WEEKLY WHEATIES #2502
Cell Phone Providers, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Deaf Community
In this newsletter:
📝 Post: Breaking Down the Hidden World of Alternative Cell Phone Providers
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Meta
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Microsoft
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: TikTok
😎 Pick of the Week: The Deaf Community
📦 Featured Product: Zip String
📝 Breaking Down the Hidden World of Alternative Cell Phone Providers
Let’s face it. There’s a very high chance you, and everyone you know who is old enough to drive (and many times much younger), owns a mobile phone. In the mobile phone space, in regard to the major first-party mobile phone providers, there are only four big players. In order of number of subscribers, they are: Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Boost Mobile. But, some of you may have mobile phone service with a company not listed. Enter third-part mobile phone providers known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs).
In reality, there’s something else happening on the backend as you may have seen. The major providers are the owners of all physical mobile phone towers across the county. These third-party services lease phone and data bandwidth on those towers. For example, Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, PureTalk, and Ting are providers under the ‘ATT brand’ if you will. There’s plenty more, and even another exhaustive list for Verizon, Boost, and T-Mobile. They use the same towers, have the same signal, same speeds (more on this in a bit), and same coverage. If you’re curious on “coverage” check out this map comparing AT&T and Verizon.
I put coverage in quotes, because this can appear to be misleading at a glance. The total number of towers, or even total number of towers in your area, can be misleading in the sense of the type of signal they send out. It isn’t as black and white as saying, “Provider X provides this type of signal, and Provider Y provides this type of signal.” Each individual tower can vary in the type, power, and distance in the coverage it offers.
So, all equal in regard to coverage, why would anyone use one of the major providers if the third-party providers are typically less expensive? Well, there’s a few reasons, all adding up to making your decision different than someone else based on your situation. Please understand, there are many pros and cons that may help make your decision, and I promise to be as unbiased as I can while explaining the differences. In no particular order, feature differences include: premium connectivity, priority, data plans, hot spot availability, and phone ownership.
First up premium connectivity. Regardless of what the third-party providers tell you, they may not always offer premium connectivity. In some instances, the faster speeds they have access to are limited as they may use older tower technology. The newer connections and speeds cost more, so monetarily speaking, it costs more to offer the higher speeds and connectivity to customers. Depending on the area, third-party providers may only have access to outdated or unused technology on the towers. Which leads us into the second point: priority.
Again, regardless of what is said, typically, the first-party providers will have priority of access to towers when or if connectivity becomes an issue. Compare this to booking a flight or a room directly with the airline or hotel compared to a third-party service. You may never have an issue, and customer service may be great when you do, but there are always times when if something happens and you’re standing at the gate or in the lobby, you still must go through the third-party service used for escalation.
Have you ever been to a large venue and had trouble gaining access to your mobile phone’s network? Maybe a concert or sports event? Typically, as more and more people access the nearest tower, it may become overloaded and start to limit who or what type of traffic is allowed. In some cases, your phone may try to access a tower much farther away – thereby slowing your speeds. You can imagine how these towers will give priority to the first-party provider customers.
Next, what about data? This may not be as big of an issue as it used to be, but generally speaking, third-party providers may not offer as much data for their monthly allotment. If they do, chances are they will start limiting your speeds at lower limits. You may have seen this stated as “speeds capped beyond 10 GB.” That means once 10 GB of data is used (typically on 4G or 5G) on the plan, all other data will be downloaded at slower speeds (3G or 4G for example). Whatever the ‘capped number’ is, it will either be higher or nonexistent on first-party providers.
In tandem with data includes hot spot availability. A hot spot is a personalized connection created on your phone that allows other devices to be connected and share the data connection - like a laptop or tablet. Many third-party providers don’t allow hot spot connections at all, and those that do typically limit how much data can be used. And similar to what is mentioned above, if unlimited data is allowed, the speed will be capped at some limit.
Lastly, phone ownership. To keep costs down, these third-party providers usually require the user to bring their own device (dictated as BYOD) or purchase in full. Buying a phone on credit is not something used often, if at all. If you are the type of person who either buys your phone outright or keeps your phone for a longer time (say maybe something over 4 or 5 years), then this may be a moot point for you. For most MVNOs, phones they provide for sale may also be an older version of the same model on one of the major carriers. If you want the newest phone available, you will have to buy it directly from the manufacture outright.
