Subj : landlines and offgrid
To   : AUGUST ABOLINS
From : Rob Mccart
Date : Wed Feb 05 2025 01:40:00

Re: your other note about snow, we got next to nothing last night
and the weeks predictions only show some snow on Thursday.

AA>So... you use the cellphone in mobile hotspot mode?

Yes, I went from Dial-up to that since there was no other system
available where I was other than Satellite, which is expensive.

AA>$29.75 for landline is pretty low, but that's probably because
  >it's still part of a [lower tier] party-line system.

Definitely

RM> party line system where they've changed over from 4
RM> customers on a line to 2 customers who can share the line
RM> without ever knowing someone else could also using it at
RM> the same time.

AA>That's interesting.  So.. when the phone rings. it's always for
  >you and not anyone else on the party-line?  I wonder how they
  >accomplish that.

I was surprised to hear that our 'upgrade' back about 40 years ago
was still using that system but apparently if they split it in 2
you have no idea another person might be using the line at the same
time. The dial up data speeds was the only way to know there was
something not quite 100% going on. I think that at times when I'm
on the phone I can hear very quiet talking in the background and I
figure that may be when the other person is using the line, but it's
too quiet to overhear or really be a problem.

AA>Yep.. DSL does not appear to be a future option with those
  >lines.  Infact, DSL is being phased out.  The great Ontario
  >initiative seems to be fiber installations now, I think.

Our Bell Box is apparently on a list to be upgraded but that's
been in the works for 4 or 5 years now and they still haven't
gotten to it. But it keeps my cost for a land line low. If they
bump it up to 'normal' I'd likely drop it. Plus I'm so far from
the box that they likely couldn't offer me Fiber. There are just
too few people around here still using a land line to make it
practical for Bell to spend much on upgrades.

AA>What cell company are you using? I have a unit that is locked
  >to Rogers and another locked to Bell.  I want to unlock them so
  >that cheaper consumer-grade carriers like Chatr, NoFrills, or
  >Luckymobile could be used with them.

I am with Lucky, the fist and only company I've used for about
6 years now, although I've upgraded my service a few times.
Several months (a year?) ago you mentioned to me that Lucky had
a better plan than the one I was using so I went to the site and
was able to upgrade my service..

I went from 8 gig of data at 3G speeds plus the usual unlimited
long distance in Canada and unlimited Global texting (from Canada)
at $40 a month and went up to 16 gig at *4G* data speeds plus the
rest at $35 so I was glad I checked that out when you mentioned
some of their new plans, so thanks for that..  B)

That said, I think the NoFrills Mobile is slightly cheaper depending
on the plans you choose but I've been happy with Lucky and although
I might get more Data at the price, I don't use all I have now so
I stick with what's been a reliable service for me.

That said, I could upgrade at Lucky to 80 gig of data plus with
unlimited calling to the USA added for a lousy $5 more but I
just wouldn't use the extras so I haven't changed over to that.

---
 * SLMR Rob  * The truly wise have more questions than answers
 * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

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