How Technology Can Charge You Up

Like many other smartphone/tablet owners that I know, rather than bring my Bible to church and Bible study each week, I use a a Bible app installed on my smartphone/tablet. My Bible app of choice, and the app of choice for pretty much everyone I know is YouVersion. If you have a smartphone or tablet and haven't checked out this app, I suggest you give it a try. It has some pretty great features, including:

• Easily get to the text you want by tapping to select book, chapter, verse
• Support for a ton of translations and the ability to easily switch between them. The iPad version even allows you to view two translations side by side.
• Some translations can be downloaded to your device so you can use them when you don't have a cellular or WiFi connection.
• The ability to add notes to a verse and have them saved in the cloud so you can view them across all your devices.
• Display all verses containing a search phrase.
• Built in reading plans, some with associated devotional text

So what does this app have to do with the title of the blog? I'm not sure about you, but I struggle to spend time reading my Bible on a daily basis. It's not that I don't think it's important...I do. In fact, this last weekend the pastor used a great illustration to hammer this truth home. We all know that our smartphone/tablet must be connected to a power source on a regular basis or it's worthless. It's the same with us. We must charge up regularly by spending time in prayer and reading our Bible. I know this, and have experienced its truth in my life but yet I still struggle.

It's not that I don't have the time, although that is my excuse. It's that I don't make the time. Much like regular exercise, which I also struggle with, if we don't set aside a specific time in our routine to spend time with God, it won't happen.

I have a ~1 hour commute to work in the morning, and I've found that I can use some of that time to pray. I know this isn't the most ideal prayer environment due to the distraction of driving, but I've still managed to have some good prayer times. While I may be able to pray (eyes open) during my commute, it's probably not a good idea to try and read my Bible.

Recently, it hit me there was an easy solution to this dilemma. I don't have a line-in port on my car stereo, but that doesn't stop me from using my smartphone to listen to Pandora or songs that I've downloaded. (Yes,I use one of those cassette tapes from the 90's that was used to connect your portable CD player to your car stereo). I mentioned above that the YouVersion Bible app has some built in reading plans. The word "some" is an understatement, there are a ton of plans, both topical and thru-the-Bible. Many of the translations even include the ability for the app to read the text to you. Starting to see where I'm going with this? I started a plan and let the YouVersion app read me the text through my car stereo. It's working great, and I often find myself letting the app read beyond that day's reading. If you struggle with spending time reading your Bible, why not let the Bible read itself to you on your way to work or during some other regular activity?

Don't have a way to play audio from your phone during your commute? Still, check out the YouVersion reading plans on your smartphone. I'm pretty sure that at least once during the day, instead of checking what your friends are saying on Facebook, you could see what God is saying in his Word.

What do you do to make sure you are getting charged up regularly?

Why I ditched Sprint & why I chose AT&T (Part 2)

About a month ago, I made the jump from Sprint to AT&T as my cell phone provider.  In a previous post, Why I ditched Sprint & why I chose AT&T (Part 1), I talked about why I left Sprint.  In this post I'll focus on why I chose AT&T over Verizon and discuss a few components that factored into my decision.

Plan & Cost:
Big reasons people choose one carrier over another are the types of plans available and their associated costs.  Both AT&T and Verizon have plans that include unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, mobile hotspot capability, and a pool of data to share between devices.  For my family, this type of plan really aligns with our needs.  We don't need that many minutes but unlimited texting is critical and the mobile hotspot feature allowed me to drop the separate iPad data plan I had been paying for.  I use way more data than my wife, so having a plan that allows sharing the data between devices rather than a fixed amount for each device gives us more flexibility.  The way these plans are priced varies between AT&T and Verizon. However, both carriers charge a per device fee and a fee for the plan itself that is based on the amount of data you want to share.  For us, I was interested in the 6 GB plan with two smartphones, which just happens to be priced exactly the same at both carriers.  No clear winner in this category.

