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Cell Phone Issue

Discussion in 'YachtForums Yacht Club' started by bliss, Oct 5, 2016.

  1. bliss

    bliss Senior Member

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    This has nothing to do with yachts or yachting. So I am posting in The Yacht Club. Apologies for length.

    History: I had Verizon and no complaints. It worked and still works well where I need service -- Chicago, Naples, SanFrancisco. I had long ago signed up with Spirit and it was a disaster; almost no signal at my home office in a Chicago suburb. About three years ago I foolishly switched to Virgin Mobile. They had a "deal" and the "value buyer " that I am I signed up. It didn't take long to realize I should have done my homework. Virgin is Spirit in disguise!! I went back to Verizon and my trusty flip phones. Two of them. Two plus years have passed and the Virgin LG VM 696 phones sit here gathering dust.

    The Here and Now: I'm still with Verizon and all is well. I would like to move up from a pair of flip phones to something not to big and just a little smarter. Why? I want to open an Uber account. I would like something like the LG VM696 phones that sit on my credenza. So I call Verizon and they say yes I can use my VM696 phones as they use the same system (CDMA) as Virgin. However, I must first have Virgin unlock the phones. Sooo I talk with Virgin and they ask me passwords and P/Ns, etc. That stuff is long gone and they can't open the account and blah, blah..

    Help: Unless you gentle folks come up with a solution my LG phones will continue to decorate my office. I will cave in and pay retail at Verizon. Did I say "retail"?! Oh, that hurts. Remember I am a value buyer. My wife says that means cheap. I do recognize that I erred when I took Virgin's deal. I also believe that had I acted on this when I was switching away from Virgin I probably would have had a favorable result. Is there a way to get Virgin to unlock the phones? Lacking that, is there another way to unlock them? I have checked Youtube. The offerings there failed. Lastly, even if I get them unlocked I am not entirely convinced that there will be a successful transition to Verizon. Thanks for any assist,
  2. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    You could perhaps go to a Virgin or Sprint store and get them unlocked, but the value of a two+ year old Virgin phone is not much. A lot of trouble to end up with relatively nothing. Now there's a little natural conflict here as you're cheap and I own phone stores so we come at it far differently. Still I'd recommend the best deal you can get with Verizon on a good smart phone.
  3. bliss

    bliss Senior Member

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    OB, thanks. You are, I'm sure, correct the value is small, but they would help re Uber. And yes I am going to try eyeball to eyeball at the stores. This is not a big deal but I love giving it every try. Thanks, again!
  4. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Come into the 21st century. It's not just Uber. Once you open the door, there is so much to see. lol
  5. bliss

    bliss Senior Member

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    I admit to being a bit old fashion. I often prefer the mature technology.
  6. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    The current technology isn't exactly new, no where near new. It's mature, just not ancient.
  7. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    You're going to spend more time worrying about these old phones than nt hey re worth,,, plus after two years of sitting the batteries are probably past their prime. There are some charities that collect old phones for vets or others... That will make you feel bett about your mistake

    Just buy two new phones from Verizon, they have entry level phones for almost nothing.
  8. bliss

    bliss Senior Member

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    Pascal you are probably on the right path. Although I have what maybe one last card to play. I stopped by Fry's Electronics and was told to try Uber's phone offer. Uber is the reason I am fiddling with this. So I'll see what that is all about and report back in a few days.

    Meantime I am off to SFO for fun and games -- Buena Vista Cafe, Sam's Anchor, Clift Hotel and The Blue Angels are in town.

    I'll try to check here but I'll only have this flip pho -----------.
  9. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    While we are on about cellphones has anyone else had this?

    I have an I Phone SE, Its about 6 weeks old. It worked perfectly till the last few days. Now it makes no sound when getting text messages if the message app is running in the background, it does if I have double clicked the start button and shut the app down.

    It has not been updated between working properly and how it is now.
  10. Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    I have a Motorola Moto G. It's old, unbreakable (with gorilla glass), and long battery life. It's been dropped in the bilge, sat on, covered in spray and any other abuse a phone could be subjected to. I think having a leather flip-case also protects it.

    It's not the newest or flashiest but I'll be sticking with a Moto G from now on, thanks.
  11. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    After looking at all options I asked my neighbour if his pre schooler could help while they were leaving for kindergarten. Turns out that a bit of pocket dialing enabled some options I didn't know existed. The do not Disturb function had been enabled via the pull up menu on the home screen. I like the Nokia 6310i phones for indestructibility. I still have two that are reasonably new. They are great for making calls, have great battery life but not so good for texting, forget much else.