AT&T Now Liberty - Thoughts on Impact

@vicanuck

<As soon as the wife's Liberty phone is paid off, we'll switch our cell phones to T-Mobile (you CAN port your 340 number)>

good luck with that. I have been trying to move my number first to AT&T on the mainland which refused and than to T-Mobile. I probably put in 10 hours in person and on the phone and still no joy. 

Right now Liberty is denying that they service my phone number and AT&T states that Liberty services my number. 
T mobile rep got both reps on the line simultaneously so eventually my number got released by ATT porting department but could not be captured by T-Mobile. That was in June. 

seems like it got locked in by Liberty as soon as it was released by ATT. I had to leave the country so I could not continue the fight and will resume as soon as I get back on the mainland. What a mess!

Is it possible/is there any downside to keeping a stateside number in St. Croix?

@STTsailor I know several STX folks who have successfully ported their 340 number but all have done it in Florida in person at various T-Mobile locations.

I appreciate you adding your experience to the thread.

Posted by: @gpurcell

Is it possible/is there any downside to keeping a stateside number in St. Croix?

None that I can think of. Stateside numbers are very common here. As a business owner, I see them everyday.

@gpurcell No downside.  We kept our stateside numbers and have had zero technical issues or problems.  Was with AT&T stateside, but were converted to Liberty with the sale.  From my perspective, unlike some others on this forum, service has improved in the several years we've lived on St. Croix.  Networks were upgraded to 5G which has dramatically improved speeds and coverage in our neighborhood (Cotton Valley) has improved to the point that I switch off our BroadbandVI (also now Liberty) wifi on my phone in the evenings as the Liberty 5G speeds and reliability is so much better than the wifi speeds in the evenings.  

I agree that StarLink is the future of broadband internet.  I also just saw that T-Mobile (my cell phone carrier) just announced they are partnering with StarLink to help close the gaps in their coverage.  Not at all sure of technology T-Mobile is using to make this work but it sure sounds exciting.  I’ve actually been waiting for Musk to enter the cellar market.

Also, T-mobil has something known as a femtocell you install in your home and connects to your router that functions as a micro cell tower.  It works really well and is free from T-Mobile, we have one in our house, where our cell coverage is otherwise very marginal.

My bottom line is that the technology for the delivery of broadband is changing, which shouldn’t be a surprise as wireless was always the end game, it only needed time for the technology to catch up with the idea. Companies like Liberty are rapidly becoming dinosaurs, that like old fashioned land lines are slowly but surely passing into obscurity.  The capital cost of a ground based network is far greater than a modern satellite system that’s constantly being upgraded.