Coverage:
Cellular coverage varies by carrier and location.  It's unlikely that you can find a single carrier that has great service everywhere you go.  Verizon claims to have "more bars in more places", and that claim may be valid if you consider their entire US coverage area, or even all of California, but in the Sacramento region where I spend most of my time, I'm not sure there is a clear winner between the two.  In some areas AT&T has better coverage and in others Verizon.  Unfortunately, unlike some of the other carriers, neither AT&T nor Verizon provide detailed coverage strength maps on their website. I knew that AT&T recently installed a new tower in Plumas Lake where I live, taking them from being known as having the worst signal strength in town to having the best.  That was a factor in my decision to go with AT&T but a fairly minor one as Verizon is known for having decent coverage there as well.

Data Speed:
In my previous post, I mentioned that I hardly talk on my phone but use the data quite a bit.  Therefore, data speed was an important consideration for me.  AT&T says they have the "largest 4G network" and Verizon claims to have the "largest 4G LTE network" and the "fastest 4G network".  Depending on how you look at it, all of these statements are true.  First, some technical terminology that is essential to understanding their marketing slogans and my choice for AT&T.

EVDO - Standard for 3G data networks used by CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint
HSPA - Standard for 3G data networks used by GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile
HSPA+ - Standard for 4G data networks used by AT&T and T-Mobile (some call this 3.5G)
LTE - Standard for 4G data networks used by all carriers

The actual speed you experience on each of these network types depends on device, signal strength, and how busy the tower is so I won't get into specific speed numbers but EVDO is the slowest and HSPA is a bit faster but still fairly slow.  HSPA+ is a decent jump up in speed (we'll call it fast) and LTE is super fast.

Verizon has the largest LTE network in the country by far, covering almost 500 cities compared to less than 200 by AT&T.  The LTE coverage difference here in Northern California between the two carriers is also substantial, with Verizon the clear winner.  Thus, their claim that they have the "largest 4G LTE network" is valid, even here in California.  Since LTE is faster than HSPA+, they can also claim that they have the "fastest 4G network".  Seems like Verizon would be the easy choice if I was looking for pure speed, but there is one other thing to consider.  While they have significant areas of LTE coverage in Northern California, there are still plenty of areas without it; especially rural areas.  If you use a Verizon LTE phone and leave their LTE coverage area, or can't get LTE signal in a building, you fall back to their 3G EVDO network, which is SLOW.

Prior to rolling out LTE, AT&T deployed HSPA+ to almost all areas where they had 3G service in Northern California.  This means that if you happen to be outside the somewhat limited AT&T LTE coverage area, instead of falling back to a slow 3G data network, you fall back to a decent 4G network.  In other words, you get "super fast" in more places with Verizon but fall back to "slow".  With AT&T, you have less "super fast" coverage but fall back to "fast".  For me, a more consistent "fast" experience was important, so I went with AT&T.

LTE coverage by both AT&T and Verizon is expanding on an almost daily basis and both carriers plan to provide LTE coverage everywhere they provide 3G coverage within a few years.  When that happens, the difference between falling back to HSPA+ verse EVDO will be mostly irrelevant.  But until that time, I think HSPA+ is a great reason to choose AT&T, especially in Northern California. 

Why I ditched Sprint & why I chose AT&T (Part 1)

About a month ago, I made the jump from Sprint to AT&T as my cell phone provider.  

I had been a Sprint customer for the last 9 years, and on and off for several years before that, so why did I make this change?  The answer is simple.  Sprint's data network.  In this post I'll explain why I left Sprint and in a follow-up post I'll share why I chose AT&T over Verizon.

Until about two years, I was a big proponent of Sprint.  I'm a pretty money conscious guy (aka cheap) and Sprint has always provided the best bang for your buck of the top three carriers.  Not only are their plans priced better but often they were also the most innovative.  Who doesn't like unlimited data and unlimited mobile to any mobile calling?  Sprint has never been know for amazing coverage but the fact that they allow you to roam on the Verizon network free of charge mitigated that issue for me.  They also have very impressive integration with Googe Voice if you utilize that service, which I do.  As for their customer service, I can't recall ever having a complaint about it.   

