@medz Yeah, porting my landline. Landline is the key word. It’s like no one knows what to do. For instance, Fi needed my pin number to port it. I’ve had this landline for over 30 years (yes, I’m old), there is no pin number.
One rep told me to go to AT&T and cancel my phone and that AT&T would then give me my account number and a pin. Well, I already had the account number and I’d been told that if I cancel before Fi ports my number, I will lose my old number. Asking to talk to a supervisor was pretty worthless, too.
Long story short, someone suggested I use the last 4 digits of my SSN as the pin. I don’t think AT&T ever had my SSN, but I tried this and the porting worked, but now there is another problem and I’m getting two different answers from AT&T and Fi.
Both phones, my old landline and new cell phone, are still using the same number. I can dial out on both my cell and landline, but all incoming calls are coming into the landline.
Fi rep told me to cancel my AT&T. AT&T told me if I cancel, I’ll lose my number.
All I want is for things to work the way they should.
@Barney Well, the good news is the crummy customer service issues seem to be on the old landline side. When a company is losing your business, however, they aren’t very driven to help you out. When I switched from T-mobile to Project Fi, I do seem to recall a brief period where both phones sorta worked… Project Fi mentioned that it may take X number of hours for it to all switch over cleanly. (maybe it was 24 hours at the time, not sure) Hopefully, you’re just waiting for everything to switch over in the various systems…
@medz I’ve decided to give it a couple of days and see what happens, mainly because I’m so pissed off right now.
Tech and I do not get along well, be it computers (and now I guess cell phones), or just using the self serve pumps at the gas station. Something always go wrong. I’m jinxed.
I know one thing, I do not want to lose my landline number.
@Barney@medz I found a set of instructions on the internet. You may take a look at the (numerous) steps and see if any of your CS people agree with them. https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6150327?hl=en
(PS It says keep your present service active.)
@sammydog01 Thanks, I was given that yesterday by the same guy who told me to cancel my AT&T service. No, I’m not gonna cancel my service, I really think I’d end up losing my landline phone number.
@Barney Yeah, don’t cancel AT&T. I could contact Project Fi support and yell at them for you, but I don’t have any of your personal information. I don’t think I’d get very far if I emailed them “Fix Barney-from-meh.com’s phone!”
If the cell phone is able to call out, I would hope the transfer is in progress and something somewhere needs to be updated to route calls to your new account. (I don’t know how that part works) Worries me that it has been a couple days though.
I don’t suppose you know if the correct number displays on Caller ID when you call from the cell phone, do you?
@Barney as everyone else has said, don’t cancel your AT&T. If you cancel that number is no longer active and can’t be ported, only active TN’s can be ported.
Fi and all other telcos can activate any number they want on their switches, that’s why you can make outbound calls from the same number on both AT&T and Fi, but since AT&T still owns your TN inbound calls will only ring to them (unless another Fi customer calls you, then it’ll probably ring your Fi phone).
So keep your AT&T active and unfortunately you’ll need to keep pressuring Fi to get the porting done.
Yeah, the case is on it, but I’m going to have to take it off after I figure out how to install the screen protector without leaving prints and fuzz and bubbles all over my phone’s screen.
@Barney@RiotDemon screen protectors generally irritate me. Of all the devices I’ve owned, I have issues getting it on straight and clean about 80% of the time. My current phone case has the screen protector built-in which is nicer in that I can take it off/on easily, but comes with its own issues of not fitting perfectly snug. (sometimes moisture can get behind it)
In my experience the glass ones are quite easy to apply. The plastic ones more difficult.
Also the glass ones can be immediately taken off and re-applied if you get it wrong.
Just me - I strongly recommend using one or the other.
I know so many people who own phones with broken screens. I’ve never broken one. But I use screen protectors. I don’t know anyone who has broken a phone screen if the phone had a screen protector on it.
I prefer the glass ones. The edges do get chipped some, but they still protect the phone glass underneath. I’ve never messed up a glass one other than a few tiny edge chips I don’t care about, but they are cheap and easy to replace if they do get cracked.
If a glass one does crack, they still protect the phone. So leave it on until ready to replace it.
I also like the “feel” of the glass Ines better while I am using the phone. But that’s just a personal preference.
@RiotDemon Yup. As long as you don’t use too much data over the cell data plan, it’s hella cheap. Let me know if you want a referral code to switch to Fi.
@RiotDemon cricket wireless is owned by ATT if your looking. I’ve had it for years when I switched from ATT and never had an issue. $30 for 2GB and $40 for 5GB. Unlimited high speed is $60. It works out cheaper than Fi if you use at least a GB or 2 on the lower plans. If you only use a couple 100MB a month Fi would win though. And I can get on the site and change my plan mid-month if I really need more data and they’ll prorate it either way, I’ve switched it to unlimited here and there and then back to 2GB the next month. I am pretty sure the porting was all online since ATT owns them and so is the activation. I’ve only ever had to call in to switch a number to a replacement SIM/phone when the sims were different sizes and you just go through the menu and almost immediately get a person, read off the SIM number and it takes like 5 minutes.
@medz@RiotDemon You might also consider looking into AT&T’s own prepaid plans. I went from an $85ish monthly postpaid to $40 prepaid with unlimited minutes and SMS and 6 gigs of data.
