Hi everyone,

I decided I would hang onto my Verizon iPhone 4s until it gave up the ghost. That day seems to be quickly approaching, poor thing. I have been a fan of Apple products for many years, but lately I have been thinking about alternatives to the 5s.
I would appreciate any input I can get, especially from the video shoppers out there. I have service with Verizon but my contract expired so I can change providers. I don't really understand how tethering works, but it sounds like tethering to my phone would help with uploading video while I am on the road. I have unlimited data on my iPad, but it is a 3, so tethering to the iPad is not an option. I currently carry 2 GB of data on my phone, but don't really use it because I am always using my iPad. I need nationwide coverage because I travel a good deal. I also really want a great camera in my new phone.

Any suggestions on the phone you would get it you were in the market?

Also, I am sitting here watching tv and seeing that Apple just announced a major security flaw with their latest update. They have released a patch, so update all your devices, phones, ipads and desktops. They say the recent update left flaws in the encryption and all data is susceptible to hacking in both public and private settings.

Mystery shopping is my primary occupation but I still make about $500 a month with phone apps on my iPhone 5. Several of those apps are not available on any other phone but the iPhone so for me there is no other choice than the iPhone. I am a video shopper but don't know why you would connect the phone to video shopping since you have a full rig for video shopping and don't use the phone. Perhaps I'm just not informed but I wasn't aware of video shops you can do on your phone.

I'm not sure how much it is referred to as tethering any more. Basically you are using your phone as a wifi hotspot. Back in the day the phone had to be hooked up to your laptop with a cable. At one time it was virtually impossible to upload video using my phone's wifi. Now it works most of the time. Most of the time when video shoppers are travelling there is also leeway provided in case of problems. My best suggestion would be to hunt down some cell phone shops and get paid to learn and compare

I would say it depends on the look and feel you're comfortable with and what apps you want to use. I love, love, love my windows phone. The biggest knock that most people will give you on it is that there are 5,000,000,000,000 apps for iPHone and Android and only 1,000,000,000,000 for Windows. Meh. I have about 20 apps total on mine. There are 0 apps that aren't available that I wish were. With the exception of many of the shopping apps like Mobee. If you want those, can't do Windows. I love the interface, especially when I make a typo and need to go back and fix something, which I have never been able to do correctly on android or ios. Plus the predictive text is way better. Android is horrible. If you are going to type "help" and you type h then accidently hit d android will never ever ever suggest help from that point on, even if you type the l and p correctly. At least neither my phone or tablet would. Windows doesn't have that problem. If I type hdlp it knows I mean help and it will show up in the suggested words. The biggest problem I have with ios is that if you type hdlp and MEANT hdlp, screw you it won't take it. It's going to force help on you. The other thing I like about windows over ios and android is when you type something wrong and want to go back to fix it. I was never able to do that with either ios or android. I just had to erase everything up to the mistake and do it over. Again, don't have that problem with Windows. Now, perhaps I just never learned how to use those systems correctly, but they weren't intuitive to me, and windows is. I had rather have a platform that I understand that one that I have to go google every 2 minutes when I want to do something that's not intuitive. So I would suggest looking at different models and seeing which works best for you.

To me, the problems I had with Android and iOS were issues that occurred daily as I'm typing and texting constantly on my phone. Those were way more important to me than the one obscure app that might not be on the Windows platform that I might use once every 78 years.

I don't have either of the problems you are talking about. If I'm not paying attention there is no telling what autocorrect will change something to, but I can always change it or edit just a portion.

I hate autocorrect. If I could turn it off on my iPad I would. I've never been able to make it NOT take something it thought was wrong that I meant to take.

I'm so bad that I've been on my iPad or Galaxy Tab before and decided to post something on Facebook, sat the tablet down, and did it on my phone because typing on either of them frustrates me so much.

gilham,

Sorry, I wanted to learn more about tethering my laptop to my phone in order to upload video while on the road. I think tethering is probably an option on most current smart phones (?), my confusion is more about what kind of data plan I would need if I was going to change my provider. I am using a PV-500 for video.

