Podcasts about tracfone

EPISODE TITLE:"EVP Messages from Beyond: Gary Arnold's Tracfone Phenomenon – Typical Skeptic #1950"

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner are joined by Robert Dandrea, former CMO atTracfone, to discuss the origins of prepaid and the lessons learned that arestill relevant today.00:27 Developing prepaid from scratch 04:16 Scaling prepaid into Walmart 05:20 Robert's sudden elevation to CMO 07:12 Early learnings from prepaid operations 09:03 Keeping churn in check 11:15 Straight Talk as a customer-focused brand 15:11 The customer experience still matters 16:08 Episode wrap-upTags:telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, DonKellogg, Roger Entner, Robert Dandrea, Tracfone, FJ Pollak, ARPU, retail,Walmart, SafeLink, churn, N-1, Apple, Straight Talk, Verizon, customerexperience

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner are joined by Nancy Clark, President of Verizon Value, to discuss the company's commitment to revitalizing prepaid. 00:24 Verizon's turnaround of prepaid brands 02:51 Brand differentiation 04:47 Straight Talk's branding 05:50 Customer service's impact on strategy 07:36 Blurring of market segments 09:53 Churn success 11:04 Competition assessment 12:07 Distribution networks 12:52 Episode wrap-upTags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Nancy Clark, Verizon, Verizon Value, TracFone, Visible, Straight Talk, Total, rural, MVNO, MNO, churn, T-Mobile, Mint, distribution

Facebook, Tracfone, Ford, Russian State Hackers and provocateur Andrew Tate are all part of this week's data breaches!

Rich "Clifford" Christoffer and Matt "Tracfone" Jaronczyk from the Nauti Boyz HC join the the show to share the joys of playing beer league in Long Island. It's good to be back.

This week on Cyber Matters, Tanner Wilburn, Katherine Kennelly, and Zach Smith begin with Google's decision to end its plans to ban third-party cookies, discussing the implications for user privacy and online advertising. They then explore recent developments in the cybersecurity industry, including Google's failed acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz and Mimecast's successful acquisition of Code 42. They also discuss Apple's warnings to Indian iPhone users about potential "mercenary spyware" attacks and the legal brief filed by major tech firms supporting a journalist targeted by NSO Group's spyware. They cover KnowBe4's inadvertent hiring of a North Korean hacker and the potential reporting obligations for companies following the recent Crowdstrike outages. The podcast also touches on the FTC's  not-so-new guidance on hashing and anonymization, as well as their investigation into "surveillance pricing" practices. State privacy laws are discussed, with a focus on Colorado's universal opt-out shortlist and a recent BIPA decision regarding Samsung's face-scanning feature. The hosts also cover recent fines and settlements involving Meta, Oracle, and TracFone related to various privacy and data protection violations. If you enjoy the show, share and leave us 5 stars! Links from the show: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyber-matters-podcast/ https://www.cooley.com/news/insight/2024/2024-07-22-sec-reporting-implications-for-publicly-traded-companies-impacted-by-crowdstrike-defective-software-update https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/AI-lawsuits-explained-Whos-getting-sued https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawfare-podcast-orin-kerr-and-asaf-lubin-apple-v-nso-group

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the FCC's new plan that may requirecarriers to unlock devices much sooner rather than later.00:25 FCC plan details and carrier implications 03:11 Most people don't understand unlocking 03:44 Why are devices locked anyway? 06:03 Predictions if implemented 07:26 Carriers differ greatly on the issue 10:22 Episode wrap-upTags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, DonKellogg, Roger Entner, FCC, unlocking, spectrum, D Block, Google, Verizon, net neutrality, Chevron deference, T-Mobile, Mint, AT&T, phone trafficking, subsidies, TracFone, Peter Adderton, MobileX

Check Out Echoplex Radio iTunes, iHeart, Spotify, RSS, Odysee, Twitch, YouTubeSupport This Project On Patreon Check Out Our Swag Shop Join Our Discord Server Check out our Linux powered studio! Host: Producer DaveGuest:Gary Arnold