@medz@RiotDemon I’m about to switch to Comcast/Xfinity. They use all Verizon towers and the guy told me on the phone it’s $45 per month. Unlimited everything with no caps no throttle (hope it stays that way). Tired of throwing fistfuls of $$ at Verizon all these yrs.
@lseeber Fi uses T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Sprint towers. If you use lot of cell data, that sounds like a good deal. My wife and I don’t use much data when not on wifi, so our combined Fi bill is usually around $60-$75.
@RiotDemon It’s also super nice if you do any traveling, as Fi can navigate international roaming without much headache as long as you aren’t in parts of Africa or the Middle East.
@medz@RiotDemon While I stand in the camp of people who dislike Comcast. I have been a strong supporter of Xfinity Mobile for over a year now. Great service, prices, and no fuckery at all. It’s a stand alone service (even the billing is separate) and is only tied to the rest of comcast’s services in that you must have comcast internet to be eligible.
I am just waiting for comcast to realize that the service is too good, and fairly priced, and decides to fuck it up.
@medz Before I moved I used a lot of data because it was our only internet also. And Verizon was the only carrier that worked where I lived. Now tho… it doesn’t matter so much. I can get cable for the first time in 23 yrs! But, in some of the traveling I do, Verizon is the only service in some of the areas. Sprint and tmobile go dead.
@medz@mfladd@RiotDemon Yeah… I didn’t even know it existed until I signed up for the cable (just enough to use a firestick) and the guy mentioned it to me on the phone and you mentioned it to me elsewhere. Thanks!
@lseeber@medz I do a lot of rural travel on field studies and where my phone would die, have had friends with Fi get great reception, even in the middle of nowhere Nebraska or up in Da U-P. It’s truly amazing how parasitic google has made their system to suck out even the faintest hint of a cell signal.
@awilkey@lseeber indeed. T-Mobile seems good in cities while the other two networks are good for highways and rural. I’ve only had a couple of spots where Fi had bad signal compared to friends.
When I ported my landline years ago, as far as I remember I never contacted them about it. They just stopped sending me a bill. But months later, the old landline phone started to ring every once in a while until I unplugged it.
@medz@walarney oooh. Definitely creepy. I’ve never plugged a phone into my house line. Not even sure if it’s hooked up because I did find a cut phone line along my fence line years ago.
@RiotDemon@walarney reminds me of when I tried hooking a TV up in rental house for lolz and discovered I had basic cable TV service. Don’t know who was paying for it… This was before everybody required cable boxes for service, of course.
@walarney After my grandmother died we cancelled the phone service and unplugged all the phones at her condo. The next year, I randomly plugged in a phone at the condo and got a dial tone. I should have called someone, but was too freaked out. Too many Twilight Zone references in play. Well, there were just those two episodes, but that’s enough, right?
Told you at&t has tricks to protect their landline numbers in certain markets didn’t I
Like I said back then, just take the temp number and give it time… and generally when porting any number (cell or landline) don’t cancel the account the number is coming from until the port is done.
I ran into a similar issue porting a line out to a carrier. I ended up porting it into Google (small fee) which was painless. Once I did that, I had to wait 24 hours and I was able to port it to a new carrier. Easy-peasey and it circumvented the bureaucratic horseshit riddled phone company.
Once you get it all set up and learn to use some of the features, there’s no going back. It’s just one of those things. Easiest to have someone show you tho rather than read or walk thru on phone.
@Barney@mfladd It is. My daughter and I were recently at a restaurant and the entire family at a table next to us were all face down on their phones almost the entire time. I see my nieces and sometimes it just makes me want to barf.
@Barney@lseeber@mfladd Yes, it’s a problem. That said, you might want to download reddit, make an account, and subscribe to aww. Don’t look at anything else but a feed full of aww is a day brightener.
@Barney@mfladd@RiotDemon I run into actual people playing Pokémon go and actually have a conversation. Sure, it’s about Pokémon, but it beats talking to myself.
@Barney@f00l That is true, but aww makes up for it. Puppies, kittens, ducks, pandas- all guaranteed to make you say aww. Most of reddit is a toilet though. Stay away from the rest.
@Barney Well, if you’re anything like me… and reluctant in the first place. It prob won’t be an issue. I am not slave to my phone and the only time I sit and spend any time on it at all in a restaurant it’s only when I am alone. And then only for a bit of time. Sometimes I wish everyone would go back to old fashioned phone on the wall, no ans machines, no voicemail, etc. If you missed a call… you missed a call.
Sometimes I wish everyone would go back to old fashioned phone on the wall, no ans machines, no voicemail, etc. If you missed a call… you missed a call.
That’s what I’m leaving. I know this sounds weird to a lot of people, but I’m going to miss it.
@Barney you can treat it the same. You don’t have to answer it when it rings (and can even silence the ringer) and you can turn voice mail off if you want. You can get all the convenience of having a phone in your pocket and turn off just about all the inconvenience if you like.
Myself, I’m waiting for the app that will allow me to send an electric shock to the telemarketer/scammer that is calling me, or fry the robocaller. Right now I feel like I pay $70/mo to be annoyed multiple times a day.
