Thanks so much, I. P. Daley, for taking the time to go over my list. I know I can't have everything - not yet sure what I am prepared to give up - $$ or convenience, but want to do actual meaningful research to figure out what the real options are. Thank you for staring me off with some applicable ideas.
Wrt phone usage:
- audiobooks/podcasts can be gone in a flash. They are a minute part of my usage, I can either download via wifi or just use CDs from the library as I have done for ages before. So getting rid of that is not an issue.
- GPS is a much bigger dependency. Even if I pre-plan my trip, I have a tendency to get lost a LOT, even on a familiar routes (I have shit for sense of direction, unlike spouse who can orient by sun, stars and trees, and who knows what else. So I rely on GPS functionality heavily, for directions and traffic, at home and when abroad.) Now, we did use to own a real GPS unit from Garmin, and I suppose I can dig it up or find a replacement for that and stop relying on the phone for it. This is something I need to consider.
Looked up actual data usage. For me it's all over the place, for reasons unknown - I really only do the same thing over and over again: answer e-mails, go to a browser to process reservations, do google searches, check Facebook (guilty, but no videos), look at Mint. Mail apps are set on pull, not push. There may be an occasional instagram in there - I suspect what I don't use in music or videos is probably used up by a photo transfers, whether between apps or by e-mail, and I can be careful to wait till I am on WiFi to do that. That and using security cam for when our kid was little (she had a camera in her room and I traveled a lot) without giving any thought whether I am on WiFI or cellular network, plus having some kind of apps running in the background probably chewed up data. This is speculative but the only thing I can think of.
Husband's usage is a little heavier by streaming an occasional video, but his phone seems to suck up less data by design (android). Otherwise, his usage patterns are similar to mine. Here's the actual data usage over the last 14 months:
Self Spouse
13-Oct 0.4 0.7
13-Nov 0.7 0.6
13-Dec 0.9 0.7
14-Jan 1.3 0.9
14-Feb 1.2 0.7
14-Mar 0.9 0.5
14-Apr 1.3 0.8
14-May 0.7 0.5
14-Jun 1.8 0.8
14-Jul 1.4 0.5
14-Aug 1.2 0.5
14-Sep 0.8 0.3
14-Oct 0.4 0.5
14-Nov 0.3 0.3
14-Dec 1 0.2
STD 0.42 0.20
MEAN 0.95 0.57
MEDIAN 0.9 0.5
Text usage is probably even higher than 1000 per month (for me, his is a little less), because a number of folks I text with are also iPhone users and thus those messages are routed via imessage and probably do not show up in the overall count. So, ideally (there goes that word again), I will find a reseller/plan with minimum talk minutes, unlimited or high allowance for text and data and compatibility with European SIM cards/phone protocols so I can swap cards when I travel. The need to use the phone abroad is why I have not swicthed to Verizon despite better reception since I don't think their phones work in Europe. Again, I don't need to make phone calls as much as I need data abroad. I have used SMS apps such as Viber (Skype stopped working on my phone) when traveling for calls and messages but Viber specifically seems to have a bit of a privacy concern. Are there other decent substitutes for SMS that are not Skype and Viber that are widely used (so I can convince folks I text with the most to adopt them and cut down on most of my text usage)?
Phone has been factory reset maybe couple of years ago, browser cache cleared probably never. I am still jonesing for a new phone but I will do this in the meantime to save my sanity for the next 6 months at least. I am not known for my patience and waiting 3 minutes for a letter to appear in the text field drives me a little insane...
The slowness of Verizon FIOS when streaming - well, I can tell that the quality of Verizon is subpar, I can see that when he watches a recorded game on DVR and it breaks up or pauses and then resumes which did not used to happen with Comcast. But yesterday's rant about crappy streaming was actually due to him forgetting that he was on VPN (working and forgot to get off VPN) and then streaming, so it was artificially slow.
Because we need both landline phone and internet, it seems that we are sort of stuck with the major monopolies and at that point adding cable increases overall bill by a somewhat negligible number. At least it's negligible on paper, 10 or 20 bucks per month, but then you start adding up equipment like DVR or what have you, taxes, etc and you are back to 120-130 bucks for everything and that is considered spectacular deal in our neck of the woods where Comcast was happy to charge well over 200 bucks for the same.
Again, thank you so much for staring me of off on ideas to research. I will cross check my findings with recommended providers in the Son of the Guide and see if switching will make sense, given my data addiction (it is also a business expense and a legitimate tax write off), but I really need to work against my natural inclination of "just taking it easy" and throwing money at a problem. As a lazy INTJ, I always have this internal conflict of wanting to have an optimal solution to the problem AND not having to work too hard to make it happen :)
