…… Spectrum cell phone?

Satanta

Stone Cold Crazy
_______________
Have Spectrum for internet. They made me an ioffer for a phone and service that sounds good but no idea if they are reliable and travel limits.

Anyone use them?

My current phone is a samsung a11 which the gut said was a good phone bur, after less than a year it has similar issues to the last one I got from them telling me it was also a good phone. New roomie recently got one thru them and it burst inrto flames two days later so Im thinking matbe verizon is bot worth keeping.
 

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
See who the actual carrier is.
Comcast has the same thing but theirs rides on the Verizon network.
 

Dennis Olson

Chief Curmudgeon
_______________
I use Spectrum. They use the Verizon tower network. Been okay for me.


These days, “are they a reliable cell phone service provider” is not the right question. It should be, “whose towers do they use, and is THAT company a reliable cell service provider. Spectrum, like Cricket, Consumer Cellular, and all the rest, are simply retailers. They provide no service except billing.
 

Greenspode

Veteran Member
I have had Spectrum for almost 2 years now. They use the Verizon network.

Generally my phone has worked fine, however I took a job in the Cleveland area 7 months ago and my phone does not work most places around here. I have 3 local spots where I can get a signal, but none at my place of business or where I live. Others with Verizon have no trouble, so not sure why Spectrum doesn't work here. It works everywhere else, and I have used it all across the country!

Also they can be a nightmare to deal with customer service wise. For example, I ordered a new phone a month and a half ago, and when it came it was not what I thought I was ordering. It had only been out of the box for a couple of minutes, and never used. I went through the process of returning it, as I was told would be no issue, and it was a nightmare. It took me over 3 weeks, and at least 10 phone calls to get a return shipping label. Finally got it, and shipped it back.

A week later my phone was de-activated. I had no service at all. Turns out that they had moved my account to the new phone, even though I never even activated it, and when it got returned they de-activated my existing phone. Took me 2 weeks to get that straightened out, and I had no phone during that time. They could NOT wrap their heads around what my issue was, and kept insisting that I had returned the phone. It was like trying to invent space travel to help them understand that I returned a new phone, which had never been activated or used, and not the phone I had been using, without interruption, for 2 years.

Do with this information what you will! Good luck!
 

Dennis Olson

Chief Curmudgeon
_______________
I have 3 local spots where I can get a signal, but none at my place of business or where I live. Others with Verizon have no trouble, so not sure why Spectrum doesn't work here. It works everywhere else, and I have used it all across the country!
Well now vato, I’m going to answer that question for you. I discovered the answer completely by accident a few years ago. First, I live in a cellular “almost dead zone.”. On Verizon “name brand” service (as in direct with Verizon), I got between one and two bars of service. Well, I decided to try someone else who used the Verizon towers. They had a storefront in my area. So I signed up. They sent me a SIM card. I plugged it in and…. No service.

I couldn’t figure out why. Put my old SIM in, had service. Made no sense. Called the new place’s tech support. They had nothing. Anyway, at that point it was time to run the dogs up behind the high school (on higher ground.) I’d slipped the phone into my pocket because I always carry it (habit). Ran the dogs. Was getting ready to come home. Decided to look at the phone. Two bars on the new SIM card. Went home. No service. So I went back to Verizon, and had service again.

What I learned:

The cut rate service retailers do indeed use the “big boys’” towers. But not at the big boys’ POWER LEVELS. Evidently, the cut rate retailers don’t get the trans/recv power that they give “their own.” And no one will tell you this. As I said, I discovered it by accidental empirical observation.

Clearer now?
 

workerbee

* Winter is Coming *
Spectrum cell phone user here, pretty satisfied with service and cost.

I didn't like the monthly auto bill payment via credit card, but in order to get a screaming deal, I chose to try it.

No problems at all.
(It's th only thing that we pay automatically from credit card. I always hated that!)
 

Ragnarok

On and On, South of Heaven
I took them up on their offer.

