HELLO!!! | Adrian Cosby (totally unrelated)

0 Custom t-shirts on any budget ooshirts.com

Many comedians have found selling a few t’s after shows can help pay for gas and lodging. I sold several different t-shirts before I found a shirt that actually worked for me. When i’m asked, I always tell comics who prints my shirts, it’s www.ooshirts.com. I use ooshirts.com because I assumed that the 1st generation of t-shirt ideas wouldn’t be as good as the later ones. Hence I might be stuck with a lot of shirts that don’t sell. With ooshirts.com I was able to order as few as 24 Gildan 50/50 black shirts for just over $5.50 each (white is considerably cheaper). I love this site because it’s so easy to use! You can bring your own artwork or use their text interface and you’re on your way. They double check the art and placement before printing and send you notifications of the process. They guarantee shipping and have ALWAYS exceeded my expectations in arrival time. You can pay for expedited shipping, or use their standard FREE shipping (2 weeks). Stop by ooshirts.com and try it out!

0 Ten months on Republic Wireless (what I’ve learned…)

Back in February I was looking for a low cost cell phone provider for my son when I stumbled across Republic Wireless. They weren't the cheapest, but seemed to make the most sense of "how" they are so cheap. Republic Wireless doesn't use advertising to get the price down, they use WiFi calling when available and when its not the phone connects to the Sprint network. Like other low cost providers they connect to a lower tier Sprint network which basically means call quality and connection are not as stable as the premium tier which Sprint reserves for customers who pay upwards of 4 times the price.

My favorite thing about Republic Wireless is still the price. I’m not a cheap or thrifty guy in every regard. My philosophy is more about saving on certain luxuries so I can embellish the others. For instance, I have the most expensive phone Republic Wireless offers, a fully customized MotoX complete with teak wood, gold accents and my own logo! I paid (including shipping) $409.00 for this version of a phone that you can get on other networks for free. Republic Wireless has the MotoE for $99, the MotoG for $149 & the MotoX for $299 (unsure if customizing option is still available). Plenty of price points for all types of users. The plans are $5, $10, $25 & $40. I use the $25 3G “unlimited” plan. Unlimited means 5 Gigs of data over cellular and unlimited over WiFi. In September and October I went over 5 gigs and got a ton of warning emails. I found out that after 5 Gigs is used you get another 5 Gigs as long as you don’t go over that too, you’ll always get that buffer. If you DO go over the extra 5 Gigs, they throttle you down to 2G service and you wont get that ” 5 Gig buffer” the following month. In October I went over the buffer and and I am currently suffering the consequences. The biggest inconvenience is streaming content is less than ideal, otherwise I haven’t noticed. I overcome this by downloading pod-casts and music in advance over WiFi before leaving on long trips.

My LEAST favorite thing about republic wireless didn’t exist until about 4 months ago & It’s likely not even their fault! For some mysterious reason my WiFi calling feature would stop working. It would be connected but would not engage for web browsing or calling. This would mean that when someone was calling in, I would swipe to answer but the call would be immediately dropped. This would not occur outside of WiFi hot-spots, cellular calling has always been very consistent. The only solution I could find to this problem was to do a “Hard Reset” of the handset. This is easy enough to do, however I have had to perform 3 of these hard resets in the past 6 months. The biggest hassle is re-installing apps and signing back into and configuring them. I think this is happening because of an App but I don’t know which one. After each reset I enjoy much better phone experience.

The Good: Very inexpensive service. WiFi call clarity is phenomenal when the signal and bandwidth is good. I’ve traveled from South Carolina to North Dakota in the past 10 months and never missed a call, text, email or lost my GPS. The MotoX is a Great phone and I fully expect Republic to offer the newest version of the MotoX(2014) for it’s customers any time now… (Republic Wireless has been silent on this issue)

The NOT so good: WiFi calling is contingent on the heart of the broadband connection. WiFi signal is not an indication of the connection quality. In hotels the Signal can be strong but the heart of the network is being over worked. It’s not always an issue but gets annoying fast. The overall cellular call quality ranges from decent to sub standard. Call drops are infrequent and usually geographically based. I couldn’t tell a difference between 3G & 4G service. I know there is one but I couldn’t tell.

