Is Wireless Advisor dying?

Haven't been to Howard Forums in years, so I'll take your word for it. I don't know why such a drastic difference. My first guess would have been that the provider's customer forums have improved enough in the last decade to draw a lot of traffic away from here, but if HF is abuzz that puts a crimp on this theory. How much traffic do you figure comes from trolling there? I remember WA had done a pretty good job on putting a lid on trolling. Perhaps (sadly) the human nature needs that to keep going?

 

Good question rjniles.

I haven’t been through HoFo for eons. I never felt comfortable there but yes there is a lot of activity there.

I visit Macrumors and that has lots of activity there as well, so much so that I just click on “Mark forums read”, if there are more than 3 days of unread threads.

This is my favorite and yes the lack of activity is too depressing.


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It may be from a few reasons, lack of new phone features that wow people, Coverage by the main carriers including T-Mobile improving dramatically over the years, and people not knowing about other forums like this & HoFo vs as dmapr stated improvements in carrier and manufacture forums to help customers, and both recommend using them to help with issues.

 

Hi old friends!,


@charylee, always finding new phones to buy!

I think we find that things ‘just work’ better these days than those of yonder.

Coverage and type of carrier service, antenna size from long to stubby, have become non issue.

Now my small problems have been become so detail, that most can’t help.

And the state of our country has consumed much of my thoughts too.

I pretty much did a whole refresh this year. iPad, MacBook Air, Apple watches and XS phones. I do 2 years now, not one.

I rarely even go to Macrumors these days.


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There is some truth in the thread title.
The reasons are many...so much has changed since this forum started. Everything from our topic of 'wireless' to the places that people get information about any topic is very different now. This forum is inevitably near its EOL - End of Life. It has been a great run and many great people have passed through here, but like a great movie, or great book, or great song it will end.

Here are some things that may bring it to an end:
- The forum software XenForo running here is a 1.x version with is no longer supported for updates. A move to the 2.x version would require some redesign and some server upgrades. An expense of time and money.
- The revenue from ads has not covered the server expenses for the last few years.
- People just seem to get information from other places now; Facebook, Reddit, etc. A busy forum is obviously more fun.

One day something with the software or the server may just 'break' and I may not desire to put more time and money into it. Or maybe instead of petering out, we should come up with a formal end date.

 

Well, if money is being lost, that is a big piece of the balance spreadsheet. Even though I don’t use WA much anymore, it would be a sadness. But as you say, that’s being nostalgic.

Lots of good memories, time well spent, thoughts fleshed out on here. And some nasty arguments too. in the end we all benefited from having WA to go to.

Much appreciated whatever happens.

Your call, Joe.


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That is indeed sad. Obviously if it doesn't pay for itself then it's not sustainable in the long run

 

@JFB, I came to WA in desperate need of help and it stepped right up and helped me. It has been a great ride as well and in the process of which I have made some wonderful friends.

At some point you decided to make me a supermod and I very much appreciate and thank you for that. To this day I am convinced that your other choice was to ban me for getting into arguments with @viewfly .

As for closing it down, I am all for having a “Grand Closing Day”, on any day that is of significance to you.

Just my 2 cents as always.

 

You got banned for arguing with me? That’s makes me sad, @charlyee. You were always the most gracious and fair WA member to discuss with. Can’t say the same for some long gone other WA members and even one petty Mod. Oh well, memories fade and only the good ones stand out to me.

VF


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Me?

 

My two cents... Coverage and phone features are not as vast as they used to be. In the old days you pretty much needed to know how to code to customize your phone. Now there's apps that do it for you. These days the only big decision is are you going Android or iPhone? Even at that, it is more of a personal choice than anything.

Who's left here is a small group... The nerds. The ones that split hairs in determining what's the "best" phone. For me, my Essential PH-1 is probably my best phone ever. It came from the factory with no bloatware, just a bare bones version of Android. It was ready for me to setup exactly the way I wanted it. Every month on the 5th (and sometimes a little earlier) I get an Android update. The support for this phone is amazing. These were big deals in my phone choice, but most folks really don't care how often their phone receives updates... As long as they can still play Candy Crush.

 

Yes, my 4 cents (inflation ).

Lack of bloatware, regular updates, and walk-in service at Apple retail stores, made me an early adapter the iPhone. While Android was trying to figure where they were. And the first, I think, adaptor of the iPhone, on WA.

which cause a lot of grief to come my way. But it was worth it. I look back fondly at it now. Good fun when I was bored at work. And one extended 10 day hospital stay a decade ago. Kept life in balance.

Thank you, Joe, for WA.
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That won't be enough to accurately depict your future experience.
Only testing yourself will be truly indicative.

--
Lewis

 

Back when I joined, almost 17 years ago, there was so much to discuss. GSM vs. CDMA vs. WCDMA arguments with bobolito, expert info on coverage on remote two-lane highways in SE Oregon and Nevada with Bill Radio and Dan Albrich, hex programming Moto phones to increase volume, or turn on developer mode, etc., etc.

Now it seems like everyone is on LTE, cell coverage has improved (although SE Oregon is probably still spotty), and all phones seem to be the same.

 

Yes, i think this is the most probably the reason...

Of course there are telecom webforum that are active for years, like telecomhall.net.

But WA is a great one, and i think we could (re)start it.

 

I used to spend 2-3 hrs per day on WA. Now, i check in once every few months. Sad.

 

How much traffic do you figure comes from trolling there?

 

How about reopening the individual carrier forums (which are now archived)?

 

Hey hey everyone! Look who's back! My first post in years! So who's left from circa 2001 when I first arrived on the scene? I saw that Joe had posted that EOL was coming back in 2019 but the forum is still up. Spent so many hours every day on here. So many memories. Time flies! Anyone heard from Anthromatt, Airb, or Bobolito? I see Kevin James has still popped up every now and again.

 

Woah… I haven’t been on here in forever. I used to spend hours browsing in here while on deployments. I don’t know why I thought of this place, but I decided to stop by.

Also, I have a Wireless Advisor T-Shirt from back in the day. Thanks for the memories.

 

Kevin James died a few years ago after a long illness.

 

Aww that's too bad. He and I were the two original moderators here from the forum's inception.