Data plan on your phone? Tell your provider PAX East is Coming!

PedroAsani

So I just warned T-Mobile that PAX East is coming, and that they need to make sure they have extra capacity because Nerds Need Bandwidth. Maybe if everyone tells their provider the same thing they might actually stand up a few temporary towers and we won't be in a digital black hole this year?

zerzhul

VZW has had minitowers or whatever they are in the BCEC for the last few paxes. Never had a problem with data connection or texting or what have you with them. I think ATT does that too.

macrogeek

Last year AT&T was useable inside the BCEC for the first time. It was slow, but it did work. The Wifi also seemed to work ok. We usually turn off iMessage during the show because texts go through faster than data based messages.

miker525

As a Tmobile user I think the biggest issue I've encounterd at every PAX East has been my phone dying before the day is over. Never really had service problems in the BCEC

rascrush

miker but a battery pack i did for this year cause i had that same issue last year

PedroAsani

BCEC has likely had the benefit of a few years of this, but a reminder that this isn't just a conference where you have a lot of people in one place, but tens of thousands of their heaviest data users in a small area, might be worth it.

Worst case, they are being told what they already know. Best case, attendees and vendors (using those tablet/phone attachments to process payments) have enough signal to process everything.

After all, we don't want to have everyone resort to the wifi, right? That was painful.

Sepioth

Recent years have been good for me with ATT.

I second that battery pack. I have 3 plus 3 extra charged batteries if needed. Just in case.

I also carry my wall charger as there are plenty of power outlets along the halls to use if needed.

miker525

rascrush wrote: »

miker but a battery pack i did for this year cause i had that same issue last year

Already bought an external battery pack for this upcoming east . Plus worst to worst I carry my wall charger in my back pack

hsu

When it comes to battery life for your phone, the best advice I can give is to only use it for sms, short calls, the PAX app, and maybe photos, giving up all other benefits of a smart phone for the day.

The best way to while away the time standing in a long line? Go with a few friends or make a few friends in line. Alternately, use a separate device, like a kindle, tablet, or 3ds.

Even though I use a battery case for PAX, something I do for pretty much any all day event, the less phone use, the better. Being forced to find an outlet and then sticking nearby for 30 minutes whilst charging just sucks.

DaveRH

You can also get battery charge devices for pretty cheap. My wife and I got a pair of them for $20, and they are good for a full charge and a bit on our phones.

InfiniteNuLL

While on the subject of cell phones (sorta semi-related, didn't want to submit a new thread just for this)....I don't own one and I was looking to get one so I can contact my wife back home.

I'm in Nova Scotia, Canada so not sure:

A) what phone to get as I don't plan on actually using it with any sort of frequency
what provider I should go with for a prepaid plan that would consider my travel to the US

I know NOTHING about cell phones and packages or whatever so if anyone that may be able to point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.

Thanks!

ceres

I have ATT and was actually going to about this. I don't recall having much of an issue at Prime last year, but at South I never had any signal and actually ran into a near-emergency and couldn't contact the person I needed to without walking far away from the convention center.. at which point it wouldn't have been received because that person was somewhere inside and also had no signal.

If people have experience with ATT being good at East I won't worry too much about it.

ilta

I have AT&T. In 2013 it wasn't very reliable, but in 2014 I didn't have too many problems. There are always dead zones in a large building, though, so you want to make sure you've got as unobstructed a view to the sky as possible.

The BCEC wifi was also slightly better.

Karoneth

The BCEC wifi worked OK with one exception...it actually ran out of IP addresses on Friday night, my wifi went kaput when I was in the line for the nvidia panel. Hopefully they have addressed that by now :-) AT&T was manageable as well, I was able to receive and place calls OK in the BCEC (when I could find a quiet spot!)

WiFiPunk

Random fun fact. I always turn off my 4G and use 3G. There's much less traffic and thus I can actually get it to work.
More true then ever before while I was at south. Everybody has a 4G phone now-adays.

