In Search of the Perfect Investment

If you have a Verizon or AT&T cell phone, you really want WiFi Calling.

Let me explain. When you make a cell call today, it goes through a local tower. If you’re close to a tower, your call works fine.

If you’re not, or blocked by buildings, your call sounds awful and/or gets dropped. Been there. Done that. Annoying as heck.

There is a solution: Send your phone call over the Internet.

How? You could use a little black box called a “network extender,” also called a “mini cell tower.” I’ve raved about these little babies many times.

You plug it into your home/office Internet. When you want to call, your cell phone “talks” to the mini cell tower box in your closet, your conversation is converted to Internet-speak and is shunted over the Internet. Bingo, a clear conversation.

Verizon and AT&T will sell or will give you these $250 boxes. I have a Verizon one (for Susan and I) and an AT&T one (for Michael and Anne).

This week Verizon, AT&T and Apple went one step better: They introduced WiFi Calling. You no longer need their $250 mini cell tower. You simply turn WiFi Calling on your iPhone and anywhere you go where there’s WiFi, you’ll use it to make your calls. Which means your calls will  sound good (like a landline) and you won’t get cut off. You’ll actually be able to conduct business on your cell phone.

Yes, Lord, miracles happen.

WiFi Calling won’t do you any good on the street, in a car, or the ski slopes. But it will work fine in your mountain home, your office in that concrete and steel building, etc. In short anywhere there’s WiFi.

Good reliable calls are the best benefit.

But there’s one other benefit: Let’s say you’re in London at your fancy hotel which has WiFi (which actually works), pick up your Verizon or AT&T cell phone and call the wife or boss (they may be the same) in the U.S.

Bingo, the call goes through on WiFi Calling without any international roaming or other charges. When you’re on WiFi, Verizon and AT&T think you’re in the U.S. And U.S. to U.S. calls are free — part of your Verizon or AT&T monthly plan. Amazing stuff.

Turning WiFi Calling on your Verizon phone is a no-brainer.

To do it. you’ll need an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s or 6s Plus or the new. small iPhone SE.

And you’ll need the latest Apple software ios upgrade for your iPhone. The upgrade is free.

Here’s now to enable Wi-Fi Calling on your Verizon and AT&T iPhone:

Go to the Home Screen.
Tap Settings.
Tap Phone. (It’s way down.)
Tap Wi-Fi Calling.
Tap Turn On Wi-Fi Calling On This iPhone.
Enter a U.S. address for use in the event of an emergency call (911).

I made my first WiFi Call this morning on my Verizon iPhone 6. It worked like a charm.

I went next door and turned on WiFi Calling on our neighbor’s  AT&T iPhone. It worked like a charm.

There’s no extra charge for WiFi Calling, but it eats into your data usage. According to Verizon, Voice calling uses about 1 MB of data per minute. A 1-minute video call typically uses about 6-8 MB of data.

There’s one other piece to this. T-Mobile has had WiFi Calling for eons. T-Mobile (and especially its many resellers) are a lot cheaper then Verizon or AT&T. They’re perfect if you’re simply going from one WiFi equipped place to another. But T-Mobile doesn’t work well in the boonies.

Here’s what the top of my Verizon iPhone 6 looks like this morning. Note the VZW Wi-Fi. That means it’s working for WiFi Calling. And it does work. Promise!

By the way, Zuma who’s destroyed South Africa, owes $23 million for improvements to his rural home. I’m told Zuma’s joint makes you wonder why God could do, if only She had the money.

Back to investing a little later. More looking at our Permanent Portfolio of Great Technology Stocks. If you missed yesterday’s discussion, click here.

The Reform Rabbi

He’s so reform, he doesn’t work on holidays like Rosh Hashanah and Passover.

Harry Newton, who a long time ago was a student at Sydney University. One year, on April 1 (that’s today), the local council was digging the street up outside our University. A friend of mine called the Police and said a bunch of students were digging up the street to cause chaos and mayhem. Then he called the Council to say that a bunch of students dressed as police were coming to disrupt their street digging and cause chaos and mayhem. One hour later there was the predicted chaos and mayhem. The combatants only figured they’d been “had” by the huge crowd of students cheering on the chaos and mayhem. It was my best April Fools Day. … There’s still time today to think of something even better.