@Barney@djslack So, funny thing about Fi. You actually cannot turn off the voice mail. (Found this out when my husband asked me to turn it off while trying to dodge mandatory overtime calls after working 80 hours one week and he needed a couple days off.) If you absolutely don’t want people leaving you voicemail you can do what I did for him. I recorded a “busy signal” for either 30 or 60 seconds (can’t remember, but it was whatever the longest allowed time was) and set that up as his greeting. So, whenever his phone goes to voicemail, the person calling gets a busy signal and thinks the line disconnected. haha
I ported my AT&T land line to a cell 2ish years ago (to smart talk). Was told there could be up to a 24 hour delay, don’t shut off my AT&T until my cell was connected and working to that number. I think I had a 4 or 5 hour lag where I had no phone service at all instead of the issues you are having…but I do think it is correct, don’t shut off AT&T until all is well with your cell.
It’s still porting. It has now been two days. I have come to the conclusion that I will not be one of the lucky individuals to have their porting completed in a few hours.
@f00l Oh, dear. It’s raining and I take all of my pictures outside. Maybe tomorrow? Anyway it’s just a black case with purple on the edges. (It’s a good thing that you wouldn’t be able to see that I have not installed the screen protector yet. I’m getting around to it.)
My answer response on my cell phone is along the lines that I ‘didn’t answer because I passed out from shock that someone actually called me or because I’m an idiot and I don’t know how to answer it’.
I really have problems answering. Push what? Swipe where? And by the time I get it figured out, it’s gone to voice mail. When I’m expecting a call, I use my blue tooth earpiece.
I know how to answer that.
Three years. I’ve had a smart phone for three years.
@Barney It was SO MUCH FUN chatting with you Barn! Listen, snapster gave me his private line awhile back…but for you…mehbe it’ll be fun to call him too! Here it is: 1-951-262-3062 Don’t tell him I gave it to you!
Funny thing, this morning I needed to call in some prescriptions at Walmart. Dialed their number and I think I was connected to a porno line or perhaps something like that. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
It turns out that dialing the number with the area code gets me Walmart, without gets me the “love” line
I think my cell phone experience could be rather interesting?
@Barney Mehbe you might want to take some night classes? Here’s a number for a top-notch school that my grand-daughter attends. I believe they’re going to have night classes soon! 605-475-6961.
@Barney Well, things are a little slow around here today…if anybody reading this thread is bored and wants to talk to me…that would be great! 248-434-5508
@RiotDemon I really don’t think there was any fault, so to speak. From what everyone is saying, it just takes longer to port from a landline. I guess I won’t have that problem again.
@Barney@therealjrn If you have the google assistant on there (and I think all androids come with it already installed) have someone (or watch a youtube… it’s really easy) activate it for you. Then all you have to do is say. “okay google, call walgreens in name your town” and it will. Or, you can say, “Okay google, remind me in an hour to turn the sprinkler off” and it will remind you. If you’re busy but have a thought you want to remember you can say, “okay google, take a note” and it will ask you what the note is and you will just tell it what you want and it will email it to you. It’s really quite convenient and easy. And, congratulations!
@lseeber Yeah, I do have Google Assistant or whatever it’s called. I’m going to have to give some thought to this before I do anything. Of course, I would like to avoid any more Walmart “love” lines, too.
@therealjrn Interesting. I guess I am outed as a bad person. I sent the email with the listed information. I better destroy my phone and cross the border now. Nobody here will tell where I am going, right?
I do have a friend that I can send a text that they get but they cannot send one back to me. I wonder if my phone is trying to tell me something?
@therealjrn Speaking of. My mom and I were in a big store when the test went off. A few minutes later we had a convo with this very nice gentleman who had recently retired from 47 yrs at the Pentagon (not a peon- high rank) and he had a very serious problem with that emergency signal going to all phones. He didn’t trust it one bit. At that point his wife started talking to me and I didn’t hear what he said the reason was (he told my mom but… her memory is …well… let’s just say I still don’t know why he didn’t trust it). But the fact that he didn’t trust it gave me pause.
(good thoughts toward you, re: your mom)
@lseeber Thanks lseeber, Mom is safe from all pain and hurt now. She passed on last year.
As for trusting this emergency alert thing, I can’t help but wonder if some of the push-back is from Trump-haters. It was really a poor choice to call the FEMA alert a “presidential” alert in todays divisive political climate.
We get all kinds of warnings in Oklahoma about storms, I imagine I’ll treat these alerts the same…you know…thanks for the info alert, but Imma check it out for myself.
@therealjrn It very well could be. It makes no sense to call it such unless it was intentional as you say. My only hesitation was this guy was pro T. But, like you say, who knows.
I didn’t even know they called it that until yest when it happened (I still haven’t watched the news since my hubs passed shortly after your mom did. Hence my ‘good thoughts’ for you. I’d rather have peace than turn 15 shades of purple…no offense Barney!).
We get lots of warnings about storms and tornadoes in Bama also. So it’s pretty commonplace.
I did mention to the guy that it doesn’t matter anymore anyway. With all the computers, phones, apps, credit card strips…we’ve already given everyone a free pass on everything about us anyway.
@Barney I suggest you download Magic Fluids. I use it as wallpaper, but you can just doodle when you want to zone out.
/image magic fluids app
They have a free one. It’s 99¢ for the full one, I think. I’ve used it for years and still love it. You can change the colors and all these other settings in the paid one.
