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agoodwinsmith So.
I have had cell phone problems for the last eight months. Various "solutions" have failed me. I am not ready to share those, only stab my interim cell phone repeatedly in its blackened little heart.
My first cell phone was a little green flip phone that I still have because it was absolutely adorable, an LG 125, in 2006. I had to give it up when the networks were changing and would no longer accept its protocol.
So I got my second cell phone in 2016. An LG X Power. It was so perfect for me that I have bought other LG products based solely on the quality of my perfect little LG phone. Alas, again the networks have changed, Now 3G is phased out in favour of 4G/LTE or 5G. This meant that my perfect cell phone could no longer send/receive texts. I am a print being.
My generous mother had an opportunity to get me a second-hand iPhone 14 (the interim phone). We needed help to move the SIM card (we didn't know about SIM cards). This new-to-me phone was not a success. Someday I might be able to share the experience, but currently I am in the NO APPLE PRODUCTS EVER camp and unlikely to budge soon.
So.
I thought I would get another LG phone. Sadly, LG stopped making phones in 2023. Another product vanquished by its own success. No repeat customers because the high quality prevented customers from needing anything new.
So. Fine.
After much research I selected a CHATR Mobile compliant phone and had it shipped to me. Then I ordered a CHATR SIM card. After inching my way forward in new-to-me jargon and unmentioned-because-everybody-KNOWS-this info, I placed the CHATR SIM card in the CHATR compliant phone and attempted to authenticate the SIM card. One cannot create a CHATR account until one has a CHATR phone number. To get a phone number, one must authenticate the SIM card. The initial online page automatically recognized my location as Salmon Arm BC. Entering the 16 digit code and proceeding to the next page, brought me to only Toronto Ontario numbers to choose from. The option to change the location took me back to the initial page where one needed to enter the 16 digit code. Which again led to the Toronto numbers. Giving up, I tried to select a Toronto number, but was not permitted. I attempted to enter a "ticket" requesting help. One cannot create a ticket unless one has a CHATR account. One cannot create a CHATR account without a CHATR phone number. One cannot get a CHATR phone number without authenticating the SIM card. Supplication through FB was worse than doing nothing.
So. SO.
Now that I knew enough, I took the CHATR SIM card out of the newest phone, took my old SIM card out of the EVIL APPLE DEVICE, and placed it in my new phone.
Everything works. I still have the phone number I've had since 2006. Texts come and go like minnows in a stream.
It cost me $10.00 CDN for the CHATR SIM card, and for that price I learned a lot about SIM cards - and a LOT about CHATR's customer service. My corollary suspicion is that Roger's customer service has a similar flavour. As lessons go, that was pretty cheap.
What phone did I get? A Motorola: Moto G Play 2024. Still new in its box, but cheap because not the latest. The only downside is that nobody (reputable and Canadian) makes covers for it - not even Motorola. :)
I have had cell phone problems for the last eight months. Various "solutions" have failed me. I am not ready to share those, only stab my interim cell phone repeatedly in its blackened little heart.
My first cell phone was a little green flip phone that I still have because it was absolutely adorable, an LG 125, in 2006. I had to give it up when the networks were changing and would no longer accept its protocol.
So I got my second cell phone in 2016. An LG X Power. It was so perfect for me that I have bought other LG products based solely on the quality of my perfect little LG phone. Alas, again the networks have changed, Now 3G is phased out in favour of 4G/LTE or 5G. This meant that my perfect cell phone could no longer send/receive texts. I am a print being.
My generous mother had an opportunity to get me a second-hand iPhone 14 (the interim phone). We needed help to move the SIM card (we didn't know about SIM cards). This new-to-me phone was not a success. Someday I might be able to share the experience, but currently I am in the NO APPLE PRODUCTS EVER camp and unlikely to budge soon.
So.
I thought I would get another LG phone. Sadly, LG stopped making phones in 2023. Another product vanquished by its own success. No repeat customers because the high quality prevented customers from needing anything new.
So. Fine.
After much research I selected a CHATR Mobile compliant phone and had it shipped to me. Then I ordered a CHATR SIM card. After inching my way forward in new-to-me jargon and unmentioned-because-everybody-KNOWS-this info, I placed the CHATR SIM card in the CHATR compliant phone and attempted to authenticate the SIM card. One cannot create a CHATR account until one has a CHATR phone number. To get a phone number, one must authenticate the SIM card. The initial online page automatically recognized my location as Salmon Arm BC. Entering the 16 digit code and proceeding to the next page, brought me to only Toronto Ontario numbers to choose from. The option to change the location took me back to the initial page where one needed to enter the 16 digit code. Which again led to the Toronto numbers. Giving up, I tried to select a Toronto number, but was not permitted. I attempted to enter a "ticket" requesting help. One cannot create a ticket unless one has a CHATR account. One cannot create a CHATR account without a CHATR phone number. One cannot get a CHATR phone number without authenticating the SIM card. Supplication through FB was worse than doing nothing.
So. SO.
Now that I knew enough, I took the CHATR SIM card out of the newest phone, took my old SIM card out of the EVIL APPLE DEVICE, and placed it in my new phone.
Everything works. I still have the phone number I've had since 2006. Texts come and go like minnows in a stream.
It cost me $10.00 CDN for the CHATR SIM card, and for that price I learned a lot about SIM cards - and a LOT about CHATR's customer service. My corollary suspicion is that Roger's customer service has a similar flavour. As lessons go, that was pretty cheap.
What phone did I get? A Motorola: Moto G Play 2024. Still new in its box, but cheap because not the latest. The only downside is that nobody (reputable and Canadian) makes covers for it - not even Motorola. :)
