I received an email from Verizon last week saying they were going to raise our bill by $15 a month. This was on top of the fact that even when Andy received my texts he couldn’t text back most of the time. So we phoned Verizon and talked to a fellow. He said, yes, Verizon was trying to get people to move to more expensive plans (we have unlimited text and talking, no data). And if we wanted more reliable service we should try a new iPhone 14, which he said would give us satellite service if needed. We didn’t listen to how much extra that would cost, because an iPhone wouldn’t fit neatly into Andy’s pocket, and we already had to replace his flip phone this winter when he lost the old one in the snow.
But… I did mention that our phone says we can use WiFi if our reception is poor. Would we be charged anything if we used that option? He said no. I had assumed as much, but I like to check my assumptions. So, I spent some time figuring out how to set that up on my phone down here, then Andy and I practiced what he would have to do to connect with Kaitlin and Torben’s Starlink up on the land. I couldn’t do it for him, because he had to be within range of the Starlink, but he tried it today and it worked! He phoned me and then I phoned him. So tomorrow when he gets up there he’ll phone and leave a message on the answering machine and I’ll text him to tell him I received the call. Fingers crossed it keeps working!
When the weather gets warm in a few months he will be taking walks out of the Starlink’s range, so he will then start practicing how to send text messages on the Garmin. He can already send pre-written texts, and of course Kaitlin and I can log on to the Garmin site and see where he is if he needs non-emergency help. For emergency help he will just press the SOS button and they will know where to find him.
Anyway, Verizon raising their price motivated us to learn about WiFi calling, and we’re happy and proud of ourselves.
January 21, 2025
Technology is so complicated these days.
God bless.
I have been doing wifi calling on all my phones, but not connecting to starlink.
good job learning how and hope it all works out today. let us know .
the iPhone I use for photos I do wi-fi everything on it, including Facetime to my brother and his wife, they can’t call me on my iPhone or iPad, but I can call them. I just send a text from my phone and say can you talk, then use the phone to call and they answer. I am on wifi on every device I use, my phone is TracFone and has 25 gigs data a month but when I am home I turn it off and use wifi
Good job on figuring that out. These companies that are constantly raising their rates yet offer incredible deals to new customers make me mad. How about offering good deals to the long time loyal customers.