Assurance Wireless

[WheelieBoot]

I was on Assurance Wireless a few years back before AND after T-Mo took over VM/Sprint but was in a area in the hills where T-Mo wasn't that strong. Now I'm in the city in the valley where T-Mo is better. I decided to apply for AW Lifeline again.

The last phone I got was a Wiko Life 2 and it didn't work very well, particularly the data connection.

What is the current phone they're sending to people? Hopefully it's better than the one I had.

Thanks if anyone can tell me what they or a relative/friend got, and if it actually worked or if it was a glitch bomb.

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[robbyrobby]

i am not 100% but i believe you can 'hot swap' or place the SIM in any unlocked or T-Mobile handset if the one they send does not suit you

also if Verizon service works well for you Safelink probably has the current best cellular lifeline/ACP offer with unlimited data(10 GB can be used for hotspot also)

[WheelieBoot]

i am not 100% but i believe you can 'hot swap' or place the SIM in any unlocked or T-Mobile handset if the one they send does not suit you

also if Verizon service works well for you Safelink probably has the current best cellular lifeline/ACP offer with unlimited data(10 GB can be used for hotspot also)

After I applied for AW, I did think about SafeLink. I was on it a brief while and they let me switch the SIM from the ZTE phone they gave me to one I bought off the TracFone website. I liked their service, but that was before Verizon took over TracFone. I thought it might have changed since my "fond memories" of it.

I decided to try AW again because T-Mobile seems to work better here than Verizon.

I probably should have thought it through a little bit before applying, but now that the documents are submitted I'll wait and see what happens. If the service is truly bad it can be cancelled if I can't suffer it for a year.

The Wiko Life 2 was continually alerting that the data connection wasn't working. When I finally figured how to turn the annoying alert off, it didn't fix the problem with the data. The plan offered quite a bit of data but couldn't use it most of the time. Now they offer considerably more data but it's probably way deprioritized.

There's a T-Mo tower on a nearby street according to the cell network map, so it should be as strong a signal as my Red Pocket phone was.

However, the Lifeline phone recipients are probably lowest in priority for data.

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[hpham]

What is the current phone they're sending to people? Hopefully it's better than the one I had.

Thanks if anyone can tell me what they or a relative/friend got, and if it actually worked or if it was a glitch bomb.

My daughter has had her Lifeline service through AW for 8 years or so. The original bar phone they gave her was OK. Then they "upgraded" her to a piece-of-junk little-known smartphone which was even worse. They don't allow BYOP, so I bought for her a Samsung A10e which they charged $200 (at that time you could get an unlocked one for less). She had that phone for about 2 years, then when they switched from Sprint to T-mo they told her that they would give her a different phone because the A10e wouldn't work anymore (which is BS because it has the needed T-mo bands). Luckily, they gave her a refurbished Samsung S10+ in great condition. She's very happy with it. No guarantee that they would give you the same thing.

[WheelieBoot]

My daughter has had her Lifeline service through AW for 8 years or so. The original bar phone they gave her was OK. Then they "upgraded" her to a piece-of-junk little-known smartphone which was even worse. They don't allow BYOP, so I bought for her a Samsung A10e which they charged $200 (at that time you could get an unlocked one for less). She had that phone for about 2 years, then when they switched from Sprint to T-mo they told her that they would give her a different phone because the A10e wouldn't work anymore (which is BS because it has the needed T-mo bands). Luckily, they gave her a refurbished Samsung S10+ in great condition. She's very happy with it. No guarantee that they would give you the same thing.

Hi hpham. Thank you for the info. It sounds like your daughter's circumstances are a bit different than the average applicant's, so I don't think I will get anything very high functioning.

I had checked phones AW was selling and they were usually old, overpriced and so I didn't buy one. I just stuck with the Wiko Life 2 they gave me.

It's too bad they don't offer better phones for more realistic prices, but I suspect they don't want free lifeline customers enjoying their devices so much that they'd be using them enough to compete with regular customers.

