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Is AT&T BS-ing me? Can GSM connect to tower 30mi away?

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MagnusTheBrewer said:
I realize this may be total overkill but, how about wearing a watch?
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I know it sounds silly but the clock on a smart phone being an hour off can be a big deal if you use it for appointments. Your email timestamps will be off as well. This can more inconvenient than you think.
 
Minerva said:
I know it sounds silly but the clock on a smart phone being an hour off can be a big deal if you use it for appointments. Your email timestamps will be off as well. This can more inconvenient than you think.
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Trusting important work/life info to such a delicate unproven technology for the sake of it's 'coolness factor' is rather foolish no? At least have a b/u plan.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
How many 'smart phones' can tolerate the occasional drops, liquid spills or, being left in cars during the summer with 140+ degree temps? Paper/pen and a watch may not have much 'bling' but, it works.
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You could make the same argument about a laptop. I don't see many people choosing "pen and paper" over a laptop.

But if you are a clumsy oaf I suppose pen and paper works best.
 
nickbits said:
You could make the same argument about a laptop. I don't see many people choosing "pen and paper" over a laptop.

But if you are a clumsy oaf I suppose pen and paper works best.
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The utility of a laptop is completely different than that of a smart phone. Folks who immediately trust their every detail of life to the latest tech are even more foolish than those who avoid new tech whenever possible. Why? Because being dependent on tech that fails you costs real money, time and, opportunity.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
The utility of a laptop is completely different than that of a smart phone. Folks who immediately trust their every detail of life to the latest tech are even more foolish than those who avoid new tech whenever possible. Why? Because being dependent on tech that fails you costs real money, time and, opportunity.
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I argue that if I were to carry everything on me in paper form that I frequently refer to or revise on my PDA, I'd have a briefcase larger than most corporate execs carry to look good, and I'd probably have even worse back problems. Time and money? It would absolutely take me more time to update physical documents, copy, and send them along than it would for me to update my phone/PDA. As for money.... it's probably a wash with me. I run my life by my phone. I also back it up nightly, and sync its data elsewhere. If I have some kind of major failure, I'll go replace it immediately.
 
GeekDrew said:
I argue that if I were to carry everything on me in paper form that I frequently refer to or revise on my PDA, I'd have a briefcase larger than most corporate execs carry to look good, and I'd probably have even worse back problems. Time and money? It would absolutely take me more time to update physical documents, copy, and send them along than it would for me to update my phone/PDA. As for money.... it's probably a wash with me. I run my life by my phone. I also back it up nightly, and sync its data elsewhere. If I have some kind of major failure, I'll go replace it immediately.
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See, you have a b/u plan. My argument is that folks who depend solely on new tech without any back up plan are just plain foolish. I do make one caveat, if the latest tech doesn't provide increased utility in the way you do business (I mean does as opposed to could) then, I do recommend people stick with paper and pencil or, whatever they're using.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
See, you have a b/u plan. My argument is that folks who depend solely on new tech without any back up plan are just plain foolish. I do make one caveat, if the latest tech doesn't provide increased utility in the way you do business (I mean does as opposed to could) then, I do recommend people stick with paper and pencil or, whatever they're using.
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I don't care whether the tech is new or older than dirt... if they don't have a backup plan, they ought not to have any plan at all. That includes people that work from pencil + paper. If my phone were destroyed at the same time that someone's briefcase were destroyed, I could (albeit inconveniently) get my data back within a few minutes by logging into a few different servers. The person whose briefcase is destroyed... yeah, chances are much more slim they'll be able to get someone to re-send them hard copies very quickly.
 
I've driven from Newnan to Senoia to Peachtree City and STILL had my time showing 1hr too early right up until I entered PTC. I've had it switch in PTC as well. I don't think I ever had it happen west of those places (Carrolton, Douglasville, even Waco), which are much closer to AL.
 
30 miles sounds like its doable. About a month ago, I was at the tide pools here and received a text message from Sprint welcoming me to Mexico and informing me of their international text, voice, and data rates.
 
sjwaste said:
30 miles sounds like its doable. About a month ago, I was at the tide pools here and received a text message from Sprint welcoming me to Mexico and informing me of their international text, voice, and data rates.
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Even though I was talking about GA, I'm now in SoCal and it sounds like you're in the same area. Anyway, the OP (my twin brother) came to visit me in San Diego and complained of a large fee on his bill when he got home that he could only guess was International data charges from Mexico. Then again, it probably happened where Interstate 8 goes close to Mexico (Mexi-Cali)... they did a lot of Pandora Radio streaming during the trip.

Remember, though, it's likely a lot more than 30 miles in the OP's case because it's not like they would put one of those towers right on the border KNOWING that it will cover as much of GA as it does AL. Not to mention, Senoia is about 50 miles from the border... the same distance from Atlanta's i285 perimeter to the AL border. ATL is hardly a "border" area and they would NEVER allow something like this to affect so many people living there. Not to mention, Newnan is considered "metro-Atlanta."

josh0099 said:
Is there no program/app that can look at an internet clock to update instead of relying on the wireless signal?
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Apple will not allow them to change such settings with official apps but it would certainly be a useful Jailbreak app.
 
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I've hit towers in London, ON from Erie, PA before (across lake Erie).

I know because of the damn roaming charges on my VZ bill 🙁
 
They can, however in most cases the signal will be crap. People have connected to cell networks clearly at the top of the Sierra Buttes, however it did stand up 1000' over the rest of the mountains and had the advantage of being line of sight.
 
I wonder: For those of you that have gotten roaming charges from being close to the border, have you gotten them waived by explaining that you didn't leave the US? I've never read my contract that carefully b/c I live in VA, so I don't know if it specifies whether it's physical presence or tower connection for roaming charges.

I didn't see any charges from when I roamed onto the Mexican tower, so I haven't had the occasion to call.
 
My phone will occasionally switch to Central time out at the beach on Lake Michigan because it picks up a cell tower over in Chicago or Milwaukee.
 
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