5G

I am talking about 5G cell phone service and not 5 Gators.  Could you imagine if I had 5 of her running around here, wow I wouldn’t have anytime to myself because I would be pampering and tending to all of their needs, if they were anything like she is.  I got to wondering about what all of the hype was about 5G.  Since I got a new device that actually supports 5G I signed up for a 15 day trial with Visible (powered by Verizon).  No credit card was needed and I’ve got unlimited data, calling and texting for free for the next fifteen days. 

I switched my data to use my Visible line and 5G turned on.  It is blazing fast and my does it drain your battery.  My battery was doing just fine at around 80% and I dropped to the 60% range after streaming just part of a Amazon Prime show. 

My rate plan with AT&T doesn’t allow for 5G but I am able to see signal strength for both lines and Verizon comes in one bar higher when I am upstairs.  Downstairs both carriers are at 2 bars.  My suspicion is that AT&T 5G preforms just as good as Verizon. 

I am going to take full advantage of the 15 day trial so I have a good idea if coverage is the same everywhere I go or if one carrier happens to be superior.  Visible is $40 flat for unlimited everything that includes a hotspot.  Matters not if you setup auto pay, there is no discount.  If you bring some friends you can get the price down to $25 if you all are in a group.  If you don’t bring any friends, your first full month is $25, at least that is the offer they made me.  They have none of my personal information and no credit card on file.  Still $40 is the lowest price I have seen for unlimited and is close to what I used to pay back in the day before I gave up my unlimited rate plan.  For $10 more I can go unlimited on AT&T, I’d get 5G but there is no hotspot and I wouldn’t have any corporate discount. 

With my recent adventure in carrier swapping, I learned my lesson and it is kind of tempting to switch but I am staying put for now.  All of the carriers try to adjust their prices to stay competitive and if your a new customer that is when you usually get the sweet deal.  I have often thought and said that you should reward loyalty especially someone like myself that has been a customer since the early 90’s when cell phones were first starting to go mainstream.  I had a bag phone by Novatel.  That thing was huge and you needed an external antenna but it worked.  That was also back in the days of Analog service.  I remember when handsets shrunk and Digital was just coming mainstream.  The sound quality then was way better (at least to my ears) you could be traveling in a car and it sounded like you were sitting still in your home, no one had any idea that you were on the road.  Rate plans on Digital were more expensive but also more feature rich. 

I’ve always been fascinated with the telephone be it landline or cell.  It’s all interesting to me but then again I am a geek.  We can file this under useless information but I wanted to share my findings just in case it appeals to anyone else.