@rtjhnstn Probably not asking me, but it has been good for me. I think it’s been 2 years of usage now. Occasionally, when I attempt to dial-out, the call will terminate before it rings and I have to try again. On the 2nd attempt it goes through fine. I theorize this has to do with it switching between wifi or cell towers at the time I initiate the call, but I don’t know if that’s true. Some other times, when on wifi calling, the caller will report a robot-like voice, but that may have more to do with the wifi network than the Fi network/phone… Again, calling back resolves this. Fi attempts to switch between available signals for the best quality. The above issues aren’t very common for me.
@medz@rtjhnstn No problems here. My one telephone call that I’ve received came in loud and clear. (Yes, little miss popular here.) Some telemarketing calls did come in when I was out mowing. Unfortunately I was able to hear them okay on voicemail.
Oh… I have dialed called out quite a few times and once again everything has been quite clear.
But I’m probably not the one to ask about all this.
However, I found setting up the phone pretty easy for someone who doesn’t know what she’s doing. And I really like the Moto G6 phone. (Once again, I have nothing to compare this with, but it has pretty good reviews.)
I have mixed reviews on their Customer Service. I got some bad advice about my porting, which could have lost my landline number before it completely ported. But eventually I do get an answer to my questions. (Yes, I’ve chatted with them quite a few times.)
Right now, I feel like I made a big mistake. I just knew that things would get screwed up.
@Barney
/giphy keep the faith
Screwed up how? Problems porting your landline number over?
@medz Yeah, porting my landline. Landline is the key word. It’s like no one knows what to do. For instance, Fi needed my pin number to port it. I’ve had this landline for over 30 years (yes, I’m old), there is no pin number.
One rep told me to go to AT&T and cancel my phone and that AT&T would then give me my account number and a pin. Well, I already had the account number and I’d been told that if I cancel before Fi ports my number, I will lose my old number. Asking to talk to a supervisor was pretty worthless, too.
Long story short, someone suggested I use the last 4 digits of my SSN as the pin. I don’t think AT&T ever had my SSN, but I tried this and the porting worked, but now there is another problem and I’m getting two different answers from AT&T and Fi.
Both phones, my old landline and new cell phone, are still using the same number. I can dial out on both my cell and landline, but all incoming calls are coming into the landline.
Fi rep told me to cancel my AT&T. AT&T told me if I cancel, I’ll lose my number.
All I want is for things to work the way they should.
Edit: And I no longer know who to believe.
@Barney Well, the good news is the crummy customer service issues seem to be on the old landline side. When a company is losing your business, however, they aren’t very driven to help you out. When I switched from T-mobile to Project Fi, I do seem to recall a brief period where both phones sorta worked… Project Fi mentioned that it may take X number of hours for it to all switch over cleanly. (maybe it was 24 hours at the time, not sure) Hopefully, you’re just waiting for everything to switch over in the various systems…
@Barney I ported my line from Verizon to an Ooma I got here a few years back and Ooma took care of it. I would try a different Fi rep.
@sammydog01 Ha, over the past two days, I’ve talked to 5 reps and one supervisor at Fi. Two reps at AT&T. So many different answers…
@medz I’ve decided to give it a couple of days and see what happens, mainly because I’m so pissed off right now.
Tech and I do not get along well, be it computers (and now I guess cell phones), or just using the self serve pumps at the gas station. Something always go wrong. I’m jinxed.
I know one thing, I do not want to lose my landline number.
@Barney @medz I found a set of instructions on the internet. You may take a look at the (numerous) steps and see if any of your CS people agree with them.
https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6150327?hl=en
(PS It says keep your present service active.)
@sammydog01 Thanks, I was given that yesterday by the same guy who told me to cancel my AT&T service. No, I’m not gonna cancel my service, I really think I’d end up losing my landline phone number.
@Barney Yeah, don’t cancel AT&T. I could contact Project Fi support and yell at them for you, but I don’t have any of your personal information. I don’t think I’d get very far if I emailed them “Fix Barney-from-meh.com’s phone!”
If the cell phone is able to call out, I would hope the transfer is in progress and something somewhere needs to be updated to route calls to your new account. (I don’t know how that part works) Worries me that it has been a couple days though.
I don’t suppose you know if the correct number displays on Caller ID when you call from the cell phone, do you?
@medz No, it has not been a couple of days yet. I only started the activation/porting around 10 pm last night.
I still have my TracFone and I just called it with my new phone. Yes, the Caller ID does show up on my TracFone.
I think waiting is the best thing to do now.
I hate waiting.
And thanks for the offer to yell at them.
@Barney as everyone else has said, don’t cancel your AT&T. If you cancel that number is no longer active and can’t be ported, only active TN’s can be ported.
Fi and all other telcos can activate any number they want on their switches, that’s why you can make outbound calls from the same number on both AT&T and Fi, but since AT&T still owns your TN inbound calls will only ring to them (unless another Fi customer calls you, then it’ll probably ring your Fi phone).
So keep your AT&T active and unfortunately you’ll need to keep pressuring Fi to get the porting done.
@Ignorant Gee, sounds like fun to get to talk to Fi again…and again…and again…
Thank you, @Ignorant, for the info on how all of this works.
Setting it up is the initial headache. I always go to the providers store and have them do it for me so if it screws up, it’s their fault, lol.
@lseeber Yeah, maybe going with Fi was not the right thing for me to do since this is my first cell phone and Fi has no store.