All that said, I know there are those using these providers with zero issues. Seeing more and more of these companies starting up and still staying around for a while almost prove the minor inconveniences they come with may not be as big of an issue for many.
So how do you know if this is a good option for you? Well, as mentioned, these third-party providers are typically much less expensive than your first-party providers. And when I say much less, I’m talking 40-60% less in most cases. There are some providers with plans starting less than $10 per line. On the other end, most cap out around $60 per line for unlimited calling, texting, and data (with possible exceptions to hot spot availability as mentioned). They also typically do not require contracts - meaning you can jump from one to the next without issue.
Evaluate your travel habits, WiFi signal at home and work (or places you frequent) and ask yourself if you want to pay extra for a possible priority to coverage or data, or have your phone’s price rolled into your monthly plan (even if discounted). The answers are as different as providers there are. There’s a whole other world of minimal phones and minimal phone plans made just for you.
With prices typically this low, consider buying one line for a month with the lowest plan available. You may also purchase a less-expensive Android phone if you don’t have an older phone to use as a test case. This will let you take a phone with you to your home, work, and on the roads if/when you travel. I would suggest trying this out when you plan to travel a bit and take a trip to places you visit often. If you can make a phone call or send a text, you probably have at least some level of data available. Load a website you’ve never visited before and see how long it takes. From personal experience, I’ve found that the type of material of the building you’re in can determine the signal strength you have. For example, a metal, concrete, or brick building may lower signal strength to zero on one provider but not the other – even with full signal outside of the building.
Have you ever heard of or use MVNOs?
🗞️ ICYMI: Meta
In one of those “hard to separate the CEO from the company” pages, Mark Zuckerberg has been all over the news for Meta’s decision to end fact-checking and replace it with a Community Notes model. Personally, this has positive and negative first and second order effects I may dive into at another time. But for now, Meta’s products have long had issues with the number of false posts shared, that this will spread the work across the community, allowing more and more people to help. The downside is AI, nor the majority is always right. Hear from the man himself on the Joe Rogan Experience. In other potentially alarming news regarding privacy, a user on Reddit shared how they used Meta AI to edit a selfie and then Instagram used their face on targeted ads.
🗞️ ICYMI: Microsoft
With CES in full swing, Microsoft announced they Will Combine Xbox and Windows Experience for Handheld PCs This Year. However, they also announced 2025 will be The year of the Windows 11 PC refresh. That may sound great, but that also means 400 Million Windows Users Will Need A New PC if they want to stay up to date with security updates. And with any major shift in security, it may also come with a number of users who switch to Mac or Linux. Microsoft also has left a negative impression on people recently by using Bing to trick people into thinking they’re on Google.
🗞️ ICYMI: TikTok
As we get closer to January 19th (the day TikTok will be banned), what can be done? The Wall Street Journal shares: Here’s What to Know. Unless something changes before then, if you want to access TikTok, you must have the app downloaded before that date. It will not receive any updates, and it’s unclear how long until the app ‘breaks,’ although a VPN will help get around that. If you want to consider an alternative, another ByteDance app is growing in popularity - Lemon8.
😎 POTW: The Deaf Community
I talk a lot about the AI space, but something I found recently that was too cool to not share is where AI mixes with hardware and creates something new. Since at least 2022, XRAI has been working on glasses with live captions to help the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. There are other alternatives, all with varying price points and features, too. But as I researched, I also found a growing ASL community. If you would like to Learn Sign Language by one of the most popular YouTubers on the subject, check out Bill Vacar. Cardzilla is another popular app I found used by this community for a fast and simple way to display messages in large text. Lastly, a child of a deaf adult (CODA) wrote an interesting post about: Unlocking Reason: How the Deaf Created Their Own System of Communication.
📦 Featured Product
A couple of years ago, I saw the Zip String on Shark Tank and thought it was pretty cool! I mean, it was a cool kid's toy, but cool, nonetheless. Well after buying my kids one for Christmas this year, I can say they do love it! However, I probably play with it and enjoy it more than they do! You may just think I’m easily entertained, but many other adults in my friend and family group actually like it, too! Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me. You can always return it…
