
Hmmm...looks like I will be finally be making the move to a cell phone after all these years. If all goes well with Starlink for the next 30 days, I am going to cut the cord to my Big Bend Telephone service. Right now I am paying $101/month for phone and slow DSL. Just phone service alone with unlimited long distance from my land line would be $57/month - so if I keep Starlink and cut off just my DSL, my monthly nut for phone and internet would be $156/month. If I do away with BBT altogether and make the switch to Mint Mobile (big fan of Ryan Reynolds), I will have high speed internet and unlimited calling for $114/month - and a smart phone that will work just about anywhere. When I am home where there is no cell service, I can access the network with wifi calling. I will even be able to keep my old land line phone number by porting it over to Mint Mobile when I cut the cord. They are currently running a special with $50 off select smart phones as long as I pay for 12 months of service in advance. At $15/month for unlimited calling and texts and 4 GB data (the data cap isn't an issue since I plan on using it as a phone only), the total package for the $50 off smart phone I have in mind (Samsung Galaxy A01) and 12 months of service would be $249 (phone $69 + service $180).

In the meantime, I dug up the old phone I got with TracFone service that I bought for one of my doctor trips to Odessa 5 years ago. The service is no longer active on it. While researching phone options, I
came across an app that allows an old smart phone to make VoIP calls. Installed
TextNow and signed up for a FREE account. Made and received a couple of calls with it and they were crystal clear. I was pleasantly surprised as I had tried MagicJack 12 years ago and at the time, the call quality was kind of crappy. Since TextNow is free, I thought I would give it a try just for fun. This isn't really an option in place of a new phone and cell service with Mint Mobile as VoIP 911 service is a bit convoluted and unreliable and this old smart phone does not have the wifi calling feature in the settings menu to use it with a mobile phone service provider. I guess I can use it as a backup phone. 34,41,18,0,C