@Barney Oh… bummer.
It will be ok!
@RiotDemon Easy for you to say, your phone is working.
Have you put your pretty purple case on your phone yet?
@RiotDemon You are trying to distract me?
Yeah, the case is on it, but I’m going to have to take it off after I figure out how to install the screen protector without leaving prints and fuzz and bubbles all over my phone’s screen.
@Barney screen protectors are a bit of a nuisance to get perfect. Did you get the plastic or the glass kind?
/youtube how to install screen protector
@RiotDemon I bought glass, but I’m now thinking about not installing one.
@Barney why? I usually use the plastic ones.
@RiotDemon Ask me again in a few minutes and I will probably have changed my mind. I don’t know what I’m doing…
@Barney @RiotDemon screen protectors generally irritate me. Of all the devices I’ve owned, I have issues getting it on straight and clean about 80% of the time. My current phone case has the screen protector built-in which is nicer in that I can take it off/on easily, but comes with its own issues of not fitting perfectly snug. (sometimes moisture can get behind it)
@Barney @RiotDemon
In my experience the glass ones are quite easy to apply. The plastic ones more difficult.
Also the glass ones can be immediately taken off and re-applied if you get it wrong.
Just me - I strongly recommend using one or the other.
I know so many people who own phones with broken screens. I’ve never broken one. But I use screen protectors. I don’t know anyone who has broken a phone screen if the phone had a screen protector on it.
I prefer the glass ones. The edges do get chipped some, but they still protect the phone glass underneath. I’ve never messed up a glass one other than a few tiny edge chips I don’t care about, but they are cheap and easy to replace if they do get cracked.
If a glass one does crack, they still protect the phone. So leave it on until ready to replace it.
I also like the “feel” of the glass Ines better while I am using the phone. But that’s just a personal preference.
@f00l @RiotDemon I’m going to put the screen protector on my phone. I bought it, I’ll use it and I’m pretty sure that I’ll need it.
Looking at the Fi pricing… At&t is ripping me off. Wow.
@RiotDemon Yup. As long as you don’t use too much data over the cell data plan, it’s hella cheap. Let me know if you want a referral code to switch to Fi.
@medz thanks. I’m going to look into it. I heard Comcast’s phone is pretty cheap too…
I’ve been with att forever… Hard to cut ties with something that works, I suppose.
@RiotDemon cricket wireless is owned by ATT if your looking. I’ve had it for years when I switched from ATT and never had an issue. $30 for 2GB and $40 for 5GB. Unlimited high speed is $60. It works out cheaper than Fi if you use at least a GB or 2 on the lower plans. If you only use a couple 100MB a month Fi would win though. And I can get on the site and change my plan mid-month if I really need more data and they’ll prorate it either way, I’ve switched it to unlimited here and there and then back to 2GB the next month. I am pretty sure the porting was all online since ATT owns them and so is the activation. I’ve only ever had to call in to switch a number to a replacement SIM/phone when the sims were different sizes and you just go through the menu and almost immediately get a person, read off the SIM number and it takes like 5 minutes.
@medz @RiotDemon You might also consider looking into AT&T’s own prepaid plans. I went from an $85ish monthly postpaid to $40 prepaid with unlimited minutes and SMS and 6 gigs of data.
@medz @RiotDemon I’m about to switch to Comcast/Xfinity. They use all Verizon towers and the guy told me on the phone it’s $45 per month. Unlimited everything with no caps no throttle (hope it stays that way). Tired of throwing fistfuls of $$ at Verizon all these yrs.
@lseeber Fi uses T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Sprint towers. If you use lot of cell data, that sounds like a good deal. My wife and I don’t use much data when not on wifi, so our combined Fi bill is usually around $60-$75.
@RiotDemon It’s also super nice if you do any traveling, as Fi can navigate international roaming without much headache as long as you aren’t in parts of Africa or the Middle East.
@medz @RiotDemon While I stand in the camp of people who dislike Comcast. I have been a strong supporter of Xfinity Mobile for over a year now. Great service, prices, and no fuckery at all. It’s a stand alone service (even the billing is separate) and is only tied to the rest of comcast’s services in that you must have comcast internet to be eligible.
I am just waiting for comcast to realize that the service is too good, and fairly priced, and decides to fuck it up.
@medz Before I moved I used a lot of data because it was our only internet also. And Verizon was the only carrier that worked where I lived. Now tho… it doesn’t matter so much. I can get cable for the first time in 23 yrs! But, in some of the traveling I do, Verizon is the only service in some of the areas. Sprint and tmobile go dead.
@medz @mfladd @RiotDemon Yeah… I didn’t even know it existed until I signed up for the cable (just enough to use a firestick) and the guy mentioned it to me on the phone and you mentioned it to me elsewhere. Thanks!
@lseeber @medz I do a lot of rural travel on field studies and where my phone would die, have had friends with Fi get great reception, even in the middle of nowhere Nebraska or up in Da U-P. It’s truly amazing how parasitic google has made their system to suck out even the faintest hint of a cell signal.
@awilkey @lseeber indeed. T-Mobile seems good in cities while the other two networks are good for highways and rural. I’ve only had a couple of spots where Fi had bad signal compared to friends.
@medz I actually never heard of Fi until this thread.
