them to do it again. Hopefully, it’s gone forever. I know when I logged on to their site, my login info is still there. They say that they leave it there if you return. There’s no returning to them.

Apps / Data

Having never used apps, I didn’t know how much data would be absorbed by using them. I quickly found out that it takes a lot of data. By the second day, I was already at 2 GB. I knew I had to do something.

I know you’re going to think I’m crazy here but I waited all the way until August 2023 to get a wireless router for my home. Being a computer person, I know I should have gotten one a long time ago but I didn’t have the need for it. I do have a laptop, so I could have taken advantage of it. It was always pricey so I didn’t get one.

Now I needed one and fast!

So back to the research I went. Within a couple days, I decided on the one I wanted. When I did my grocery shopping, I picked it up. I got it home and set it up in a few minutes. I used an app, went through the instructions and everything worked.

Then I was back in business! I haven’t stopped using this phone in forever. Okay, I do have to stop using it when I’m at work.

I spend waaaaaayyyyyy too much time on this phone now. I play games. I read waaaayyy more Substack stories now. My commenting on other ‘stacks has gone up. My likes have increased. I’m hitting ‘stacks I never knew about.

I’m addicted. 🤣👍

I mentioned to my Mom that I’ll probably be going to the doctor now with neck issues. LOL! My head is always looking down at the screen. I’m constantly looking at it at night. I’ll be out in the living room with the television on and supposed to be watching a program. Instead, I’ve got my cell phone on Substack reading or exploring other apps I’ve downloaded.

This phone is a whole different world.

I feel like I’ve now joined everyone else that uses their phone all the time.

I’ve got big plans for my Substack. In the works is a video for one of my posts. I wouldn’t be able to do it without this phone. I took some photos too that I’ll be sharing soon.

Conclusion

This new cell phone has changed my life. For the better.

Thankfully, I got the router, so I can use my Internet. As of this writing, I have used close to 9 GB of data. If I didn’t have that, I would have been shelling out more money for more data. I am in cost-saving mode.

I wanted to mention that if you are on a cell plan with a provider and you are not satisfied, I can help you out. You can email me at matthewmurray@substack.com and I can get you a $15 credit for switching to my cell service provider. It’s a special refer-a-friend link, so I’ll have to email it to you. Once you switch over, you’ll receive your $15 credit. I’ll also receive a credit.

Until next time, happy reading!

-Matt