Sent me and android phone and my bill has been around $16.00/month. I've had them for about 3 months now with no issues.
 

Kris Gandillon

The Other Curmudgeon
_______________
Well now vato, I’m going to answer that question for you. I discovered the answer completely by accident a few years ago. First, I live in a cellular “almost dead zone.”. On Verizon “name brand” service (as in direct with Verizon), I got between one and two bars of service. Well, I decided to try someone else who used the Verizon towers. They had a storefront in my area. So I signed up. They sent me a SIM card. I plugged it in and…. No service.

I couldn’t figure out why. Put my old SIM in, had service. Made no sense. Called the new place’s tech support. They had nothing. Anyway, at that point it was time to run the dogs up behind the high school (on higher ground.) I’d slipped the phone into my pocket because I always carry it (habit). Ran the dogs. Was getting ready to come home. Decided to look at the phone. Two bars on the new SIM card. Went home. No service. So I went back to Verizon, and had service again.

What I learned:

The cut rate service retailers do indeed use the “big boys’” towers. But not at the big boys’ POWER LEVELS. Evidently, the cut rate retailers don’t get the trans/recv power that they give “their own.” And no one will tell you this. As I said, I discovered it by accidental empirical observation.

Clearer now?
What Dennis said is indeed the way it works.

Dennis, was your experiment before or after 5G was turned on?

I have heard but not personally experienced that depending on what 5G frequency was deployed, assuming no new additional towers in your area, that the 5G can also have an impact. If 4G barely worked before, after 5G you might not have a 5G signal at all. The higher frequencies used in some 5G deployments have less range / coverage than the lower frequency 4G. Seems like in that situation it would drop back to 4G which should still be available.
 

Marthanoir

TB Fanatic
Ah jeez for a minute then I thought Sinclair were bring out a cell phone,

product-94556.jpg
 

Sozo

Insignificant Contributor
The service is fine, but keep in mind with Spectrum mobile, you MUST have Spectrum internet.
If you ever decide to cancel internet or change providers, you will lose mobile service.
 

theruminator

Contributing Member
Have Spectrum for internet. They made me an ioffer for a phone and service that sounds good but no idea if they are reliable and travel limits.

Anyone use them?

My current phone is a samsung a11 which the gut said was a good phone bur, after less than a year it has similar issues to the last one I got from them telling me it was also a good phone. New roomie recently got one thru them and it burst inrto flames two days later so Im thinking matbe verizon is bot worth keeping.
Yes. I use them. No problems with service even when I travel. I have the unlimited data plan and have never used it up. I use a lot of data. They have a pretty good selection of phones.
 

kytom

escapee from reality
i got att for $25 a month online! best deal out there! you have to pay one year up front thats the only problem.
 

Satanta

Stone Cold Crazy
_______________
That’s why they never mentioned it. You already checked that box so no need to bring it up.
Yeah they told me of the charge. Thi g is they frelled somthing up a couple weeks ago and had to set me up as a new account so the monkey on the other end, even knowing what happenec gets told by their computer what script to read and info to provide.
 

bbbuddy

DEPLORABLE ME
What Dennis said is indeed the way it works.

Dennis, was your experiment before or after 5G was turned on?

I have heard but not personally experienced that depending on what 5G frequency was deployed, assuming no new additional towers in your area, that the 5G can also have an impact. If 4G barely worked before, after 5G you might not have a 5G signal at all. The higher frequencies used in some 5G deployments have less range / coverage than the lower frequency 4G. Seems like in that situation it would drop back to 4G which should still be available.
Kris, that happened to us when Verizon went to 4g and cut off 3g out here.
Our phones worked fine on 3g, but after the switch, we have virtually no service.

Oh, there's one place on our old RVporch where we might get 1/2 bars, but even that is iffy.

I have to go overe there to try to get voice-mail or "security codes" (verification) when changing passwords etc.

The cell towers were working for us on 3g. Verizon has not added any new ones, and cut 3g off.
 
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