Black Friday Stories

[Gregory Matthews]

This might be a place where all can tell their stories as to what they have purchased on Black Friday:

My wife if one who regularly exercises.  She walks twice a day, 7-days a week if the weather is good, typically a couple of miles or so, exercises on a treadmill and may  work out on a weight machine that we own.  On her walks she will often be on her cell phone talking to people.    She will do that if it is slightly misting, but not a down pour..  Recently, on one such walk, her cell phone   got some water in it and that ended its life.

We decided that we would replace both of our cell phones and with better quality ones and settled on a smart phone that you could dunk in a bucket of water for 30 minutes and it would still work.  the only problem is, we did not want to pay the price. 

Our carrier is Googlefi, their system is like no other in the U.S.  We had  cut our monthly bill to 2/3rds when we switched from Virgin Mobile to Googlefi.  So, we wanted to keep that carrier and to purchase phones that worked on the Googlefi network.  So, we decided to wait until Black Friday to see if we could get a good deal and we now began to share my working cell phone.

Well, on Black Friday, we purchased two new smart phones, the model we wanted, that worked on the Googlefi system and at less than half of their normal cost. We now wait for their delivery, activation and we will both be back in business and not having to share a phone.

NOTE:   In the United States two (2) different systems exist for cell phones.   Each carrier operates on one system.  A cell phone is made to operate on one of those systems and general can not be used on the other system.  Googlefi phones  work on both systems and also on Wi-fi.  If you are using a Googlefi phone while moving, it will automatically switch between the best systems available, while you are talking.  Therefore, you may have a larger coverage area than you would have is your phone only operated on the one system.  This is true for incoming calls as well as outgoing calls.  Some phones are now being built to work as a googlefi phone, but, in order to work in that way, you have to have Googlefi as your carrier, otherwise it will only work on the one system.  

 

 

 

 

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

just looked at googlefi.... my cost would be nearly twice as much per month as what I have now (Consumer Cellular)...

[Gregory Matthews]

You must use a lot of gigabites.  The charge is s basic $15 for all phone and text.  Data is $10 per gig.  So the minimum charge is $15 per month for one person.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

7 hours ago, Gregory Matthews said:

You must use a lot of gigabites.  The charge is s basic $15 for all phone and text.  Data is $10 per gig.  So the minimum charge is $15 per month for one person.

no.... I seldom use it for online stuff browsing.  And I never do texting or send photos.  And actually, I *detest* talking on the phone (any phone).  I mainly use it for GPS and emergency calls.

[Gregory Matthews]

OK, by using it for GPS, you are using gigabytes of data,  I think.

With Googlefi, the basic charge each month is $15 for the 1st person on the account and $10 for each other person on the account. That basic charge includes unlimited phone and text.

The additional charge for data is $10 per gigabyte.    You are only charged for the gigabytes used.  IOW, if you use 1/4 of gigabyte, you are charged $2.50.  If you use 1.75 gigabytes, you are charged $17.50, for the data in addition to the basic charge.

My wife and I used Virgin Mobile for years.  Our account cost us $75 per month for the two us us, plus government taxes and fees.  Since moving to  Googlefi, our monthly bill, including government taxes and fees, has generally been below $50.  Only 2 or 3 times has it exceeded $50.

You can purchase a Googlefi phone directly from Googlefi.    On Black Friday, they had one model smart phone available for $149.   There are also twelve (12) models of phones available that you can purchase from other sources and use them on the Googlefi network.  They will give you such a list, if you ask.  However, be  careful because many other models of smart phone can not be used on their network.  For some of those 12 models, only some of them can be used.  As an example, some Pixel 2 and Pixel 3 models can be used and others can not be used.    For other models, only those sold in the U.S. can be used.  If you purchased one in another country and imported it into the U.S. you may not be able to use it.

What I like best about Googlefi is that it can be used on both of the networks that exist in the U. S. and also on WiFi.    If my wife receives a call while traveling in our car, it will switch back and for the between the best signal source while I am driving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bravus]

Black Friday has historically been much less of a 'thing' in Australia, partly because our financial year ends in June, but the stores have embraced it with great enthusiasm lately.

I was deluged with ads and specials, and had a look at a few things, but ended up buying nothing at all.

[phkrause]

Some years ago I had Cellular one, probably when cellphones were just getting started, so my charges and coverage were pretty high and pretty limited!! So one year I switched over to a company called "Voicestream Wireless," they were the best cellphone company by far to anything they have today. They were the first to have no roaming fees, there coverage was pretty awesome. Wherever I traveled I was covered!! I never had any dropped calls, etc., than T-Mobile bought them out and even though I've stayed with them, there nothing like the original company. Anyway sounds to me like this "Googlefi system" kinda works like "Voicestream Wireless" used too!! Anyway I'd say the cellphone industry should have much better coverage than it does, each company should be able to cover the whole country with no problem, but yet they keep us in the dark as to how things should work??

[Narcah]

Went black Friday shopping. Bought socks. And groceries. And a set of ratcheting wrenches.