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss Microsoft's Azure for Operators shakeup, as well as Carlos Slim's new interest in a European telecom.00:30 Microsoft to quit Affirmed and Metaswitch 02:20 Comparisons to Google 03:31 Microsoft is usually more persistent 06:09 Predictions for virtualized cores and cloud for telco06:59 Carlos Slim takes a stake in BT 08:52 Predictions for BT Tags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, DonKellogg, Roger Entner, Microsoft, Azure for Operators, Affirmed, Metaswitch,Etisalat, Dish, Amazon, Google, Deutsche Telekom, Cisco, AT&T, vCPU, cloudfor telco, Carlos Slim, TracFone, BT

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss Verizon's recent wireless plan updates, aswell as Nvidia's acquisition of spectrum to test Open RAN. 00:25 Verizon's new plan updates may reduce churn 02:11 Prepaid and retail struggles continue 04:03 Verizon's overall strategy 04:28 Nvidia's spectrum acquisition and Open RAN predictionsTags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Verizon, AT&T, net adds, ACP, churn, retail, TracFone, Straight Talk, Visibile, Total, MobileX, Nvidia, spectrum, Open RAN, interoperability, Dish, Samsung, Ericcson, AI

In this episode i tell the traumatic tale of my ordeal with Tracfone, we review Indian food, Mike confesses his love for lady boys, and we give you some more meme's. 

Ep121: We welcome Gary Lee Arnold to the show. "I'm just a regular guy - a 56 year old happily married Pennsylvania family man with two adventurous kids who has worked over a decade in academia at the university level, teaching writing at the local HBCU. Ever since childhood, I've had a passion for pigeons. I import beautiful birds from all around the world, including exotic all-natural tie-dye-coloured tropical rainbow pigeons and emerald doves. Since December 2017, I've had quite the extraordinary paranormal experience I'd like to share because I believe what I'm about to describe impacts everyone and has potentially serious global security implications. Using just a $5 old-school Tracfone's digital recorder, I can convincingly demonstrate mind-bogglingly bizarre interactions with disembodied whisperers. These peculiar whisperers defy any rational exploration..." https://www.youtube.com/@AlienPoltergeistsOtherworldly Connections - YouTube Twitter (X): @Ghostwax3001Instagram: GaryLeeArnoldWe are super excited to announce that you can now purchase Let's Get Freaky merch! Hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, stickers and lots more! Check it out! http://tee.pub/lic/aQprv54kktwSPONSOR Check out Braxton County, West Virgina for plenty of beauty and a hub for paranormal activity! Flatwoods Monster, Bigfoot, Haunted Towns and MORE!!Click the link and plan your visit! https://braxtonwv.org/freaky/If you have had any paranormal experiences and would like to be a guest on the show, please get in touch! Email us at letsgetfreakypodcast@outlook.com or message us on social media, Facebook-Instagram-Twitter-TikTok and YouTube @tcletsgetfreakypodcast https://linktr.ee/letsgetfreaky#LetsGetFreaky #LetsGetFreakyPodcast #FreakyFam #Paranormal   

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology.0:20 MobileX is launching in Walmart. What are the implications for the prepaid ecosystem?Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Recon Analytics, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, DISH, Tracfone, MobileX, Walmart, Prepaid

