Fuel for Thought

New Communications Link

I started with Sprint when I started driving and phones were just phones. I migrated to Verizon when phones got smart. I’ve never liked the idea that the companies want to charge for an extra data plan when I want to use the phone for a wifi hotspot for a computer. My combined data consumption is less than any one minimal plan, so why should I have to pay extra for a feature that is already built into the phone and the software? For a while I rooted my phone and unlocked the hotspot feature. As time goes on the software upgrades are advancing beyond the hardware, so time for a new phone, and this time I stepped back and downgraded.

The plan was to get a barebones phone with a basic talk and text plan, and for data a mifi-type, stand-alone hotspot on a separate data plan. It was looking like a $25 Cricket talk and text plan (Cricket is on the AT&T network now), and a $35 Sprint data plan. Cricket didn’t have the right style of phone, and it was hard to tell whether any particular unlocked phone would work on their network, so I kept looking. I ended up getting into a large Framily group at Sprint which gave me an equivalent $25 talk and text plan (this is the last week of the Framily Plans, and I’m grandfathered in). I got the Netgear Zing hotspot and 3Gb plan.  So I’m back with Sprint at a $15 savings a month.

Going back to Sprint is sort of an experiment, because Sprint’s network hasn’t kept up with the competition. I’m gambling on the fact that I originally used Sprint while driving, and it was plenty good then, so it shouldn’t have gotten less adequate. Plus they have been working on improving their network and have new plans coming out. I’m on prepaid with no contracts, so I can upgrade or move on my own terms.

Having split my phone from data, I also don’t have to worry about losing contact with dispatch when I’m doing scary things while playing with the guts of my smart device.

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