General Telephony Thread - Ditto.

[Trans Fat 41g]

Smartphone or regular telephony stuff that doesn't need its own thread.

I currently use Cricket on a discount Nokia.

AT&T based networks in general are still as exceptional as AT&T proper, but T-Mobile is absolute dogshit if you live on hilly terrain, almost as bad as Sprint.

No networks are "great" in Texas, so you use whatever you can get out of the big four (or three at this point?)

 

[WhoBusTank69]

When I meet someone and we want to continue our discussion of the weather and the endtimes, either one of us extends to the other a line of string meant to connect to an aluminum soupcan at home. Not to suggest that we don't sometimes make the mistake of connecting it to an existing network, or "hotline," with multiple other and likely closer friends, but it avoids confusion to use a new can for each separate person until they are introduced to a group of the former.

What the hell is a smartphone?

 

[MuuMuu Bunnylips]

I don't use cellphones. I consider them a bane on humanity as a whole.

 

[XYZpdq]

I've used ISDN lines.

 

[Give Her The D]

Cricket on an LG Stylo 4.

AT&T is actually the best network in my city, was using Sprint before and could only pick up good signal on band 41.

 

[He Who Points And Laughs]

I use OnePlus because they perform like a Galaxy for 1/2 the price, have plenty storage, and can run NetHunter beautifully.

 

[soft kitty]

Recently upgraded from a Google Pixel 1 to a OnePlus 6T. Mostly satisfied with my decision. As for carriers, I've found T-Mobile to be the most reliable, though that's not saying much. I've tried all the other carriers and they're all just as bad or worse.

I plan to upgrade to an Asus ROG Phone II after a few years.

 

[Orion Balls]

Windstream landline on a rotary phone with a pulse to tone converter, and AT&T mobile on a Samsung Galaxy Express. All mobile providers require you to hop on one foot in the kitchen to get service where we live, and AT&T was the cheapest, so, there ya go.

 

[Shoggoth]

I stick to phones which I can install LineagOS on, and try to make them cheap. Currently have some old Xiaomi and one Samsung lying in a box with no official build yet. There are instructions on how to install LineagOS 17 on it but I'm afraid I'll fuck it up.

 

[TaimuRadiu]

Amateur radio connected to a phone patch. It's how I access the Farms at 9600 kilobaud.

 

[DragoonSierra]

I use Total Wireless. Its on the Verizon network and I only pay 85 bucks for 3 lines and 60GB.

 

[LazarusOwenhart]

I use Three (UK Network). I get unlimited data, calls, texts, etc for 25 quid a month which is good. I also pay 20 a month for the phone which is a OnePlus 7 Pro because I fucking love OnePlus' design aesthetic, interface, reliability and general look.

 

[NOMYBITCASH]

I use giffgaff £10 a month

6GB data + Unlimited text/call

in a cheap chinese botnet phone.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

I have a Moto z4 with Android 9. I actually got it this year because before that I had a Samsung Galaxy S4 between 2014 and 2017 and then one day I said "fuck it, I'll get a Replicant phone and see f it's any better" and I used it for about two years (Specifically the Galaxy Note 2 with Replicant 6). I liked the phone a lot, but the one HUGE problem was the signal. I completely forgot how slow and sometimes unreliable 3G is, especially when you have moments where the phone shows you have bars, but whomever tries to call you immediately goes to your voicemail. Also, considering i work IT jobs, now-a-days they rely on phone apps like password confirmations/resets, time in-out/payroll, and team chats like Slack... which on a Replicant phone varies between "it works" and "crashes a soon as you open it"

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

I find it kinda funny how increasingly expensive Samsung flagships are yet you look at the S10e, still about the same price as a brand new iPhone 7, and look at their A-Series, which gives you triple (okay, technically quad if you count the front camera) for under five hundred bucks, and the newest versions of the A30 or A50 have such a small parity between each other that it may as well not matter for those interested in the mid-range tier. Someone asked me what the point of keeping the old flagships around if the A series gets more and more features... I tell them Samsung has this odd strategy that is, even if unintentionally, dead-set on encroaching on premium appeal of their S-Series.

Even worse? A Samsung A20S has triple cameras for under two hundred bucks and a premium design.

Samsung treats their own customers like lab rats.

 

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I find it kinda funny how increasingly expensive Samsung flagships are yet you look at the S10e, still about the same price as a brand new iPhone 7, and look at their A-Series, which gives you triple (okay, technically quad if you count the front camera) for under five hundred bucks, and the newest versions of the A30 or A50 have such a small parity between each other that it may as well not matter for those interested in the mid-range tier. Someone asked me what the point of keeping the old flagships around if the A series gets more and more features... I tell them Samsung has this odd strategy that is, even if unintentionally, dead-set on encroaching on premium appeal of their S-Series.

Even worse? A Samsung A20S has triple cameras for under two hundred bucks and a premium design.

Samsung treats their own customers like lab rats.

I agree that Samsung's strategy seems weird, but it kind of makes sense if you aren't thinking from the point of view of someone shopping on technical specs.

They gear up a big ol production line for every new Galaxy S, and use it until the tooling breaks down. Sure, for the last couple years of production phone salesmen are just selling them to totally ignorant people who want a 'really good' phone and have vaguely heard that the Galaxy S phones are good, but it's all money, and the last ones they produce probably cost considerably less than the first ones to make.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

Samsung Mistakenly Sends Out "Find My Mobile" Notification to Random Users

 

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Samsung Mistakenly Sends Out "Find My Mobile" Notification to Random Users

Questions I would be interested in knowing the answer to:

1. Did these notifications go out to people who had disabled the Samsung crapware as much as they could without installing an alternative Android build?
2. What "internal test" was involved? Was this a test of a new way for LEOs and other bad actors to spy on people who had disabled Google's filthy location monitoring?

Questions that will not be answered:

1. Did these notifications go out to people who had disabled the Samsung crapware as much as they could without installing an alternative Android build?
2. What "internal test" was involved? Was this a test of a new way for LEOs and other bad actors to spy on people who had disabled Google's filthy location monitoring?

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

I wouldn't be surprised if this involved carrier specific protocols for data collection.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

Finally, a phone for incels.