[Crusty]

To expand a bit on my previous post... My first cell phone was an Ameritech bag phone. Five watts and I could call back to camp from the top of Mt Major. Next came a Sprint phone. The first attempt found no signal at all on Smiths Point (despite their coverage assurances). A replacement Sprint phone could get an occasional signal and would roam onto the Verizon network.

[I remember being at the authorized Sprint dealer, Radio Shack in the Belmont Mall, and watching them trying to activate a new phone. They had to go out to the parking lot to get any signal. The guy still bought it.]

Since I could only get a Verizon signal, I decided to switch to Verizon service about 12 years ago. Although the signal on Smiths Point was weak, I could still talk if I went to the top of the driveway and stood on the leach field.

Note that I had a flip phone, while my daughter had an Android smart phone. [She couldn't get a signal either.] Anyway, I thought that the price I was paying for basic, limited calling was pretty extravagant.

My daughter (now with a mechanical engineering degree) dumped her Verizon phone and got a Google phone. She was (and is) so happy with it that she convinced the rest of the family that lots more features for substantially less money was a good idea. We all opted for the Nexus 5X. [They have more options available now.] It is truly unlimited talk/text.

Calls automatically route over WiFi, if available (although you can force a cell connection). Call quality is excellent. Here in Columbus, if you use a particular cable system for Internet, they permit you free use of a large number of hot-spots around the area. This might be true in the Lakes Region. Regardless, many establishments provide hot-spots for their customers' use. The phone remembers the networks as you use them.

Sadly, I have not been able to get to the Lake since I got the Google phone so I can't attest to how well it will work on the available cell networks there. However, it will work on any WiFi network.

As an Android phone, there is no Apple or Microsoft nonsense to contend with. One of my favorite uses for the phone [Oddly making phone calls has become a secondary use.] is the free Kindle app. No matter where I have to wait on something, I always have my latest book in my pocket. "Older" books from my youth (I'm 68) are frequently available in multi-volume sets for $0.99. Now, if I can only find a good source of cheap butter, my life will be completely in order.