Personal Communication Devices

I would like input regarding the best mobile telephone and or tablets, notebook, laptops for a trucker’s personal use on the road. I am smart phone poor and illiterate but am willing to invest and learn if given a clue as to which and what is best if any and if doing so would be at all beneficial and considered necessary.

If becoming smart phone literate is necessary I would also like to know which service provider is considered the best for truckers.

Best regards,

ErmaLynda

Donna,

I have been using Verizon and have always had service almost everywhere i go. I do carry a laptop but only use it when on my 34 hour reset time or to watch DVD movies. A good android smart phone is perfect. I have all of the apps i use all the time on mine. Pilot, Loves, CAT Scales , Trucker tools, Big road, Low Clearance, and Transflo.

Hey Donna.

As far as cell phone carriers, the more extensive their network the more you'll pay but the better coverage you will get. Verizon has the best coverage of any carrier - that's a fact that the telecom industry puts out - that's not my opinion. But they're also the most expensive. AT&T is a close second in both categories. You probably wouldn't want anything other than those two or the coverage will be fairly poor.

As far as choosing a phone, you can't go wrong with an iPhone or one of the better Android phones like the "Samsung Galaxy S4" or the "HTC One". I highly recommend visiting an Apple store to play around with iPhones a bit and a Verizon store to play with some better Android phones and see which one you like better. It's really just a matter of personal preference. You can't go wrong with an iPhone or higher end Android phone.

As far as notebooks and tablets - that depends on how much typing you plan on doing. If you're one to send quite a few emails or chat or talk in forums like ours you're going to want a laptop so you have a decent keyboard. Otherwise a tablet works nicely and the same goes for the tablets as with the phones - you can't go wrong with either an iPad or a higher end Android tablet. It's just a matter of personal preference.

Well this is not from trucking but I have been in an ambulance for years. I love my laptop. I bought it as a refurb over five years ago. It was less than $300. I have beat the hell out of it and it keeps on going. If you get a laptop, spend the money and get a nice backpack designed for laptops. Mine has a nice cushion sleeve for the laptop. I have slung this thing around for years and it has managed all the abuse quite well.

I us an andriod phone with Verizon and I can create a hotspot to connect my laptop to the internet. Anywhere I have a signal, I have internet. It is great when you are on the road. I can use my phone or laptop to connect to my Dish Anywhere at home. I can watch live TV or recorded shows from the Hopper. (I LOVE Dish Network... if you sign up let me know so I can get a referral.) Just beware this eats a ton of data.

As for carriers, I have Verizon but was wondering the same thing about coverage for a trucker. There are a few that no one seems to mention. PagePlus Cellular uses all Verizon towers. When I was with them, I traveled the entire east coast and never lost signal. I did not go that far west with them so I can not say if it holds true for the rest of the country. I really like PagePlus. The only reason I don't have them now is because I have 5 phones on my account and the group plan was cheaper. I am slowly spinning some back to Pageplus as the contracts end. The other company that may be good is Straight Talk. They are same as Pageplus and "rent" space from Verizon. I cannot say how good there coverage is. Hope this helps.

I have Verizon because of their coverage. I use the Samsung Galaxy S4 and it is THE BEST phone I have ever had. I could have gotten the S3 for less money but the reason I chose it is because it has a 4 core processor which is better than in most laptops. That phone with that carrier has made an awesome combination for me and I was in homes using my phone as the hotspot to do online applications out in places other carriers don't even have a signal. The better coverage, strength of signal, and the 3GB of data per month make it worth the price....to me.

I have been using a Toshiba Satellite laptop for over 5 years now and it has been THE BEST computer I have ever had. I prefer the laptop to a pad because of the keyboard. If I was going to get a different brand of laptop I would go with Lenovo for the long battery life. Pads are nice but I want a pc type platform, not an enlarged cell phone built on apps. I can do apps on my phone and I can type much better on a regular keyboard.

Also, with a laptop, you get more ports for plugging in things like printers, scanners and other auxiliaries, etc. Pads are much more limited.

Agree with everything Brett said, I just recently got a HTC ONE(M8), beautiful phone, from Verizon with a 10gig data plan. The phone can be turned into a "hotspot" which lets me connect and access those 10gigs with my computer. Works like a charm..