Thomas LaRock, Principal Developer Evangelist at Selector AI, joins Corey on Screaming in the Cloud to discuss why he loves having a career in data and his most recent undertaking at Selector AI. Thomas explains how his new role aligned perfectly with his career goals in his recent job search, and why Selector AI is not in competition with other data analysis tools. Corey and Thomas discuss the benefits and drawbacks to going back to school for additional degrees, and why it's important to maintain a healthy balance of education and practical experience. Thomas also highlights the impact that data can have on peoples' lives, and why he finds his career in data so meaningful. About ThomasThomas' career and life experiences are best described as follows: he takes things that are hard and makes them simple for others to understand. Thomas is a highly experienced data professional with over 25 years of expertise in diverse roles, from individual contributor to team lead. He is passionate about simplifying complex challenges for others and leading with empathy, challenging assumptions, and embracing a systems-thinking approach. Thomas has strong analytical reasoning skills and expertise to identify trends and opportunities for significant impact, and is a builder of cohesive teams by breaking down silos resulting in increased efficiencies and collective success. He has a track record of driving revenue growth, spearheading industry-leading events, and fostering valuable relationships with major tech players like Microsoft and VMware. Links Referenced: Selector: https://www.selector.ai/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sqlrockstar/ TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: Do you wish there were cheat codes for database optimization? Well, there are – no seriously. If you're using Postgres or MySQL on Amazon Aurora or RDS, OtterTune uses AI to automatically optimize your knobs and indexes and queries and other bits and bobs in databases. OtterTune applies optimal settings and recommendations in the background or surfaces them to you and allows you to do it. The best part is that there's no cost to try it. Get a free, thirty-day trial to take it for a test drive. Go to ottertune dot com to learn more. That's O-T-T-E-R-T-U-N-E dot com.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud. I'm Corey Quinn. There are some guests I have been nagging-slash-angling to have on this show for years on end, and that you almost give up, until they wind up having a job change. At which point, there's no better opportunity to pounce like some sort of scavenger or hyena or whatnot in order to get them on before their new employer understands what I am, and out of an overabundance of caution, decides not to talk with me. Thomas LaRock is a recently minted Principal Developer Evangelist at Selector. Thomas, thank you for finally deigning to appear on the show. It is deeply appreciated.Thomas: Oh, thanks for having me. Thanks for extending invitation. I'm sorry. It's my fault I haven't come here before now; it's just been one of those scheduling things. And I always think I'm going to see you. Like, I'll go to re:Invent, and I'm like, “I'll see Corey there.” And then, nah, Corey is a little busy.Corey: Yeah, I have no recollection of basically anything that ever happens at re:Invent, just because it is eight days of ridiculous Cloud Chanukah and thing to thing to thing to thing to thing. It's just overload and I wind up effectively blocking all of it out. You are one of those very interesting people where, depending upon the context in which someone encounters you, it's difficult to actually put a finger on where you start and where you stop. You are, for example, a Microsoft MVP, which means you presumably have a fair depth of experience with at least some subset of Microsoft products. You have been working at SolarWinds for a while now, and you also have the username of SQLRockstar on a number of social media environments, which leads me to think, oh, you're a database person. What are you exactly? Where do you start? Where do you stop?Thomas: Yeah, in my heart-of-hearts, a data professional. And that can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. My latest thing I've taken from a friend where I just call myself a data janitor because that's pretty much what I do all day, right? I'll clean data up, I'll move it around, it's a pile here and a pile there. But that's my heart of hearts. I've been a database administrator, I've been the data advocate. I've done a lot of roles, but it's always been heavily focused on data.Corey: So, these days, your new role—let's start at the present and see if we work our way backwards or not—you've been, at the time of this recording, in your role for a week where you are a principal developer evangelist at Selector, which to my understanding, is an AIOps or MLOps or whatever buzzword that we're sprinkling on top of things today is, which of course presupposes having some amount of data to wind up operating on. What do you folks do over there?Thomas: That's a great question. I'm hoping to figure that out eventually. No. So, here's the thing, Corey. So, when I started my unforced sabbatical this past June, I was, of course, doing what everybody does: panicking. And I was looking for job opportunities just about anywhere.But I, again, data professional. I really wanted a role that would allow me to use my math skills—I have a master's in mathematics—I wanted to use those math and analytical skills and go beyond the data into the application of the data. So, in the past five, six years, I've been earning a lot of data science certifications, I've been just getting back into my roots, right, statistical analysis, even my Six Sigma training is suddenly relevant again. So, what happened was I was on LinkedIn and friend had posted a note