Bottom Line: Republic Wireless is a special company. It just so happens they are perfect for me but this service isn’t for everyone. I prefer to pay as little as possible for service and still use a top-end phone. If you want an iPhone or Samsung, Sorry, they only offer 3 phones all by Motorola, which happens to be my favorite brand for digital devices. If you don’t live or spend a majority of your time in an area that is Broadband/WiFi connected you would be swimming up-stream for service. For instance if you live in an area that doesn’t get good cellular connections from any company and high-speed internet like DSL or cable isn’t offered AND you don’t leave the house much. My only advice would be to move. If all those conditions exist but you work in the city, and are around WiFi for every other part of the day, then Republic Wireless is absolutely a viable solution. After 10 months with Republic Wireless I can say I am sticking with them, they do exactly what I would do, if I was a cellular company. if you’re interested in low cost cellular please follow the link on my Home page.

0 1 month on Republic Wireless

Since receiving my MotoX from Republic Wireless in mid February I have driven from Winston-Salem North Carolina to Bismarck North Dakota without any complaints about service whatsoever.

During these trips I used the phones Native GPS and the app Waze for mapping, all while streaming music on Spotify and taking calls. Everyone gets spotty service in the mountains especially while streaming internet music, I experienced a few skips and pauses but never missed a data beat with the GPS. The MotoX has a 10 megapixel camera and produces fantastic photos. It has the “twist & take” feature which allows you open the camera with a quick shake of the wrist. Voice activation with “Ok Google now” is very effective for driving and making calls, navigating, sending texts and emails, party tricks etc. The research shows that Apple’s “Siri” and “Ok Google now” are rated the same overall but each does certain tasks faster or more accurately. In the end it’s going to boil down to preference on voice activation, however a HUGE plus for the MotoX is the truly hands free activation of the search. To activate Siri you must hold down the home button, less convenient when driving especially when using the phones GPS simultaneously. The MotoX will wake up and anticipate a question whenever you say “Ok Google now” as long as the device is turned on, even when other apps are running.

Cell phone contracts are typically 2 years and the average cellphone bill in the U.S. is approx. $47. Much higher if you have a smartphone on one of the big 4 carriers (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, & T-Mobile). I was on Sprint originally and switched to Boost, on Sprint I paid $89/month for 2 years ($89 x 24 months = $2136). I switched to Republic Wireless after being on Boost for 2 years, with Boost I was paying $40/month after one and a half years with their shrinkage program. If I had stayed I would have paid, ($40 x 24 months = $960) through the life of a typical contract. On Republic Wireless I pay $25/month with no contract or shrinkage deals. Over two years I’ll pay $25/month x 24 = $600.

Sprint ($89 x 24 months = $2136)
Boost ($40 x 24 months = $960)
Republic Wireless ($25/month x 24 = $600)

Link to Republic Wireless pricing:
Unlimited 3G Plan $25 per month from Republic Wireless

0 North Dakota

We went, we played blackjack, we made it out alive! There was some comedy too but I don’t remember anything except #moneydaddy

0 Call Quality- WiFi & Cellular on Republic Wireless

It’s been exactly 14 days since I switched to Republic Wireless. In that time I have traveled from North Carolina to North Dakota and haven’t had any reception or call quality issues. I used the standard Android GPS and Google mapping software for all of my travels and even trained myself to use the hands free “Ok Google now” feature to make calls and send texts while driving. Through the mountains of WV and NC cellular tower hand off can have a few gaps but the network is much stronger than the last time I made that trip. Five years ago those gaps could last an hour. I tried to push the limits of the network and phone, I was using Spotify to stream music, the built in GPS, and “OK Google Now” to reply to emails and texts. I was skeptical about the phone and networks ability to keep up but it did so rather easily.

