Showing posts with label Cell Phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cell Phone. Show all posts

Mar 15, 2019

Cell Phone Carrier Quality

RootMetrics gathered data on the four major cell phone providers—Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile to see which one had the best overall performance. They tested call, data, and text reliability in all 50 states and across 125 of the most populated metropolitan markets. Sprint consistently fell behind the other carriers in all metrics. Verizon came out on top, T-Mobile took second place, and AT&T came in third.

In a similar study, J.D. Power collected data from over 30,000 customers on call quality, data quality, and texting for the major carriers in six regions. Sprint came in last in all of the regions except for the Southeast, where it tied for last with AT&T.

Jan 27, 2017

Cell Phone Usage

During January, 2009, only about 10% of the U.S. population had smartphones, resulting in network traffic that mostly involved texts and voice, and some modest picture messaging.

Four years later the faster LTE wireless network that Verizon had launched during late 2010, still had not gone mainstream. AT&T said that data usage on its D.C.-area network was more than 16 times larger than it was during 2009. By 2016, 88% of the population owned smartphones.

Oct 17, 2014

Cell Phone Facts

Although Apple iPhone smart phones generally receive the most publicity, they make up just 11.7% of all world-wide smart phones.

Android has 84.7% market share according to Business Insider (August 15, 2014). The rest, to equal 100% are other brands.

The top 5 countries with the most active cell phones are: China, 1.2 billion; India, 904 million; US, 327 million; Brazil, 276 million; and Russia, 256 million.

A scientific study by the Mayo Clinic in 2005 proved cell phones cause no electromagnetic interference with hospital equipment.

Jul 22, 2011

Cell Phones and Driving Bans

It's legal in 41 states for drivers to use hand-held cell phones, and a leading highway safety organization recommends keeping it that way for now. Nine states have bans in place.

The Governors Highway Safety Association, or GHSA, urges states to hold off on banning the practice until more research is done to gauge the effectiveness of such laws. "The problem is the research is conflicting on the issue," says Barbara Harsha, executive director of the group, which advises states on traffic safety. "We don't know if hand-held bans are effective, and we don't know if they actually make the problem worse."

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said last year it found no reduction in crashes after hand-held cellphones were banned in California, Connecticut, New York and Washington, D.C.

At the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency that tracks road deaths, "we feel strongly there is robust evidence on the dangers of distracted driving," says Lynda Tran, NHTSA's director of communications. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has made curbing distracted driving a signature issue.

Texting while driving is illegal in 34 states and the District of Columbia. Twelve states banned it in 2009, another 11 did so last year, and two have this year.

No states ban all cellphone use by all drivers.

Jan 7, 2011

The Taxman Cometh

States have been feeling the pinch from unemployment causing them medicaid outlay increases and tax income decreases, and the budgets are being squeezed. Rather than rein in spending as we are forced to do, states are looking for ways to increase current or make new taxes.

Cell Phone charges
are up up 2% in 2010 over 2009. The tax hikes, which could amount to as much as 75% in some localities next year. On average, 15% of a monthly cell phone service bill is already made up of taxes and fees, compared to 7% for most other goods and services

E-book charges could start to be taxed not just by the state you live in, but also by the state where the server that you're downloading from is located. A buyer living in New Jersey who purchases a $10 e-book housed on a server in Texas might pay $1.52 in taxes (7% sales tax in N.J.; 8.25% in Texas). Taxes could add up to 21% of the total price, assuming multiple states apply taxes to the same transaction.

Cable Bills have already seen increases, such as Denton, Texas, where the city council voted to increase the public-access television fee (which pays for public, education and government channels) from 50 cents each month to 1% of the subscriber's bill. At an average cable bill of $75 per month, it goes to 75 cents from 50 cents.

Nov 11, 2010

Most Popular Cell Phone

The Nokia 1100 cell phone is in the hands of over a billion people (as of 2009) around the world. The iPhone gets most of the press and has sold millions, but the Nokia 1100, which has been around since 2003, just keeps selling and selling. It has also been named the best consumer electronics device in the world. BTW - Android phones are currently outselling the iPhones by almost two to one. Much has to do with the high cost of the iPhone.

Aug 10, 2010

Land Line Telephones

According to the latest survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly 25 percent of Americans have given up their landlines for a cell phone. Another 22 million Americans pay for a VoIP service like Vonage for calls. That leaves over 100 million households still plugged in.

Only 5 percent of adults age 65 or older live in wireless-only households. Last year AT&T petitioned the government to set a date for the removal of all land lines in the US.

Block That Call

There are many ways to block calls using the various carriers, but some are difficult and some cost a monthly fee and some smart phones have apps to do it.

If you have a regular cell phone and there is someone you just do not wish to talk to, use the call ringing feature. Just put in the offending number and assign a no ring-tone, so when that person calls, your phone will not ring.

Jun 8, 2010

Lost Cell Phone

A lost or stolen phone can be a real pain, but there is an application called phonefinder from Google Maps that might help. You borrow a friend's phone and call a number that turns on your phone ringer and transmit the GPS location to the phone you are calling from. Here is the LINK

Oct 21, 2009

Did You Know

1.2 Billion cell phones were sold last year, 2008.