and mentioned Selector. I clicked on the link, and [all of sudden 00:04:17] I read, I go, “So, here's a company that is literally building new tools and it's data-science-centric. Is data-science-first.”It is, “We are going to find a way to go through your data and truly build out a better set of correlations to get you a signal through the noise.” Traditional monitoring tools, you know, collect a lot of things and then they kind of tell you what's wrong. Or you're collecting a lot of different things, so they slap, like, I don't know, timestamps in there and they guess at correlations. And these people are like, “No, no, no. We're going to go through everything and we will tell you what the data really says about your environment.”And I thought it was crazy how at the moment I was looking for a role that involve data and advocacy, the moment I'm looking for that role, that company was looking for someone like me. And so, I reached out immediately. They wanted not just a resume, but they're like, where's your portfolio? Have you spoken before? I'm like, “Yeah, I've spoken in a couple places,” right?So, I gave them everything, I reached right out to the recruiter. I said, “In case it doesn't arrive, let me know. I'll send it again. But this sounds very interesting.” And it didn't take more than—Corey: Exactly. [unintelligible 00:05:24] delivery remains hard.Thomas: Yeah. And it didn't take more than a couple of weeks. And I had gone through four or five interviews, they said that they were going to probably fly me out to Santa Clara to do, like, a last round or whatever. That got changed at some point and we went from, “Hey, we'll have you fly out,” to, “Hey, here's the offer. Why don't you just sign?” And I'm like, “Yeah, I'll start Monday. Let's go.”Corey: Fantastic. I imagine at some point, you'll be out in this neck of the woods just for an off-site or an all-hands or basically to stare someone down when you have a sufficiently large disagreement.Thomas: Yes, I do expect to be out there at some point. Matter of fact, I think one of my trips coming up might be to San Diego if you happen to head down south.Corey: Oh, I find myself all over the place these days, which is frankly, a welcome change after a few years of seclusion during the glorious pandemic years. What I like about Selector's approach, from what I can tell at least, is that it doesn't ask all of its customers to, “Hey, you know, all that stuff that you've instrumented over the last 20 years with a variety of different tools in the observability pipeline? Yeah, rip them all out and replace them with our new shiny thing.” Which never freaking happens. It feels like it's a better step toward meeting folks where they are.Thomas: Yeah. So, we're finding—I talk like I've been there forever: “What we're finding,”—in the past 40 hours of my work experience there, what we're finding, if you just look at the companies that are listed on the website, you'll get an idea for the scale that we're talking about. So no, we're not there to rip and replace. We're not going to show up and tell you, “Yeah, get rid of everything. We're going to do that for you.”Matter of fact, we think it's great you have all of those different things because it just reflects the complexity of your environment right now, is that you've grown, you've got so many disparate systems, you've got some of the technologies trying to monitor it all, and you're really hoping to have everything rolled into one big dashboard, right? Instead of right now, you've got to go through three, four, or five dashboards, to even think you have an idea of the problem. And you never really—you guess. We all guess. We think we know where it is, and you start looking and then you figure it out.But yeah, we take kind of a different approach right from the start, and we say, “Great, you've got all that data? Ingest it. Bring it right to us, okay? We don't care where it comes from, we can bring it in, and we can start going through it and start giving you true actionable insights.” We can filter out the noise, right, instead of one node going down, triggering a thousand alerts, we can just filter all of that out for you and just let you focus on the things that you need to be looking at right now.Corey: One of the things that I think gets overlooked in this space a lot is, “Well, we have this tool that does way better than that legacy tool that you're using right now and it's super easy to do a just drop-in replacement with our new awesomeness.” Great. What that completely misses is that there are other business units who perhaps care about data interchange and the idea that yeah, thing's a legacy piece of junk and replacing it would take an afternoon. And then it would take 14 years to wind up redoing all the other reports that other things are generating downstream of that because they integrate with that thing. So yeah, it's easy to replace the thing itself, but not in a way that anything else can take advantage of it.Thomas: Right.Corey: And when it turns out also when you sit there making fun of people's historical technological decisions, they don't really like becoming customers as it turns out. This was something of a shock for an awful lot of very self-assured startup founders in the early days.Thomas: Yeah. And again, you're talking about how, you know some of the companies we're looking at, it's y—we don't want to rip and replace things. Like you just said, you've got an ecosystem. It's a delicate ecosystem that has [laugh] developed over time. We aren't interested in replacing all that. We want to enhance it, we want to be on top of it and amplify what's in there for you.So yeah, we're not interested in coming in and say, “Yeah, rip every tool out.” And in some ways, when somebody will ask, you know, “Who do you compete with?” I'll go, “Nobody.” Because I'm not looking to replace