Call Quality
The first thing I noticed about the WiFi calling was the exceptional clarity. It’s much better than the cellular quality I was used to. I had made WiFi calls before with my cellular phone on T-Mobile but there was an obvious delay and voices sounded “digitized”. This is NOT the case with RW and the Moto X. The biggest deficit is that once you get used to the WiFi clarity the cellular calls sound… Well… “Cellular”. I made a point to connect to public/free WiFi when it was detected to see if heavily populated networks would decrease call quality. The answer is no, however I am going to test it again at Wright State University Library during finals week. The wireless network routinely overloads, this should result in a seamless hand off to the cellular network, but we will see. On the road the call quality ranges from great to adequate. I found less than great call qualities during rush hour and while driving in the mountains. Over all, I can’t tell a difference in connectivity from Sprint, to Boost, to Republic Wireless. All using the Sprint network.

Some people have expressed their distaste for the Sprint network. The reality is every network has its flaws and detractors, my bottom line goal is to pay the least for the most. I get unlimited calls, text, & data for $25. I don’t care if they drop my calls every 30 seconds! I mostly use text and data anyway, but the FACT of the matter is they don’t drop calls every 30 seconds and I haven’t experienced any in the past two weeks. I simply don’t want to pay Sprint/Verizon/AT&T, 4 or 5 times as much money for the same features I get from RW.

Unlimited 3G Plan $25 per month from Republic Wireless

0 Nostalgia

February 25, 2014
by Adrian Cosby
· Comentary · HELLO!!! · Movie Clip Monday

This clip is a powerful reminder of the power of nostalgia. Don Draper does 2 things comedians might want to take note of, first he leads his audience into his story as if it were their own. Second, he tells them what “IT” is and how they should feel about it.

Certainly Don garners the opposite effect that a comic is looking for, but he uses the same literary tools comics use.

Clip and image from Mad Men S1:E13 “The Wheel” (18 Oct. 2007 – A&E) Available on Netflix

0 Being in the room

This is my favorite movie clip in the entire world! It’s from the movie Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) which is an adaptation of a play by David Mamet which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984.

The scene is of real estate salesmen getting a “kick in the ass” type motivational speech from a much more successful peer. This clip is fascinating to me because the context translates to almost all professions. Change real estate salesmen to comedian and the parallels are staggering. The speech is powerful, it’s easy to feel offended for the recipients of such a harsh beratement. I don’t post this clip because i think its important to be “like” the Alec Baldwin character or to even like him. At the opening of the clip, he asks if everyone is there and Kevin Spacey’s character says all but one. The guy who isn’t in the room is the Al Pacino character. He’s across the street trying to close a sale. When I watched the clip as I wrote this I realized the importance of NOT being in the room. You should watch the movie!

Available on Netflix!

1 Day 1 on Republic Wireless

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The first awesome thing about my new Republic Wireless phone was how quickly it arrived after ordering. Less than 48 hrs via FedEx. The ordering process was a breeze too, it took less than 10 minutes. I chose to “port” my number which means I took my old phone number from my old provider and switched it to Republic Wireless. This can take up to 72 hrs but the research suggests it usually takes 24 (mine took 22 hrs).

Republic Wireless offers 4 pre-paid plans and currently only one phone, the Moto X in white or black (pictured above).

The reason Republic Wireless is so much cheaper for monthly service is because they use WiFi enabled calling as the preferred choice for connection. If you choose the $10 and up plans they will also make cellular calls on the Sprint Network.

The Plans:

$5/ month unlimited talk, text & data over WiFi ONLY
$10/ month unlimited talk & text with cellular & WiFi *data only when connected to WiFi
$25/ month unlimited talk & text with cellular & WiFi + 3G data
$40/ month unlimited talk & text with cellular & WiFi + 4G data

I signed up for the $25 plan, mostly because I knew I could change it if I needed to. You can change your plan 2 times a month free of charge.

The Phone is a tad pricey at $299 but I calculate it will pay for itself in savings very quickly. There have been rumors that Republic Wireless will offer the Moto G soon. The Moto G is a scaled down version of the Moto X and has been getting very high reviews for being an affordable Smartphone.

Next time: Call quality over WiFi and cellular.

0 Let the journey begin!

First finding– Porting your phone number is awesome! It’s like dumping your current partner by letting your new partner break the news. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

I just switched cellular service to Republic Wireless. This is a revolutionary company that offers mobile service plans at a fraction of the big name carriers. I’ll be reporting on my findings over the next year. How well does a cellular company that offers unlimited phone, text & data for $25 a month work? We’ll find out together 🙂