@lseeber downside is there are only a handful of compatibles phones
@lseeber @medz I got the cheapest phone. With the special Fi was having and a referral code, I thought it was a pretty good deal.
@medz you should become a Fi salesman.
@medz Oh…
@lseeber Yeah. Bottom of this page has a “bring your own phone” section that shows some older phones that are compatible.
https://fi.google.com/about/phones/
@medz I’m surprised the list is so small.
@RiotDemon supposedly has to do with the ability to work with all the different towers…?
@medz ah, I did not think of that. The different signals it can pick up.
@medz Same with Xfinity I believe. But I think the one I have actually is one of the right ones.
When I ported my landline years ago, as far as I remember I never contacted them about it. They just stopped sending me a bill. But months later, the old landline phone started to ring every once in a while until I unplugged it.
@walarney That’s kind of creepy. Did you ever answer it?
@medz @walarney oooh. Definitely creepy. I’ve never plugged a phone into my house line. Not even sure if it’s hooked up because I did find a cut phone line along my fence line years ago.
@RiotDemon @walarney reminds me of when I tried hooking a TV up in rental house for lolz and discovered I had basic cable TV service. Don’t know who was paying for it… This was before everybody required cable boxes for service, of course.
@walarney After my grandmother died we cancelled the phone service and unplugged all the phones at her condo. The next year, I randomly plugged in a phone at the condo and got a dial tone. I should have called someone, but was too freaked out. Too many Twilight Zone references in play. Well, there were just those two episodes, but that’s enough, right?
@mossygreen don’t all land lines, whether paid or not, give a dial tone so you can dial 911?
@RiotDemon I… don’t know? I didn’t think so. My story is much more boring if so, and it was already pretty boring.
@mossygreen I tried to look it up. Answer is… It depends.
@mossygreen @RiotDemon just checked in this place. There is a landline outlet. I have an old AT&T landline phone. Just plugged it in. No dial tone.
/image ghosts
Let’s all do a dance to help fix @Barney’s phone.
/giphy dog dance
@RiotDemon Perhaps a spell…
p.s. I am NOT a fan of how google is now displaying image pages - not at all!
@mfladd looks the same on mobile… I think.
@RiotDemon Perhaps she just needs to summon a cell phone fairy to make things right…
@mfladd @RiotDemon
@Barney @mfladd
/image gif dancing fairy sparkle
@RiotDemon Oooh, pretty.
@Barney not quite what I was looking for, but it was better than the dancing cartoon anime people that had nothing to do with fairies.
@Barney, happy you started down the road. Sad you having issues.
/giphy mixed feelings
@jst1ofknd It’ll get fixed sooner or later… I hope.
Told you at&t has tricks to protect their landline numbers in certain markets didn’t I
Like I said back then, just take the temp number and give it time… and generally when porting any number (cell or landline) don’t cancel the account the number is coming from until the port is done.
@thismyusername Yes, you told me so. From now on I will listen and then do whatever you say. You know everything, I know nothing.
/giphy know it all
@Barney I don’t know everything but I do know that old school telecoms will screw over consumers every chance they get.
@thismyusername Just teasing ya.
I ran into a similar issue porting a line out to a carrier. I ended up porting it into Google (small fee) which was painless. Once I did that, I had to wait 24 hours and I was able to port it to a new carrier. Easy-peasey and it circumvented the bureaucratic horseshit riddled phone company.
Once you get it all set up and learn to use some of the features, there’s no going back. It’s just one of those things.
Easiest to have someone show you tho rather than read or walk thru on phone.
@lseeber I have fears of being turned into a cell phone zombie.
@Barney @lseeber That pic is sooooo creepily, generationally true. It’s kinda sad.
@Barney @mfladd I bet they’re all playing Pokemon GO.
@Barney @mfladd It is. My daughter and I were recently at a restaurant and the entire family at a table next to us were all face down on their phones almost the entire time. I see my nieces and sometimes it just makes me want to barf.
@mfladd @RiotDemon I have no desire to play Pokemon Go, so I guess I’m safe there.
@lseeber @mfladd Yeah, it’s seeing people in a restaurant playing with their phones and ignoring the people they are with that bothers me.
@Barney @lseeber @mfladd Yes, it’s a problem. That said, you might want to download reddit, make an account, and subscribe to aww. Don’t look at anything else but a feed full of aww is a day brightener.
@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon I run into actual people playing Pokémon go and actually have a conversation. Sure, it’s about Pokémon, but it beats talking to myself.
@sammydog01 I’ve looked at reddit a time or two. I’ve never really figured it out. That might me a good thing?
@Barney @sammydog01
Reddit can, like Wikipedia, easily become The Mother Of All Time Syncs.
@f00l
@Barney @f00l That is true, but aww makes up for it. Puppies, kittens, ducks, pandas- all guaranteed to make you say aww. Most of reddit is a toilet though. Stay away from the rest.
@Barney Well, if you’re anything like me… and reluctant in the first place. It prob won’t be an issue. I am not slave to my phone and the only time I sit and spend any time on it at all in a restaurant it’s only when I am alone. And then only for a bit of time. Sometimes I wish everyone would go back to old fashioned phone on the wall, no ans machines, no voicemail, etc. If you missed a call… you missed a call.
@Barney @sammydog01 I can’t stand reddit
@lseeber
That’s what I’m leaving. I know this sounds weird to a lot of people, but I’m going to miss it.