Aylaviere

[Deleted]

InfiniteNuLL

Aylaviere wrote: »

InfiniteNuLL wrote: »

While on the subject of cell phones (sorta semi-related, didn't want to submit a new thread just for this)....I don't own one and I was looking to get one so I can contact my wife back home.

I'm in Nova Scotia, Canada so not sure:

A) what phone to get as I don't plan on actually using it with any sort of frequency
what provider I should go with for a prepaid plan that would consider my travel to the US

I know NOTHING about cell phones and packages or whatever so if anyone that may be able to point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I recommend Wind Mobile. Buy your own phone so you're not tied into a contract. Wind has low monthly plans, covers a good bit of Nova Scotia according to their map, you can get a $40/month plan that includes data/call/text/ and wind also offers this add on which you can turn on/of whenever: Get unlimited data, text and 2400 minutes of CA/US-wide talk while roaming in the continental US, Alaska and Hawaii for only $15/month. I actually live in the states now and got lucky with a $40 unlimited Canada/US plan and it's wonderful.

Excellent, thanks a lot. I've checked out their site and that's definitely on my list of possibilities. Now I just need to get the actual phone lol

Ben2998

InfiniteNuLL wrote: »

Aylaviere wrote: »

InfiniteNuLL wrote: »

While on the subject of cell phones (sorta semi-related, didn't want to submit a new thread just for this)....I don't own one and I was looking to get one so I can contact my wife back home.

I'm in Nova Scotia, Canada so not sure:

A) what phone to get as I don't plan on actually using it with any sort of frequency
what provider I should go with for a prepaid plan that would consider my travel to the US

I know NOTHING about cell phones and packages or whatever so if anyone that may be able to point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I recommend Wind Mobile. Buy your own phone so you're not tied into a contract. Wind has low monthly plans, covers a good bit of Nova Scotia according to their map, you can get a $40/month plan that includes data/call/text/ and wind also offers this add on which you can turn on/of whenever: Get unlimited data, text and 2400 minutes of CA/US-wide talk while roaming in the continental US, Alaska and Hawaii for only $15/month. I actually live in the states now and got lucky with a $40 unlimited Canada/US plan and it's wonderful.

Excellent, thanks a lot. I've checked out their site and that's definitely on my list of possibilities. Now I just need to get the actual phone lol

Also, look for Roam Mobility. It's a Canadian company using T-Mobile's services and charges per day instead of monthly charges and they have unlimited texts and minutes in both Canada and US.

That's what I use every time I go to the US. I paid 13.62 CAD for 3 days of Talk + Text + Data. They also offer SIM cards and smartphones if you don't already have an unlocked phone.

Docteh

Aylaviere wrote: »

InfiniteNuLL wrote: »

While on the subject of cell phones (sorta semi-related, didn't want to submit a new thread just for this)....I don't own one and I was looking to get one so I can contact my wife back home.

I'm in Nova Scotia, Canada so not sure:

A) what phone to get as I don't plan on actually using it with any sort of frequency
what provider I should go with for a prepaid plan that would consider my travel to the US

I know NOTHING about cell phones and packages or whatever so if anyone that may be able to point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I recommend Wind Mobile. Buy your own phone so you're not tied into a contract. Wind has low monthly plans, covers a good bit of Nova Scotia according to their map, you can get a $40/month plan that includes data/call/text/ and wind also offers this add on which you can turn on/of whenever: Get unlimited data, text and 2400 minutes of CA/US-wide talk while roaming in the continental US, Alaska and Hawaii for only $15/month. I actually live in the states now and got lucky with a $40 unlimited Canada/US plan and it's wonderful.

One thing that confuses me about that plan, is it sounds like I would get unlimited US data, but it sounds like i wouldnt get unlimited data on an "Away" network while within Canada.

Roam mobility has been adequate so far. First year I went I was constantly juggling between SMS,wifi and 3g for communicating with people but I don't remember it being such a problem the second year.