anybody. I'm looking to go on top.And again, the companies we're dealing with have lots of data. We're talking very large companies. Some of these are the backbone of the internet. They just have way too much data for any of these legacy tools to help with, you know? They can help with, like, little things, but in terms of making sense of it all, in terms of doing the real big data analytics, yeah, that's where our tool comes in and it really shines.Corey: Yeah, it turns out that is not a really compelling sales pitch to walk it and say, “Hey, listen up, idiots, you all are doing it wrong. Now, pay me and we'll do it right.” Yeah, even if you're completely right, you've already lost the room at that point.Thomas: Exactly.Corey: People make decisions based upon human aspects, not about arithmetic, in most cases. I will say, taking a glance at the website, a couple of things are very promising. One, your picture and profile are already up there, which is good. No one is still on the fence about that, and further as a bonus, they've taken your job role down off the website, which is always disconcerting when you're there and, “Why is that job still open?” “Oh, we're preserving optionality. Don't you worry your head about that. We've got it.” No one finds that a reassuring story when it's about the role that they're in. So, good selection.Thomas: I went to—after I signed, it was within the day, I went to send somebody the link to the job req. Like, they're like, “What are”—I go, “Here, let me show you.” It was already down. The ink was even dry on the DocuSign and it was already down. So, I thought that—Corey: Good on them.Thomas: —was a good sign, too.Corey: Oh, yeah. Now, looking at the rest of your website, I do see a couple of things that lead to natural questions. One of the first things I look at on a web page is, okay, how is this thing priced? Because you always want to see the free tier option when I'm trying to solve a problem the middle of the night that I can just sign up for and see if it works for a small use case, but you also, in a big company definitely want to have the ‘Contact Us' option because we're procurement and we don't know how to sign a deal that doesn't have two commas in it with a bunch of special terms that ride along with it. Selector does not at the time of this recording, have a pricing page at all, which usually indicates if you have to ask, it might not be for you.Then I look at your customer case studies and they talk about very large enterprises, such as a major cable operator, for example, or TracFone. And oh okay, yeah, that is probably not the scale that I tend to be operating at. So, if I were to envision this as a carnival ride and there's a sign next to it, “You must be at least this tall to ride,” how tall should someone be?Thomas: That is a great way of putting it and I would—I can't really go into specifics because I'm still kind of new. But my understanding—Corey: Oh yeah. Make sweeping policy statements about your new employer 40 hours in. What could possibly go wrong?Thomas: My understanding is the companies that we—that are our target market today are fairly large enterprises with real data challenges, real monitoring data challenges. And so no, we're not doing—it's not transactional. You can't just come to our website and say, “Here, click this, you'll be up and running.” Because the volumes of data we're talking about, this requires a little bit of specialty in helping make sure that things are getting set up and correct.Think of it this way. Like if somebody said, “Here, do the statistical analysis on whatever, and here's Excel and go at it and get me that report by the end of the day and tell me how we're doing,” most people would be like, “I don't have enough information on that. Can you help me?” So, we're still at that, hey, we're going to need to help you through this and make sure it's correctly configured. And it's doing what you expect. So, how tall are you? I think that goes both ways. I think you're at a height where you still need some supervision [laugh]. Does that make sense?Corey: I think that's probably a good way of framing it. It's a—again, I'm not saying that you should never ever, ever, ever have a ‘you must contact us to get started.' There are a bunch of products like that out there. It turns out that even at The Duckbill Group here, we always want to have a series of conversations first. We don't have a shopping cart that's, “One consulting, please,” just because we'll get into trouble with that.Though I think our first pass offering of a two-day engagement might have one of those somewhere still lurking around. Don't quote me on that. Hell is other people's websites. It's great. But your own yeah, whoever reads that thing“. Wait, we're saying what?” Don't quote me on any of that, my God.Thomas: But I think that's a good way of putting it. Like, you want to have some conversations first. Yeah, so you—and again, we're still, we're fairly young. We've only—we're Series A, so we've been around 16 months, like… you know, the other website you're looking at is probably going to change within the next six or eight weeks just because information gets outdated—Corey: It already has. It put your picture on it.Thomas: Right. But I mean, things are going to things move pretty fast with startups, especially this one. So, I just expect that over time, I envision some type of a free tier, but we're not there yet.Corey: That's one of those challenges as far as in some cases moving down market. I found that anything that acts like a security tool, for example, has to, on some level, charge enough to be worth the squeeze. One of the challenges there is, I'm either limited for anything that does CloudTrail analysis over in AWS-land, for example. I can either find a bunch of janky things off GitHub or I can spend what starts at $1,000 