@Barney you can treat it the same. You don’t have to answer it when it rings (and can even silence the ringer) and you can turn voice mail off if you want. You can get all the convenience of having a phone in your pocket and turn off just about all the inconvenience if you like.
Myself, I’m waiting for the app that will allow me to send an electric shock to the telemarketer/scammer that is calling me, or fry the robocaller. Right now I feel like I pay $70/mo to be annoyed multiple times a day.
@djslack I have so much to learn…
@Barney I understand completely.
@Barney @djslack So, funny thing about Fi. You actually cannot turn off the voice mail. (Found this out when my husband asked me to turn it off while trying to dodge mandatory overtime calls after working 80 hours one week and he needed a couple days off.) If you absolutely don’t want people leaving you voicemail you can do what I did for him. I recorded a “busy signal” for either 30 or 60 seconds (can’t remember, but it was whatever the longest allowed time was) and set that up as his greeting. So, whenever his phone goes to voicemail, the person calling gets a busy signal and thinks the line disconnected. haha
I ported my AT&T land line to a cell 2ish years ago (to smart talk). Was told there could be up to a 24 hour delay, don’t shut off my AT&T until my cell was connected and working to that number. I think I had a 4 or 5 hour lag where I had no phone service at all instead of the issues you are having…but I do think it is correct, don’t shut off AT&T until all is well with your cell.
It’s still porting. It has now been two days. I have come to the conclusion that I will not be one of the lucky individuals to have their porting completed in a few hours.
(learned this from a friend)
@Barney Your friend is a bad influence
@compunaut Yeah, shame on @carl669, look what you’ve done to me.
@Barney @compunaut
I… wait. what?
/giphy confused
@carl669
Pic of phone in phone in purple case?
@f00l
/image Pic of phone in phone in purple case?
@f00l Oh, dear. It’s raining and I take all of my pictures outside. Maybe tomorrow? Anyway it’s just a black case with purple on the edges. (It’s a good thing that you wouldn’t be able to see that I have not installed the screen protector yet. I’m getting around to it.)
@barney waiting on her phone number to get ported like:
@RiotDemon
My answer response on my cell phone is along the lines that I ‘didn’t answer because I passed out from shock that someone actually called me or because I’m an idiot and I don’t know how to answer it’.
I really have problems answering. Push what? Swipe where? And by the time I get it figured out, it’s gone to voice mail. When I’m expecting a call, I use my blue tooth earpiece.
I know how to answer that.
Three years. I’ve had a smart phone for three years.
@lisaviolet I see my future in you, except that I know nothing about blue tooth.
@Barney, is it done? Does your phone work now?
@jst1ofknd
Tomorrow night it will be one week. If it’s not done by then, I’ll start screaming at people on Thursday. (They did say it could take a week.)
It won’t be a pretty…
@Barney
/giphy that stinks
Give them the talking to they deserve.
@jst1ofknd It’s cool.
It’s keeping me from messing things up on my cell phone.
I’VE GOT CELL PHONE SERVICE!!
Now what do I do?
@Barney
@therealjrn You… You… You mean I’m supposed to call people with it?!?
@Barney Sure! Here’s my number: 248-434-5508! I’d be proud if I was your first.
@therealjrn It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust you.
@Barney Awe, Barn. Come on, it’ll be fun! Just call! Your phone won’t blow up or anything! I promise!
@Barney It was SO MUCH FUN chatting with you Barn! Listen, snapster gave me his private line awhile back…but for you…mehbe it’ll be fun to call him too! Here it is: 1-951-262-3062 Don’t tell him I gave it to you!
@therealjrn Nope, can’t trust them thar Okies.
Funny thing, this morning I needed to call in some prescriptions at Walmart. Dialed their number and I think I was connected to a porno line or perhaps something like that. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
It turns out that dialing the number with the area code gets me Walmart, without gets me the “love” line
I think my cell phone experience could be rather interesting?
@Barney Mehbe you might want to take some night classes? Here’s a number for a top-notch school that my grand-daughter attends. I believe they’re going to have night classes soon! 605-475-6961.
@therealjrn I’ll figure it all out, with a little help from my friends.
@Barney Well, things are a little slow around here today…if anybody reading this thread is bored and wants to talk to me…that would be great! 248-434-5508
@Barney
Well, love it or hate it, you’re now potentially one of the smartphone addicts!
So congrats!
@Barney how many more phone calls did it take?
@Barney
PS
@therealrjn recommends
1-800-SEX-LUSER
as as great phone number to try!
@RiotDemon I was going to call on Thursday, day no. 7, if it hadn’t been ported by then.
I have called AT&T to make sure that my landline account has been cancelled. It has.
@Barney @f00l
I DO NOT!
@Barney I wonder if att was at fault or Fi. Oh well.
Welcome to the land of the cell phone people!
@RiotDemon I really don’t think there was any fault, so to speak. From what everyone is saying, it just takes longer to port from a landline. I guess I won’t have that problem again.
@Barney @therealjrn If you have the google assistant on there (and I think all androids come with it already installed) have someone (or watch a youtube… it’s really easy) activate it for you. Then all you have to do is say. “okay google, call walgreens in name your town” and it will. Or, you can say, “Okay google, remind me in an hour to turn the sprinkler off” and it will remind you. If you’re busy but have a thought you want to remember you can say, “okay google, take a note” and it will ask you what the note is and you will just tell it what you want and it will email it to you. It’s really quite convenient and easy. And, congratulations!