I disliked the dysfunctional Wiko so much that I rarely used it. I ported its number to Google Voice and went back to using TracFone, Red Pocket and H20.

Around 2016-17 when I was first on AW I tried to get a basic phone and they sent an awful candybar phone with teeny keys that were hard to press. I bought a Virgin Mobile flip I thought would be better but even after updates it was very dysfunctional.

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using HoFo mobile app

[robbyrobby]

My daughter has had her Lifeline service through AW for 8 years or so. The original bar phone they gave her was OK. Then they "upgraded" her to a piece-of-junk little-known smartphone which was even worse. They don't allow BYOP, so I bought for her a Samsung A10e which they charged $200 (at that time you could get an unlocked one for less). She had that phone for about 2 years, then when they switched from Sprint to T-mo they told her that they would give her a different phone because the A10e wouldn't work anymore (which is BS because it has the needed T-mo bands). Luckily, they gave her a refurbished Samsung S10+ in great condition. She's very happy with it. No guarantee that they would give you the same thing.

S10+ is nice free device, lucky her

[WheelieBoot]

S10+ is nice free device, lucky her

I would say she's lucky to have gotten one that good, but hpham noted that they paid $200 for the previous phone and that was overpriced. Maybe because they paid more than it was worth that AW decided to give them a better quality refurb.

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[hpham]

That whole switching from Sprint to T-mo by AW was really strange, and had the same kind of snafu like Trafone. First, they sent her a postcard saying her phone needed a new SIM to work with T-mo. So, I contacted AW and a rep placed an order for a new SIM. After waiting about a month and the order status was still "Pending", I contacted AW again and was told "No, we don't send a new SIM, we will send you a different phone. Do you want to order it today?". Not wanting to get a piece of junk, I said I'd call back later. I told my daughter to keep using her A10e. Then a few months later on the cutover date (can't remember when it was), her phone had no service, couldn't connect to their network. I had to give in and called them to order a replacement phone. About a week later, a package from AW arrived and I was very surprised/pleased to find a like-new refurbished S10+ inside.

[WheelieBoot]

That whole switching from Sprint to T-mo by AW was really strange, and had the same kind of snafu like Trafone. First, they sent her a postcard saying her phone needed a new SIM to work with T-mo. So, I contacted AW and a rep placed an order for a new SIM. After waiting about a month and the order status was still "Pending", I contacted AW again and was told "No, we don't send a new SIM, we will send you a different phone. Do you want to order it today?". Not wanting to get a piece of junk, I said I'd call back later. I told my daughter to keep using her A10e. Then a few months later on the cutover date (can't remember when it was), her phone had no service, couldn't connect to their network. I had to give in and called them to order a replacement phone. About a week later, a package from AW arrived and I was very surprised/pleased to find a like-new refurbished S10+ inside.

After all the annoyance it's nice they gave you a phone worth the wait.

I've only had two Samsungs, a basic 2g AT&T flip, and a TF J3 Luna Pro refurb which I did like but I wanted a larger screen. The 5" seemed smaller than it actually was because it didn't have much bezel.

The only complaints on that one was I had to add an app to take screenshots, and its OS was different from other Androids I was used to. I think it does 4G LTE but its battery doesn't last long. If a Luna Pro can still be activated on TracFone, it would be a good phone for somebody who wants a smaller screen.

If the new less expensive Samsungs were AT&T Whitelisted, I would buy one with a year's service bundle just to try it and unlock it. I haven't seen any whitelisted ones.

Motorola is my go-to now. The last LG I bought (Rebel, eBay bundle) failed not long after activation. It started glitching and then it no longer would charge/boot. So I avoid the remaining LGs TF is selling.