I have been reading some about the shop apps. That is a great number - I need to learn more about that!

Are you generally happy with your iPhone 5 beyond the apps?

Thanks Lisa, I guess that has been part of my confusion, I understand a hotspot, someone started talking to me about tethering and I thought it sounded like a hotspot, but I wasn't sure. They were techie types, so I gave up pretty quick trying to make sense. Do you require an unlimited data plan to upload your videos?

I love the intuitiveness of my iPhone. Even when it corrects me when I am right, I still find a way to appreciate how it gets me most of the time. I think some of the newer Droid phones have some great cameras and that is what is keeping me from making the immediate decision to go automatically with the 5s. I rarely take pictures when I am traveling for fun, because my camera is so bad on my phone and I don't want to carry the big SLR around when I am hiking or sightseeing. I think I may have to breakdown and do what Lisa suggested - go shop!!!

I really, really, really hate shopping - I envy you all that enjoy it!! I have needed some make-up for about 5 months now and I can't bring myself to go to the mall to replace it. I would order it online, but it is foundation and the name of the color wore off the container and I have to go match it. I would rather go to the dentist.

Actually your iPhone already has tethering capability. I had it with both my 3 and now my 4S. With AT&T I had to have it set up as a service. On the phone it is called Personal Hotspot and you have three options for connecting other devices, using the USB cord, Bluetooth or Wifi. I normally just opt for Wifi and just choose my phone as my network.

If you shop for TrendSource they have a deal with a provider to give shoppers a discount which you may want to check out. I haven't used it as I'm on the daughter's Verizon contract.

Will you really have enough upload speed thru your phone to upload 2gb of video in a reasonable time????

What would limits on data plans do to such an upload?

Wales,

It doesn't seem likely to me that upload speed on my phone would be better than wifi at the hotel I am staying at. Having said that, I thought I had read that shoppers were doing it.

I did my first 5 day route with 30+ video shops. When I returned home if felt like I worked all weekend to complete reports and upload video. I was unable to get decent speeds at any of the hotels I stayed at to get anything uploaded. When you are on the road, is there a cutoff point where you start mailing SD cards to the MSC over uploading?

thanks!

I am on my first smartphone and when I bought it I got the samsung galaxy S4. This was just around the time that the iphone 5S came out. The reasons I went with the Samsung are two-fold: I liked the customization of the home screen that Android allows, and I liked the larger screen of the Galaxy s4 over the Iphone. That being said if I were you I would just go with the iphone 5s since you are already familiar with the Apple ecosystem and seem to like your current iphone. Getting either an Android or a Windows phone will present you with a learning curve that is unnecessary unless you find another phone that has a feature or function that you want. I believe in keeping life simple and unless there is a compelling reason to switch then IMHO you should just stick with Apple.

rover - I bet (though I've never tried) I'd get better speeds uploading w/my Verizon Wireless 4G service than many hotel wireless accounts. Plus, driving from location to location your phone could be uploading in the background so you're not just sitting and waiting. However, data usage then has the potential to become a problem.

My phone often uploads better than hotel wifi. And if there is a charge for the hotel's, I won't even waste the money to try.

Since my iPhone4 is still 3G, the leap to 4G will probably rock my world! Lisa-can you share who your provider is?

AT&T. It has the best coverage for my home area and has been good for traveling in the midwest. Outside of that, I don't know what the coverage is like.

Thanks Lisa. I have always been with Verizon because I traveled extensively with my previous job and I could always get service wherever I was in the country. Time to start looking for those cell phone shops.

I think I am leaning towards Jwolpert's advice on staying with the iPhone. This old dog is starting to struggle with learning new tricks for sure.

In my experience, in general, data on a phone will cost around $10-15 per gigabyte. Worth it for a $100 video shop; may not be worth it for a $30 one.

Straight Talk will not allow tethering; their smartphone plan is unlimited data so you can't use your phone as a hot spot on their system.

