#PhoneProblems- What’s Yours?

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Cell phone technology has come a long way. I remember my first cell phone- it was one of the very first camera phones and I was super excited because it was also a flip phone. The pictures it took were horrible, and the screen was so small you couldn’t read an entire text message on it. Now, phones are huge, cameras are 8 megapixels, and flip phones are about as dated as parachute pants.

The only photographic evidence of my then-cutting-edge-now-vintage phone. {Also, apparently 16 year olds like to take photos of random items and birthday money.}

While phones have vastly improved, and continue to do so, the same can’t necessarily be said for wireless coverage. More cell towers have gone up, making dropped calls less frequent, but they still happen commonly. &Then there’s the issue I have sometimes- no coverage at all.

I live in the middle of a city- there are roughly 2 million people in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. I don’t live in the middle of nowhere on a farm with no cell towers for miles- the closest one to me, which is disguised {poorly} as a pine tree, is a couple of blocks away. Yet, half of the cell providers available don’t work in my area.

They say they do, according to their maps. But I have friends who have come over & have been completely unable to use their phone the entire time they’re at my house, on multiple visits. This isn’t a new thing- in fact, I had this problem when I lived at home with my parents.

We had signed up for Company #1, but it got shoddy coverage at my house. So when I turned 18, I got my own contract, using Company #2. My phone worked perfectly- as long as I was at home. Whenever I tried to use it at Justin’s house, it wouldn’t connect. &Since he had Company #1, he couldn’t use his phone at my house, either.

&It’s not just Vegas that has this problem. I remember discovering this on a trip to visit my sister a few years ago. Every time that I tried to call Justin, I had to either stand on the air mattress in the basement, with one leg propped up on a box & my phone tilted just so or I had to crash on my niece’s top bunk. Those were literally the only two places in the whole house to get a signal- which was unfortunate because I talked to him a lot while I was gone. I definitely had a kink in my neck the entire time I was there from tilting my phone & cocking my head to listen.

US Cellular, who has the highest network satisfaction of any national carrier, gets it. They even made a series of hilarious videos about common cell phone issues- check out the one below but then spend some time looking through their channel- these videos are truly funny!

What’s the biggest problem you have with your wireless provider?

Note: Compensation was provided by U.S. Cellular via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of U.S. Cellular.