Cell Phone Data Speed (retirement, best, black)

[cruitr]

Originally Posted by djxpress

For some reason people on other networks had service when I didn't (

My neighbor has ATT and he had no service during the big black out. Our Verizon Iphones worked fine. Data was a little slow but voice was OK. Hope we see a 4G Iphone in the near future.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by jeff68

I don't want to hijack the thread, but any thoughts on which smartphone and provider is best in SD? My work will also entail frequent international travel which will trump cost to a degree. My current phone is a prepaid phone and I only use a pc so I'm not familiar with apple products. I'm relocating in January so I hadn't even thought of how the terrain is a major factor. Thanks.

Smartphone are quite homogenous these days with operating systems basically narrowing out. The great thing is that consumers have so many choices these days and at all price tiers.

BlackBerry is still the international choice for business travelers. However iPhone and Android are not far behind for all rounders. Windows has an OS too which I have been using exclusively for a year. IMHO for what I need it for, its amazing.

Verizon service is the winner in San Diego followed by ATT. Sprint and T-Mo are about tied which is not surprising because their native band is 1900mhz, which is not the best for our topography.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by cruitr

My neighbor has ATT and he had no service during the big black out. Our Verizon Iphones worked fine. Data was a little slow but voice was OK. Hope we see a 4G Iphone in the near future.

My AT&T service was fine during the blackout. Data was slow but I was able to keep up on local news about the blackout.

Backup power or not, it really comes down to a few factors: location of tower+ location of users+ number of users between towers.

You will see some upcoming iPhones with 4G speeds. Although for 99% of the applications that are available on ANY phone right now, it will be almost irrelevant. The app GUI does all the work and the data bursts just insert the data in slots...which many times is a very small amount of data.

So far all the hoop lah about 4G speeds, unless a user plans to tether their PC, most apps and email work just fine on 3G. It will take another 5 years for the apps etc to catch up to really capitalize on the 4G speeds and capacity (like video calling in HD or many other REALLY cool things).

The stuff we are developing for the future is pretty creepy but incredible.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

My AT&T service was fine during the blackout. Data was slow but I was able to keep up on local news about the blackout.

Backup power or not, it really comes down to a few factors: location of tower+ location of users+ number of users between towers.

You will see some upcoming iPhones with 4G speeds. Although for 99% of the applications that are available on ANY phone right now, it will be almost irrelevant. The app GUI does all the work and the data bursts just insert the data in slots...which many times is a very small amount of data.

So far all the hoop lah about 4G speeds, unless a user plans to tether their PC, most apps and email work just fine on 3G. It will take another 5 years for the apps etc to catch up to really capitalize on the 4G speeds and capacity (like video calling in HD or many other REALLY cool things).

The stuff we are developing for the future is pretty creepy but incredible.

I tether so that will make a difference to me. I'm ok with it now I just need coverage in areas my current provider doesn't offer. Like most of SD County

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

BlackBerry is still the international choice for business travelers. However iPhone and Android are not far behind for all rounders. Windows has an OS too which I have been using exclusively for a year. IMHO for what I need it for, its amazing.

So true Shmoov. Blackberry has been getting killed but I still use it as my primary phone just because for international business I still think it's the best. I really love iphones and love Apple in general but for overall business use, I still find that my Blackberry is the best option for me.

However, I have to say they better really innovative quickly or they will become a Dinosaur. This weekend I got the new Blackberry 9900 and I have to say I LOVED it except for the fact that the battery is HORRIBLE compared to past Blackberrys I've had.

One of the best things I loved about the Blackberry compared to the iPhone is the battery lasted forever. Even with heavy use. However, I was VERY disappointed when my BB battery completely drained after only 5 hours yesterday with minimal use! I'm going to try a few things to see if I can improve it. From googling it... it sounds like lots of people are having problems with battery life on the 9900. NOT good after spending $500+ on this phone.

It's a shame as I loved everything else about the phone but no way an expensive so called "Smart Phone" should only last less than 6 hours.

[tonyinsd]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

It's a shame as I loved everything else about the phone but no way an expensive so called "Smart Phone" should only last less than 6 hours.

I've got a Kyocera Echo and it is a battery hog. However, there's an excuse for that. It has two screens and they suck down juice like a wino does Mad Dog!

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by tonyinsd

I've got a Kyocera Echo and it is a battery hog. However, there's an excuse for that. It has two screens and they suck down juice like a wino does Mad Dog!

Tony,

Just out of curiosity, how many hours do you get on your Echo? I've had Blackberrys ever since they came out as I've always used them for work. The battery life was always one of the best things about Blackberrys but this new 9900 is really unbelievably bad.

I've gone from turning down the screen brightness to 10% vs. the normal 70% or 80% I keep it on. Turning off 4G, turning off wi-fi when I'm not around a wi-fi signal, turning off blue tooth when I don't use it. Seems silly to have to do all these things on a smart phone.

I guess I'll have to buy a few extra batteries. I love the phone besides the battery issue. At least today I made it through a full work day on it doing all of those things.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by tonyinsd

I've got a Kyocera Echo and it is a battery hog. However, there's an excuse for that. It has two screens and they suck down juice like a wino does Mad Dog!

Yup. That is the single biggest use of resources on any portable device. However they will get better with some of lower power LED/LCD screens coming out.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Tony,

Just out of curiosity, how many hours do you get on your Echo? I've had Blackberrys ever since they came out as I've always used them for work. The battery life was always one of the best things about Blackberrys but this new 9900 is really unbelievably bad.

I've gone from turning down the screen brightness to 10% vs. the normal 70% or 80% I keep it on. Turning off 4G, turning off wi-fi when I'm not around a wi-fi signal, turning off blue tooth when I don't use it. Seems silly to have to do all these things on a smart phone.

I guess I'll have to buy a few extra batteries. I love the phone besides the battery issue. At least today I made it through a full work day on it doing all of those things.

Sounds like you took all the necessary steps to reduce power consumption. For some reason they gave a smaller mAh (power) in the 9900's battery compared to the 9700 and older. RIM is usually really good about fixing that kind of thing in firmware updates. So keep on the look out when you plug into your PC and link with the BB desktop manager.

Also keep an eye out for any higher powered batteries that are OEM. DO NOT buy any 3rd party batteries from the far east on eBay lol. They should be bringing back the 1500mAh battery as I believe it would fit.

Back in the day there were problems with the Samsung Blackjack. So many complaints came in about the battery life, that the company started sending out beefier batteries with an extended battery cover for free.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

Sounds like you took all the necessary steps to reduce power consumption. For some reason they gave a smaller mAh (power) in the 9900's battery compared to the 9700 and older. RIM is usually really good about fixing that kind of thing in firmware updates. So keep on the look out when you plug into your PC and link with the BB desktop manager.

Also keep an eye out for any higher powered batteries that are OEM. DO NOT buy any 3rd party batteries from the far east on eBay lol. They should be bringing back the 1500mAh battery as I believe it would fit.

Back in the day there were problems with the Samsung Blackjack. So many complaints came in about the battery life, that the company started sending out beefier batteries with an extended battery cover for free.

Hey Shmoov,

Yeah, in googling the problem it sounds like many others are having the same problem. Seems like some are able to get decent battery life out of theirs but it sounds like they have upgraded their software to later versions but TMobile so far only has an older version. I didn't figure out yet how to update to some of these newer versions out there.

I also read about that weaker battery...I'm hoping they come out with the 1500 Ah battery soon. For now I ordered a few extra batteries off of Amazon.com