Cell phones are a pain point every where I ask...

I wanted to take a minute to document my downward spiral financially in regards to a working phone.

I had an AT&T Personal Plan with 7 lines. When tough times hit I had to turn off the extra lines and the AT&T next plans became due immediately.

I have since turned this bill into my Debt Relief Agency who will get it paid eventually:)

So as for the journey? How many cell phones have I had, broke, or just became so frustrated with that I hulk smashed.

Kids get what they want...The North Carolina Phones

I had a Samsung 7 Active with a Pelican Case until my son broke his phone and I was legally obligated due to the separation agreement to provide another one.

I tossed him it, and he purchased me a used iPhone 5S out of pity:)

 

Simple Mobile

While I was living in NC, the Hurricane has just destroyed the unit I lived in and was renting. I was under extreme pressure financially and one day someone just kept calling me over and over so I ended up wall checking it into many pieces because they just kept calling back over and over like a person not getting the hint I didn’t want to talk.

phone_count = 1;

I then bought my first ” Prepaid Phone” on Simple Mobile. It was the cheapest ZTE they had. I did not save the receipt nor model number.

phone_count = phone_count ++;

This service was just fine in NC. No issues, but when I moved to PA, it became unusable and the phone was not even usable.

The Pennsylvania phones

I sold it at the Recycle your phone center at a Walmart for 3 dollars:)

My mother then took me to a flea market and I was able to buy a iPhone 4 for 99$.

phone_count = phone_count ++;

On  November 1st, I had decided to go make a small payment on the AT&T bill to try to regain normal life.

I did not have a car at the time and I had to ride my bicycle to the AT&T store.

On the way there I was forced by traffic not giving me enough room to avoid a storm drain and its pothole mouth to hit the pot hole to the left of the drain while doing around 20+ Mph down hill. I wrecked hard. The iPhone 4 was destroyed as it was mounted on my handlebars via a Night Eyes magnetic mount and the wreck had thrown it face down onto the highway.

I was pretty bruised but no one even stopped so I got up  and got back to it.

I stopped into a shop near by and bought a used iPhone 5 for $190.79 leaving me about 60.00 left to go give ATT. Of course, they can not accept anything but full payment and I was turned down to make a partial payment on it, so not only did I wreck my body, bike and phone that day for nothing I learned AT&T does not care about anything but $$.

phone_count = phone_count ++;

The phones power and volume buttons were broken and I thought I was cool enough to fix them. I bought a Jakemy Professional Cell Phone Repair tool kit and I botched the job:)

The digitizers ribbon does not allow it to be opened past 90 degrees and I snapped the ribbon cable. The buttons and volume turned out to work and it was the logic unit… so needed a new one after all.

On Nov 9th, I bought a ZTE Z836.

phone_count = phone_count ++;

This phone was terrible. It was always out of memory. I then bought a 16gig SD card for it on the 14th of Nov.

The phone was completely useless once the Dec patch hit it and I went without one till Jan.

January 2, 2019 I bought a LG Rebel 3. It worked . No issues until I moved to Alabama

phone_count = phone_count ++;

Verizon and landing on what I call Mars( Alabama )

I guess I need to explain why Alabama is Mars to me.

Well the soil is red and the rocket I landed in is on display in Huntsville:)

Like me, my mother is geographically challenged and as I was passing Huntsville they had a lot of construction and the US Space Agency there, so to make it easy, I just told her “I landed on Mars” and snapped a pic of the red dirt  and the rocket 🙂 It stuck as where I now live:)

There was actually nothing wrong with my Rebel 3 phone at all, the carrier just didn’t service this area.

After asking the Martians( locals), I learned Verizon had the area on lock.

I bought a Motorola E5 Play – The second day it was not even working. I could not open Linkedin or any other app.

I was still living in a hotel and did not have trustworthy WiFi so of course the phone updates killed my entire data plan. I payed for the unlimited data upgrade, only to have the phone run out of memory and just keep crashing. I dropped it in the trash at the Local Verizon store on the way to get a new one.

phone_count = phone_count ++;

 

Feb 6, 2019 I found Nokia! A blast from the past, they used to be great right. Well ol’ wally world had a V2 for 49.00, they do not sell cases or screen glass though.

Desperate to end this cycle I bought it and said I will order one online from Amazon.

I did not even find cases or screen glass on Amazon…

A few days later, I was helping a neighbor’s lost dog and I dropped it… The screen shattered like those fancy Samsung 8’s you see on the news that break in your book bag.

The glass was so jagged I could not use it safely.

phone_count = phone_count ++;

 

NET 10 and Freedom?

So I found this cool GSM unlocked phone in Target called the Freedom Turbo. It had a glass, case and enough storage space at 16GB.

I bought it 3/1/2019 for 129.99

phone_count = phone_count ++;

I was supper happy with it, until I woke up around April 1, 2019 Google notified me they updated a slew of things.

NOW>>> it was a nightmare to use >>>

The phone has a OS bug that makes the System UI crash.

I spent the next couple of  days trying to figure out the cause with Sam from support.

I must say the Schok Support is amazing.

I am cross shipping this phone tomorrow so they can see what I broke:)

 

For those Counting I am on Cell Phone 9 since Oct of 2018... To be continued...

But wait there is more phone trouble.

So eventually Sam and I both learned that the Freedom Turbo OS would not be able to catch the next Android update so I tried a service called Swappa.

I bought a Asus Zenfone V Live in September of 2020

phone_count = phone_count ++;

This phone worked for a good while and I think I still have it, just wanted to get something with more storage.

I bought a Kyocera DuraForce PRO E6810 32GB – Black (Verizon) from Cellular Heroes on ebay. in September of 2020 so I could use it for IT work taking pictures of stuff.

They gave me a great phone for under $40.  This was probably the best phone I ever bought for the amount of money invested.

phone_count = phone_count ++;

 

Finally I got those 7 ATT Lines finally paid off somewhere in 2022

With my financial affairs back into a good standing I was able to consider buying a phone a normal 2022 user would own.

I got a Google Pixel 6 from Verizon on the payment plan. As of Dec 2022 I have 7 monthly bills left with a remaining balance of $72.87!

phone_count = phone_count ++;

For those Counting I am on Cell Phone number 12 since Oct of 2018... To be continued... I am sure.