Cant say if i did or did not like them as i dont know, but always like pseudo competition.   Seems T mobile could not handle the partial competition and bought out mint mobile. Just like AT&T did to Cricket ( and i'm sure others )  I say pesudo competition as all these little 3rd party providers lease bandwidth from the big guys anyway, so really, they are making money without the hassle of dealing directly with customers..  *shrug*

With luck mine does not get bought out. they contract with all the main carriers so they support everything and everybody.

Not to go down the baby bell discussion, but i really hate what the current state of affairs is.   But yes, i do realize it costs TONS of cash to setup communications networks.   Looking forward to when we have quantum networking chips.  No more wires, fiber, radio, any of it. Instant communications, anywhere in the universe. ( literally ). Of course the network carriers will fight that tooth and nail to suppress that tech in any way possible.

Why not?

Entanglement = instantaneously observed effect across any distance ( at least in theory, we cant really test real distance ).  Change a "bit" here, you see the change instantly there. Be it across the room or in  Alpha Centauri.   

Fri Jun 21 2024 09:18:16 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

I don't think that's actually how quantum networking works?

If someone can figure out a way to get Bill Gates thrown into the sun, I don't care whether it takes 8 minutes.  Just make it happen.

Call me old and cranky, but I suspect that there's something missing, and you're not going to be able to simply transmit data by putting a spin on a particle and another particle somewhere else in the universe spins in synchronicity with it.  The fact that it defies the laws of physics and they have to say "but it's quantum physics" has a "free energy" vibe to it.

Hey, I hope I'm wrong.  Imagine being able to demolish every cell tower in the world because everyone is carrying around a handset that needs no service because it's quantum-paired to a base station on a wired network somewhere in the universe.  Again, it seems unlikely.

Even if we dont fully understand it, experiments do work to show entanglement does happen and you can 'detect/influence' it.  So it can be used for communications even if we are wrong about the underlying components of it.

Sure, we might be wrong and in the end it might not really be across ' all of space' as the theory states, since we cant prove it yet, but in the bigger picture, if its instantaneous for distances that encompass the earth.. who cares, its good enough. Might even be as large as the solar system, which would be good if we ever get off this rock. But again, we only can speculate, cant prove it yet.

And sure, small consumer level devices are way down the road, but does not mean it cant happen someday. Id expect to see data center first as that is doable..  Then if they can miniaturize it to be practicable, perhaps offices, homes..  then portable. But, a really long process that none of us alive day will get to witness, unless some out of left field discovery comes around.  But, it would be neat to see it.  Remember radio went down the same path. long way to get from huge boxes of stuff eating megawatts of power, to what fits in your watch. And radio was like magic, in its day.

I also suspect we will still need 'service', as we have to connect to the data-ocean and it wont be 'free' ..  If it cant be controlled via terminating your connection ( which i doubt ) your 'decryption key' or something on your device becomes invalid if you don't pay your bill. Sort of like how they can kill your cell service today, yet you still can 'access' the signal.

And im not sure id toss it into the same bucket as free energy,  everyone agrees that its not trivial at all to do entanglement. Nor will it ever be. its hard work.  And ya physics has been wrong before, its why its called science, it can be wrong, and is open to alternative explanations. If it can be proven via reproducible experimentation, that is.  Agreed too, that currently quantum and macro don't interact well, however one does not negate the other. But who is to say that wont change down the road? The option for a Unified Theory is on the table.. if we can find the connection. ( something else i doubt any of us alive today will see.. but if we dont die out first as a species, we may find it )

Oh, and ya. Gates needs to go.  I hear his wife just claimed support for Biden.. So, they can ride on the same carrier. 

( and im rambling. sorry about that )

Sat Jun 22 2024 10:30:08 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

If someone can figure out a way to get Bill Gates thrown into the sun, I don't care whether it takes 8 minutes.  Just make it happen.

Call me old and cranky, but I suspect that there's something missing, and you're not going to be able to simply transmit data by putting a spin on a particle and another particle somewhere else in the universe spins in synchronicity with it.  The fact that it defies the laws of physics and they have to say "but it's quantum physics" has a "free energy" vibe to it.

Hey, I hope I'm wrong.  Imagine being able to demolish every cell tower in the world because everyone is carrying around a handset that needs no service because it's quantum-paired to a base station on a wired network somewhere in the universe.  Again, it seems unlikely.

Arrrgh... typos and nonsense.  

Typo check is getting worse and worse. ( and i still am not proof reading )

I suppose if it only works with big base stations then you could initially create a mesh network, internally to an organization or between family and friends, just like community mesh networks do with radio signals now.  I'd prefer it that way, but I'm sure it wouldn't stay that way forever.

Melinda Clippy Gates is supporting Biden because she is a huge advocate for murdering unborn babies, and that's a left wing thing.

Know anything about " textmeinc " ? 

Supposedly free text/call   Not sure how they pay the bills.   But been around ~13 years now.

Looking for free ( or cheap ) VoIP alternatives to g-voice. But i dont want to give up my number.  I transferred it over to whatever the service was before google bought them.  i forget the name now, but same number for decades now. ( central something or other i think ) Same number between 3 carriers and countless phones, not including the carriers i had since i went to VoIP, since at that point it didn't need to be moved, i only use data.  For a bit i didn't even have one, just used WiFi 

Not heard of it. will look

Mon Jul 29 2024 21:48:49 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

RingCentral?

My mobile is a "Motorola" Moto G 5G 2023.  I liked it so much that when my wife's phone needed replacement I bought another one, likewise for my daughter.  Today I bought the 2024 model to replace my wife's handset and she promised to buy a case this time.   :)

It's a really good handset for USD $200.  128 GB storage, a decent screen, runs everything, not too much crapware and what's there can be disabled.

But if you think you're buying a Motorola phone ... think again.  I've since learned that phones labeled "Motorola" are actually made by Lenovo.  Some time ago, Motorola sold their "Motorola Mobility" division to 联想 (Liánxiǎng), along with the rights to continue using the Motorola name.  It really bugs me when manufacturers of consumer electronics masquerade as classic brands, even if the product is decent.