@lseeber
“Ok. Calling Walt Green”
@lseeber Yeah, I do have Google Assistant or whatever it’s called. I’m going to have to give some thought to this before I do anything. Of course, I would like to avoid any more Walmart “love” lines, too.
I don’t remember registering for Amber alerts but maybe I did. I certainly get them plus Silver alerts.
But today @Barney, there will be a test of FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).
There is no opt-out. So get ready!
@therealjrn Yep, it just came through. Thanks!
@Barney @therealjrn I must be on the naughty list. I didn’t get it.
@Barney @speediedelivery Uh oh…well…it was good knowing you…
https://www.wired.com/story/why-didnt-i-get-emergency-presidential-alert-text/
@therealjrn Interesting. I guess I am outed as a bad person. I sent the email with the listed information. I better destroy my phone and cross the border now. Nobody here will tell where I am going, right?
I do have a friend that I can send a text that they get but they cannot send one back to me. I wonder if my phone is trying to tell me something?
@therealjrn Speaking of. My mom and I were in a big store when the test went off. A few minutes later we had a convo with this very nice gentleman who had recently retired from 47 yrs at the Pentagon (not a peon- high rank) and he had a very serious problem with that emergency signal going to all phones. He didn’t trust it one bit. At that point his wife started talking to me and I didn’t hear what he said the reason was (he told my mom but… her memory is …well… let’s just say I still don’t know why he didn’t trust it). But the fact that he didn’t trust it gave me pause.
(good thoughts toward you, re: your mom)
@lseeber Thanks lseeber, Mom is safe from all pain and hurt now. She passed on last year.
As for trusting this emergency alert thing, I can’t help but wonder if some of the push-back is from Trump-haters. It was really a poor choice to call the FEMA alert a “presidential” alert in todays divisive political climate.
We get all kinds of warnings in Oklahoma about storms, I imagine I’ll treat these alerts the same…you know…thanks for the info alert, but Imma check it out for myself.
@therealjrn It very well could be. It makes no sense to call it such unless it was intentional as you say. My only hesitation was this guy was pro T. But, like you say, who knows.
I didn’t even know they called it that until yest when it happened (I still haven’t watched the news since my hubs passed shortly after your mom did. Hence my ‘good thoughts’ for you. I’d rather have peace than turn 15 shades of purple…no offense Barney!).
We get lots of warnings about storms and tornadoes in Bama also. So it’s pretty commonplace.
I did mention to the guy that it doesn’t matter anymore anyway. With all the computers, phones, apps, credit card strips…we’ve already given everyone a free pass on everything about us anyway.
@lseeber No offense taken, but I still love purple.
@Barney lol… good. I do too… just not from veins popping outta my neck and face.
So, it’s been 24 hours since my cell phone finished porting and I think I might have a problem.
I’m checking my phone in the middle of the night.
@Barney I suggest you download Magic Fluids. I use it as wallpaper, but you can just doodle when you want to zone out.
/image magic fluids app
They have a free one. It’s 99¢ for the full one, I think. I’ve used it for years and still love it. You can change the colors and all these other settings in the paid one.
@RiotDemon Does it look like this, because that’s pretty.
@Barney yeah. They have so many options, that’s why I’ve kept it around forever.
/youtube magic fluids app demo
@Barney try to set up do not disturb mode with exceptions at night
this way important people u select can contact you in the middle of the night, and other people can buzz off
@Barney http://motorola-global-en-roe.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/126855/~/do-not-disturb---moto-g6-play
@Barney Why are you checking your phone in the middle of the night? To make sure it is still here?
@communist
Oh, no one is calling me/contacting me, I’m just checking it.
@Barney @communist Nobody is calling me either…:sad face: 248-434-5508
@therealjrn Nope.
How has the service been with fi? My wife has challenged me with getting new phones and service.
@rtjhnstn Probably not asking me, but it has been good for me. I think it’s been 2 years of usage now. Occasionally, when I attempt to dial-out, the call will terminate before it rings and I have to try again. On the 2nd attempt it goes through fine. I theorize this has to do with it switching between wifi or cell towers at the time I initiate the call, but I don’t know if that’s true. Some other times, when on wifi calling, the caller will report a robot-like voice, but that may have more to do with the wifi network than the Fi network/phone… Again, calling back resolves this. Fi attempts to switch between available signals for the best quality. The above issues aren’t very common for me.
@medz @rtjhnstn No problems here. My one telephone call that I’ve received came in loud and clear. (Yes, little miss popular here.) Some telemarketing calls did come in when I was out mowing. Unfortunately I was able to hear them okay on voicemail.
Oh… I have
dialedcalled out quite a few times and once again everything has been quite clear.But I’m probably not the one to ask about all this.
However, I found setting up the phone pretty easy for someone who doesn’t know what she’s doing. And I really like the Moto G6 phone. (Once again, I have nothing to compare this with, but it has pretty good reviews.)
I have mixed reviews on their Customer Service. I got some bad advice about my porting, which could have lost my landline number before it completely ported. But eventually I do get an answer to my questions. (Yes, I’ve chatted with them quite a few times.)
How’s that for a decisive review?