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using HoFo mobile app

[WheelieBoot]

This is the AW phone I received on my last AW activation 8/31/20...
ASSURANCE WIRELESS Wiko Life 2 U307AS
Android 9 16gb, total memory 1876.46 4 core
MediaTek MT6739CH Board MT6761 ABI arm64_V8a
Battery 2500mAh Li-ion
Phone Manufacturer Tinno (French-Chinese connections)
Screen: hdpi Width 480px Height 960px
BT Yes, BT LE Yes
GPS Yes
NFC no
WiFi Direct Yes WiFi Passpoint No WiFi 5ghz No
WiFi P2P Yes OTG Yes
Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Light

The Wiko is extremely slow loading and the mobile data was glitchy. Constant data connection error alerts. Delete it from notification panel and it would alert again. Finally figured how to turn it off but the data connection was no better. Phone updates didn't fix it. The phone screen looked good but a bit slaggy.

The first AW phone I had was the 8gb ZTE N817 that I activated November 2016 and didn't have issues with data connect on it. It received 500mb data allotment and I used it for browsing because I couldn't use WIFI at that location.

Of course, the N817 was activated in the city not the hills, and at that time it was still Virgin Mobile Sprint, not T-mobile VM-Sprint. That might have made a difference. I did have VM/Sprint phones in the hills and it worked but had a weak signal in the woods. The Kyocera Marbl and Wildcard worked well along the road to town and in town.

I decided to cancel the AW service but the number they issued with the Wiko Life 2 was easy to remember so I paid $20 to port it to Google Voice. The first number they gave me in 2016 with the N817 was good too and I ported it also and it is my primary number on TracFone.

Even if the Wiko could be activated on AW again, I wouldn't want to suffer its issues. I'll see if I get a better or worse phone... Or the same one refurbished.


Hmmm… what is Einstein's definition of insanity… repeating something over & over expecting a different result.


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[WheelieBoot]

Just got an email saying my AW phone is on its way, but they didn't say what phone it was.

The email was from T-Mobile. Of course T-mo runs AW now.

I applied online Saturday April 22, and today is Wednesday the 26th so that's fast.

I'm going through my collection of old phones and backing them up and updating them. I'm trying to decide which to factory reset and let go of. Many can no longer be activated, but can be used as WiFi devices for browsing and making Google Voice calls with.

I'm going to use some of them for audio players. I like old radio plays and old LibriVox audiobooks. I just did some app updates on the Wiko Life 2 and am listening to an old radio play. I used to try to use it for that and it would quit and had to keep restarting it. It really didn't work well at all. Hopefully the next phone will be ok.

I don't expect a fancy phone, and that comes from someone who usually won't spend over $100 on a phone. However, the lower cost phones I usually bought from Tracfone were around $50 average, and I'm fine with those. So if it's that good I'll be happy with it.



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[WheelieBoot]

Found the Assurance Wireless site to see the various phones they offer.

https://www.assurancewireless.com/he...r/phone-guides

Sent from my moto e6 (XT2005DL) using HoFo mobile app

[WheelieBoot]

They could have at least given me a phone that I could find some information about online.

It's not even on the list of phones that Assurance Wireless gives anyone for free. (Link to their phones page posted earlier in this thread)

Has anyone ever heard of a Koobee phone?

It's the Koobee K100. I Googled it and found nothing. That's pretty bad.

The peel off screen sticker says:
Large 5.5" screen
Highly efficient performance
Clear, vivid photos
Removable battery USB type C
2gb RAM + 16gb memory

First visual impression, the screen has that smoky quality of most cheap phones even before powering up, feels like plastic.

It was covered with fingerprint smudges right away like cheap screens usually are.

It arrived about 43% charged.

It requires removing the back to insert the SIM. I would ordinarily say good, it has a removable battery (for replacement purposes) but....

The slot for prying the back off is so shallow, I couldn't find a tool that could pry it. A man tried it and he couldn't do it. Two women tried it and traded off until one managed to get a flathead screwdriver to pop the back open a tiny crack.

The SIM inserted easily but I left the back off while setting up just in case the SIM needed to be removed and reinserted.

The charge dropped to below 30% during activation setup. It's on the charger now.

The included pamphlet says "this device will not charge or transfer data with a USB-C to USB-C cable or charger. Please use the USB-A to USB-C only as included in the box." The cable on the included charger is pretty short.