I use a Verizon mifi device -- I have an old grandfathered plan you can't get any more. $35 a month for 3 gigs, $10 per gig after that. Current plans are $55 a month for 5 gigs I believe. I only use it when traveling so there are times I barely use any bandwidth on it all month. Unfortunately they don't roll over unused bandwidth. I'd rather use that than tether to a phone. But if I had to get the $55 plan I'd be looking for another option.

T Mobile has unlimited data, but they slow you down after a certain amount. Can't remember if you can tether; I think you can.

Go do a few smartphone shops and ask questions, maybe say you like to record kids' soccer games so you can talk about videos of a comparable length to a shop video.

I've seriously got to get a mifi. I have TMobile, and while I love their customer service and my phone and the cost, I spend way too much time on backroads they don't have service on. It sucks when you're in the middle of nowhere to do shops, have to wait an hour between locations, and have no cell service and of course can't find wifi. I just don't know if I can deal with the $50 a month fee that ATT and Verizon charge for one. Obviously a TMobile device would do me no good. If I don't have cell service I obviously wouldn't have data.

You get what you pay for. Admittedly my service is higher than it might be with another carrier. OTOH, I get the value of having service when and where I need it.

I have tried using the hotspot with my Iphone 5 and finally bought a mifi. The mifi is much more efficient and always connects. The carriers are getting more competitive and the data prices are dropping. I have a 15G plan with AT&T for $159, that includes three cellphones, a tablet and a mifi. The special pricing starts at 10G and can be cheaper than 6G on their old plans.

medowynd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have tried using the hotspot with my Iphone 5
> and finally bought a mifi. The mifi is much more
> efficient and always connects. The carriers are
> getting more competitive and the data prices are
> dropping. I have a 15G plan with AT&T for $159,
> that includes three cellphones, a tablet and a
> mifi. The special pricing starts at 10G and can
> be cheaper than 6G on their old plans.


Okay, what is the difference between hotspot and mifi?

I have been with Verizon for 17 years and while they are not cheap, they offer the best coverage, options and service for my family's needs. My plan covers 5 iPhones, 1 iPad Air and global voice/data for 1 phone and the iPad. I cringe every month when I first see the bill, but I can manage almost anything through the mobile app.

*Disclaimer - I have a 20% discount through my employer which makes my $300+ bill more palatable.

The name?

I suggest that you sign up for a bunch of phone shops, with different phone providers.

I used to have a Samsung Exhibit through T Mobile. The problem was the coverage. As soon as I got off the Interstate I lost data coverage. In places like Vermont and other rural areas, the phone was useless. On Black Friday I bought a Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy S3 from WalMart. It works off Verizon towers. The phone has enough horsepower to runs apps correctly and has already helped me out in the field when I was searching for locations. No tethering though and no WiFi calling.

Walmart carries several mifi units that are about $90. You can purchase cards for them that run $25 or more for about 2.5 GB. The mifi units are either ATT or TMobil. You do not have to have cell phone serice to use these. They also have a unit that plugs into the USB of your computer that is a little cheaper. Has anyone ever use either of these? If so, how well do they work?

There are a lot of good mobile phone reviews and comparison videos on youtube. Also, lots of side-by-side reviews featuring iphone vs. various android phones. I would vote for Samsung Galaxy S4 or Motorola Motto X.

A youtube search with keywords: Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5S review should find some good reviews. IMO, you really can't go wrong with any of the 3 phones we're talking about here.

I have the Samsung Mega. It only comes with AT&T. The screen is much bigger than any other phone out there (almost as big as a 7" tablet) so easy to complete reports on as long as MSC's website is compatible with Android. I like to do a Meijer department shop, walk around the store (through other departments than the one I am shopping) pretending to play on my phone (like people do when looking for coupons or texting) and really doing part of my report. This gets it done right away except the cashier (last part) and also if I forget something about the salesperson, I can easily pass back by and sneak a peek.

I have a blackberry bold on t-mobile. Unlimited data and I can use it as a hot spot. Although that drains the battery like crazy.

It is true there are lots of deadspots.

I have an at and t ipad mini as well. Using it as a gps sucks up data.

I'm happy with my configuration but I don't know what I will do when my phone dies. I love my blackberry.