Tello question

[Bruinator]

Anyone use tello as their carrier here? If yes, what do you use as a visual voicemail app in order to check your voicemail?

 

thx

[jnelsoninjax]

34 minutes ago, Bruinator said:

Anyone use tello as their carrier here? If yes, what do you use as a visual voicemail app in order to check your voicemail?

 

thx

Tello is horrible. They still use CDMA and that prevents you from talking on the phone and using the internet at the same time. I used them for about two months and then switched even though I was still paid up for a few months longer.

[Bruinator]

15 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Tello is horrible. They still use CDMA and that prevents you from talking on the phone and using the internet at the same time. I used them for about two months and then switched even though I was still paid up for a few months longer.

ok thx and i just transferred to them after you said metropcs was going up in price. would of been helpful if u told me that then... 

[Brandon H Supervisor]

17 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Tello is horrible. They still use CDMA and that prevents you from talking on the phone and using the internet at the same time. I used them for about two months and then switched even though I was still paid up for a few months longer.

I had not heard of Tello before so I looked them up and yeah they definitely seem like a budget service for sure. you'd be better off with Google Fi IMO. you could still only spend what you use with that service so price should be comparable.

 

Most carriers have their own 1st party Visual Voicemail app for Android (when they don't want to support the native functionality) so the fact that Tello FAQs page literally says just go use a 3rd party app does not look good IMO. I've tried many of the 3rd party apps and most you have to pay for and basically all the free ones I tried in the past never even worked.

3 minutes ago, Bruinator said:

ok thx and i just transferred to them after you said metropcs was going up in price. would of been helpful if u told me that then... 

had not heard of any price increase on Metro and I've been with them for a few years now. Hopefully not the case for existing accounts as I quite like only paying $80ish for 2 lines while still getting unlimited data (to a point) and have 5G

[Bruinator]

12 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

I had not heard of Tello before so I looked them up and yeah they definitely seem like a budget service for sure. you'd be better off with Google Fi IMO. you could still only spend what you use with that service so price should be comparable.

 

Most carriers have their own 1st party Visual Voicemail app for Android (when they don't want to support the native functionality) so the fact that Tello FAQs page literally says just go use a 3rd party app does not look good IMO. I've tried many of the 3rd party apps and most you have to pay for and basically all the free ones I tried in the past never even worked.

had not heard of any price increase on Metro and I've been with them for a few years now. Hopefully not the case for existing accounts as I quite like only paying $80ish for 2 lines while still getting unlimited data (to a point) and have 5G

Hi Brandon,

 

Long time we havent spoken. Can you recommend any 3rd party paid ones? All else fails might have to try one of those.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

10 minutes ago, Bruinator said:

Hi Brandon,

 

Long time we havent spoken. Can you recommend any 3rd party paid ones? All else fails might have to try one of those.

I can't personally as it's been several years since I've messed with them (especially since Metro has their own) but a quick google search shows some rankings. Heck it's been long enough that some free offerings may work better now too.

 

https://www.lifewire.com/best-visual-voicemail-apps-4173060

 

looking through those it reminds me what I didn't like about 3rd party offerings. they're not natively linking up with your carrier voicemail but taking it over and acting as a local (or secondary server, based on app) voicemail and just answers/records directly on your device. This is why the 1st party and native solutions are far superior.

[Bruinator]

Anyone familiar with mint? If yes, do they have their own app for visual voicemail or their parent company? If not mint, looking for a service that is about $15 to $20 a month as i dont use my cell phone all that much. Any recomendations is appreciated.

 

tia

[Brandon H Supervisor]

5 minutes ago, Bruinator said:

Anyone familiar with mint? If yes, do they have their own app for visual voicemail or their parent company?

based on their FAQ section looks like same situation with them

 

 

edit: they say it will work natively on Android devices that support Visual Voicemail but from my understanding is Android has natively supported it since Orio or Pie yet I've never seen it working on any US carrier personally.

[jnelsoninjax]

Just now, Bruinator said:

Anyone familiar with mint? If yes, do they have their own app for visual voicemail or their parent company?

Mint does not have visual voicemail, they are a MNVO of T-Mobile, so coverage is good. Why do you want visual voicemail?

Also as to what @Brandon Hsaid about Google Fi, my niece is using it and it is $30 a month for what she is doing (unlimited talk/text) 1 GB of mobile data

[Bruinator]

2 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Mint does not have visual voicemail, they are a MNVO of T-Mobile, so coverage is good. Why do you want visual voicemail?

Also as to what @Brandon Hsaid about Google Fi, my niece is using it and it is $30 a month for what she is doing (unlimited talk/text) 1 GB of mobile data

read above.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

2 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Why do you want visual voicemail?

no one NEEDS it per say but it's convenient. I'm not even paying for transcript support, it's just nice being able to access my voicemail without having to dial in and enter my PIN  

[Bruinator]

Just now, Brandon H said:

no one NEEDS it per say but it's convenient. I'm not even paying for transcript support, it's just nice being able to access my voicemail without having to dial in and enter my PIN  

Agreed.

[Bruinator]

Does anyone else know if this is true about mint not having a visual voicemail as well?

[jnelsoninjax]

There is a workaround for that then. Use Google Voice, forward unanswered calls to GV, and it transcribes voicemail messages for you.

[Bruinator]

Does anyone know how to set up the work around to google voice or know of a way to contact google concerning this plz?

[Brandon H Supervisor]

28 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

There is a workaround for that then. Use Google Voice, forward unanswered calls to GV, and it transcribes voicemail messages for you.

yeah I saw that on the list I linked above. I thought they shut down that service a few years back. pleasantly surprised to see it's still available. I used to use Google Voice for my voicemail service back in the day (probably a little before 2010ish) before I had a smart phone so I could access my voicemails elsewhere.

 

I'd 2nd that as being the best option if a 3rd party visual voicemail is needed as it's a better redirect method than most of them IMO

[Brandon H Supervisor]

24 minutes ago, Bruinator said:

Does anyone know how to set up the work around to google voice or know of a way to contact google concerning this plz?

it should walk you through it I believe when you go to set it up. because you'll need to dial a provided number to setup the voicemail redirect.

 

edit: here's a couple doc pages on it though if needed

https://support.google.com/voice/answer/165656?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en

https://itstillworks.com/forward-voicemail-google-voice-5795554.html

[Bruinator]

Screw it. I am going with tmobile for $16 a month as i only use my cell phone very little. Thx for everyones help. Much appreciated.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

12 hours ago, Bruinator said:

Screw it. I am going with tmobile for $16 a month as i only use my cell phone very little. Thx for everyones help. Much appreciated.

honestly T-Mobile has done a complete 180 from what they used to be and are now one of the best carriers in the states for most areas (this includes Metro since they own them) so you're probably better off this way