I had poor Sprint coverage at my house but Sprint mitigated that by providing an Airave free of charge.  That is a great little device that essentially creates a mini cell-tower in your house using your broadband connection.  The range within the house wasn't as good as I would have liked (coverage is similar to WiFi) but it did the job and allowed me to use my phone to make/receive calls while at home.  The Airave only provides voice/text services but since my phone was able to utilize my WiFi network for data that didn't matter.  It was a bit of a pain that Sprint coverage was so poor in my community, but it never bothered me enough to look at another carrier.

So what did it?  Like many of you, my mobile device usage has changed from primarily voice to mostly texting and data.  A little over two years ago, I upgraded my Blackberry to an Epic 4G (Android) device.  My wife had one as well.  Lucky for me, the day after I got this phone, Sprint launched their WiMax 4G network in Sacramento (where I work).  I was very impressed by the speed.  However, I noticed that coverage was very spotty.  I figured they would be adding more towers as they continued their WiMax rollout so didn't worry too much.  I also didn't mind paying $10 extra per phone as we were told that other areas (such as Yuba-Sutter, where I live) would be seeing WiMax coverage soon.   Unfortunately, Sprint didn't expand their WiMax network any further nor did they improve it in Sacramento, leaving me to pay an extra $20 a month for a service that I could hardly use.  I eventually just turned 4G off on my phone because there were large gaps in 4G coverage in the Sacramento area and the phone would not switch gracefully from 3G to 4G service.  My WiMax experience bothered me, but still not enough to make me consider switching.

Then, a little over a year ago I noticed something very annoying.  A spot in Olivehurst that I frequented on a regular basis where my phone showed almost full signal strength but data requests (such as pulling up FB or checking in on Foursquare) were very slow and often timed out.  This experience was consistant at that location.  I expect data performance problems in areas with poor signal but that didn't fall into that category   I called Sprint to report the problem but it was never addressed.  I began to notice other areas with similar issues.  Decent coverage but poor data performance on a consistant basis.  Two spots that come to mind were near my office in Rancho Cordova and in Downtown Yuba City.  As time went on, the number of spots where I experienced this issue seemed to grow.  Eventually, I started using the SpeedTest.net app to measure performance.  I frequently got less than < 100 kbps and in the worst trouble spots speeds were typically in the 10 kbps to 50 kbps range.  That is worse than dialup speeds.  Sprint 3G should be operating in the 300 kbps to 800 kbps range.

I also noticed a delay in the time it took me to send/receive text messages.  This didn't appear to be location or time specific and didn't happen all the time but when it did the delay could be measured in minutes rather than seconds.  This is very frustrating when you are trying to hold a time sensitive conversation via text messages.

As someone who hardly places a call on his phone, but primarily uses it for texting and data, I could no longer stand to use such a poor performing network.  As soon as my contract was up, I jumped ship for another carrier.  My next post will focus on why I chose AT&T over Verizon.

Do you have Sprint?  What has your experience been like?

Is this thing on?

Here it is...the first blog post on my very first blog.  I've been an activate poster on the Plumas Lake Community Forum, an active sharer on Facebook (my wife would use the term "over sharer" instead), and even a pretty  regular Tweeter, but I never had an interest in blogging.  A tweet is just 140 characters and Facebook posts aren't all that much longer. They are easy. However, what could I possibly want to write that would fill a blog?  I recently thought of a few things and so I figured maybe it was time to give it a try. If all goes as planned I'll hop in here from time to time and ramble about a wide range of stuff that I'm passionate about.  Stuff like technology, my community, politics, and what ever else has my attention.

The next question is...is anyone actually interested in my ramblings?  Guess I'll find out.