When I pressed the power button to shut it down for charging, it either did nothing, or it popped a Google Assistant message. Only once did it pop what looked like a shutdown menu but it rapidly disappeared. I couldn't bring it up again so I put it on the charger without switching off.

The wallpaper choices are what usually come with Moto phones, (Life, Art, Textures, etc) but look pretty grainy or blurry in the small samples on the list. They cleared some as I looked at them but some were so blurry, couldn't really see details. It indicates what quality processing is going on inside the phone.

It has a narrow range of modern sounding ringtones.

I will likely install my own wallpaper and tones, I usually do.

There aren't many preloaded apps to junk up the phone, that's the GOOD news. They don't even fill the first screen of the app drawer.

Only four app folders are allowed on the bottom of the home screen, which I usually organize into "Tools," "Contact," "Google," "Media". Any other folders can go on one of the screens.

I was looking at the About Phone info and when I can get it off the charger, I'll list what its basic specs are. Android 12 seems to be the platform.

I intend to go in and install my most used Google Play store apps, and it'll include a few basic diagnostic tools to indicate what the processors are doing, what bands it's operating on, what sensors it has, how strong its signal is, and to lock down automatic updates so I get to choose when and how.

The telephone number they issued is not one I would want to port, unmemorable, unlike the other two numbers I got that I ported. I will probably use this number with one I ported from AW to Google Voice to make it easier for people to remember.

Hopefully I don't sound like a whiner, but I guess the inexpensive TracFones I've been using have spoiled me.

It's too bad I can't just swap SIMs into one of my unlocked TFs, like the Moto E, or Moto Play, although the Play tends to be weaker on WiFi than the other Motos I have. It has a nice screen/virtual interface. Unfortunately I believe AW under T-Mobile continues the tradition of barring BYOP use with their SIMs.

One note, if I couldn't find any info about Koobee brand phones, good luck locating a phone case if you get one of these for your free phone. I usually buy a cheap flexible case to help hold onto a phone if its slippery, one that's easy to remove.

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using HoFo mobile app

[WheelieBoot]

After hours of installing apps, am having difficulty with the phone. I've set up many Android phones but this one is really perplexing.

Tried to set up Google Voice with the number and the code text never arrives.

Other issues. The signal keeps getting a ? by it as if it keeps dropping even though there's supposed to be a T-Mo tower nearby.

I did send a few texts with it but no alerts when I text to it.

AW sent a text telling me to set up a new PIN so I followed the instructions to do it. Pressed send. No acknowledgement.

Tried to log in using the log in notice on notification panel and it never finishes. Tried again loading the login page using the phone's weird version of a Google browser, and it says invalid PIN.

Haven't been able to scope the phone's issues using the apps I installed. It's back on the charging dock.

Here are its PREInstalled APPS...not all appear in the phone's app drawer. This is what I saw on Google Play store under installed apps...

Android System WebView
Android Accessibility Suite
Calculator
Clock
Google GBoard
Google Drive
Google files
Google Go
Google Assistant Go
Google Calendar
Google Chrome
Google Home
Google One
Google Partner Setup
Google Maps
Google Wallet
Google TV
Google Meet
Speech Services by Google
Gallery
Carrier Services
Digital Wellbeing
YouTube
YouTube Music
GMAIL

Here are some of the apps I installed:

Google Docs 28.62mb
Google Keep 6.87mb
Google Voice 12.30mb
My Data Manager 5.79mb
Notepad by Panagola
Offline Notepad 4.51mb
Simple Music Player 4.62mb
Textra 34.30mb
Howard Forums 22.31mb
Network Cell Info Lite 12.66mb
Old Time Radio Player 3.15mb
Old Time Radio Shows 33.04mb
Phone Information 2.18mb
USA Radio 6.40mb
LibriVox Audio Books 19.33mb
CPU-Z 5.78mb

Sent from my moto g(7) optimo maxx(XT1955DL) using HoFo mobile app

[robbyrobby]

have you tried swapping the SIM into another phone(unlocked) to see if it works ?

i see mixed reports around as to if SIM swapping is possible but i believe the no swapping reports relate to when the service was using sprint