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What ever happened to roaming?


railfancwb
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1 minute ago, railfancwb said:

I remember early cell phone services having roaming charges which when vacationing could add up. Don’t recall hearing about such in recent years nor do I recall “no more roaming charges!” announcement. 

It's still there but seldom heard now days.  At home I can only connect with one tower due to terrain and once in a while I'll get a roaming message.  Guess their doing maintenance or something, wait a while and I can connect.  Discovered I can still text, maybe the signal is just weak at times.  Doesn't happen that often.

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Roaming is still a thing. It doesn't add extra fees of late since services started waiving them. There are still some out there, but they are very far in between, and since TMobile purchased Sprint, Boost may have stopped the nonsense. As far as I know, they were the final hold out, or one of them. Technology and a few other things play in, but the towers were much the same even back when for compatibility, and roaming was something that would have probably made for more wide use if they had figured to stop charging extra sooner.

Another example of competition being a good thing for the consumer.

Edit: I just thought about the Free Minutes after 9. For a couple of buck it went to 7, then 5, IIRC before going away. Data rates are still a thing, but they are getting less expensive, with more data, and going away. We have more data than we have ever used, even during power outages as a hot spot. No movies, or many, but plenty of surfing without notice.

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5 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

Roaming is still a thing. It doesn't add extra fees of late since services started waiving them. There are still some out there, but they are very far in between, and since TMobile purchased Sprint, Boost may have stopped the nonsense. As far as I know, they were the final hold out, or one of them. Technology and a few other things play in, but the towers were much the same even back when for compatibility, and roaming was something that would have probably made for more wide use if they had figured to stop charging extra sooner.

Another example of competition being a good thing for the consumer.

Edit: I just thought about the Free Minutes after 9. For a couple of buck it went to 7, then 5, IIRC before going away. Data rates are still a thing, but they are getting less expensive, with more data, and going away. We have more data than we have ever used, even during power outages as a hot spot. No movies, or many, but plenty of surfing without notice.

I recently upgraded my AT&T. For $5/month LESS I went from 22.5 to over 100 gb prior to arbitrary slowdown. More than doubled my Hotspot limit as well.

A month or so earlier I added cellular to my iPad so that may be a factor. Simplify their plan lineup might also been a factor, as they said my old plan was no longer offered so I couldn’t change my mind and go back.  

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10 hours ago, aomagrat said:

...Since I switched to Verizon it no longer roams. It just says No Service occasionally.

We've had Verizon ever since we've had cell phones. Circa 2001 IIRC.

I have a faint memory of hearing about roaming long ago, but not since then.

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5 hours ago, LostinTexas said:

Roaming is still a thing. It doesn't add extra fees of late since services started waiving them. There are still some out there, but they are very far in between, and since TMobile purchased Sprint, Boost may have stopped the nonsense. As far as I know, they were the final hold out, or one of them. Technology and a few other things play in, but the towers were much the same even back when for compatibility, and roaming was something that would have probably made for more wide use if they had figured to stop charging extra sooner.

Another example of competition being a good thing for the consumer.

Edit: I just thought about the Free Minutes after 9. For a couple of buck it went to 7, then 5, IIRC before going away. Data rates are still a thing, but they are getting less expensive, with more data, and going away. We have more data than we have ever used, even during power outages as a hot spot. No movies, or many, but plenty of surfing without notice.

I called an aunt a few years ago to shoot the ****, and afterwards, she says she'll call me on Sunday, when long distance was cheaper (on her cell phone).

Curmudgeons are out there.

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16 minutes ago, MO Fugga said:

I called an aunt a few years ago to shoot the ****, and afterwards, she says she'll call me on Sunday, when long distance was cheaper (on her cell phone).

Curmudgeons are out there.

Yea, BIL and SIL as recently as two years ago could only call a cell phone without minutes adding up, and couldn't text. I have no idea about data. A year ago(ish) they got texting. I don't know if they "upgraded" or had to pay extra. They can call a land line now without penaly, I think.

But hey, they got a great price on the service! Not really.

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