a month and increases rapidly from there, which is about twice the actual AWS bill that it would wind up alerting on. Not that the business value isn't there, but because a complex sale is, in many cases, always going to be attendant with some of these products, so why not go after the larger companies where the juice is worth the squeeze rather than the folks who are not going to see the value and it'd be just as challenging to wind up launching a sale into?The corollary, of course, is that some of those small companies do in fact, grow meteorically. But it's a bit of a lottery.Thomas: Yep.Corey: Ugh. So, I have to ask as well, while we're talking about strange decisions that people might have made, in the world of tech, in many cases, when someone gets promoted—like, “So, does that mean extra money?” “No, not really. We just get extra adjectives added to our job title.” Good for us. You have decided to add letters in a different way, by going back for a second master's degree. What on earth would possess you to do such a thing?Thomas: I—man, that is—you know, so I got my first master's degree because I thought I was going to, I thought I was be a math teacher and basketball coach. And I had a master's degree in math and I thought that was going to be a thing. I'll get a job, you know, coaching and teaching at some small school somewhere. But then I realized that I enjoyed things like eating and keeping the wind off me, and so I realized I had to go get a jobby-job. And so, I took my masters in math, I ended—I got a job as a software analyst, and just rolled that from one thing to another until where I am today.But about four years ago, when I started falling back in love with my roots in math, and statistical analysis became a real easy thing for people to really start doing for themselves—well actually, that was about eight years ago—but the past four or five years, I've been earning more certifications in data science technologies. And then I found this program at Georgia Tech. So, Georgia Tech has an online masters of science and data analytics. And it's extremely affordable. So, I looked at a lot of programs, Corey, over the past few years, especially during the pandemic.I had some free time, so I browsed the love these places, and they were charging 50, $60,000 and you had to do it within two, three years. And in one case, the last class you had to take, your practicum, had to be all done on campus. So, you had to go, like, live somewhere. And I'm looking at all—none of that was practical. And all of a sudden, somebody shows up and goes, “So, you can go online, fully online, Georgia Tech, $275 a credit. Costs ten grand for the entire program.”And you can—it's geared towards a working professional and you can take anywhere from two to six years. So, you take, like, one class a semester if you want, or two or even three if they allow you, but they usually restrict you. So, it just blew my mind. Like, this exists today that I can start earning another Master's degree in data analytics and I'll say, be… classically trained in how—it's funny because when I learn things in class, I'm like, I feel like I'm Thornton Melon in Back to School, and I'm just like, “Oh, you left out a bunch of stuff. That isn't how you do it all,” right?That's kind of my reaction. I'm like, “Calm down. I'm sure the professor has point. I'll hear [laugh] him out.” But to me, you asked why, and I just the challenge. Am I really good at what I do? Like, I feel I am. I already have a master's degree. I'm not worried about the level of work and the commitment involved in earning another one.I just wanted to show to myself that could—I want to learn and make sure I can do things like code in Python. If anybody has a chance to take a programming class, a graduate-level programming classes at Georgia Tech, you should do it. You should see where your skills rate at that level, right? So, it was for the challenge. I want to know if I can do it. I'm three classes in. I just started my fourth, actually, today was the start of the fall semester.And so, I'm about halfway through, and I'm loving it. It's not too taxing. It's just the right speed for me. I get to do it in my leisure hours as they were. Yeah, so I did it for the challenge. I'm really glad I'm doing it. I encourage anybody interested in obtaining a degree in data analytics to look at the Georgia Tech program. It's well worth it. Georgia Tech's not a bad school. Like, if you had to go to school in the South, it's all right.Corey: I always find it odd, just, you had your first master's degree in, you know, mathematics, and now you're going for data analytics, which sounds like mathematics with extra steps.Thomas: It is.Corey: Were there opportunities that you were hoping to pursue that were not available to you with just the one master's degree?Thomas: So, it's interesting you say that because I'm so old that when I went to school, all we had was math, that was it. It was pure mathematics. I could have been a statistics major, I think, and computer science was a thing. And one day I met a guy who transferred into math from computer science. I'm like, “Why would you do that? What are you going to do with the degree in math?”And his response is, “What am I going to do with a degree in computer science?” And I look back and I realized how we were both right. So, I think at the time if there had been a course in applied mathematics, that would have piqued my interest. Like, what am I going to do with this math degree other than become an actuary because that was about all I knew at the time. You were a teacher or an actuary, and that was about it.So, the idea now that they have these programs in data analytics or data science that are little more narrow of focus, like, “This is what we're going to do: we're going to apply a little bit of math, some calculus, some stats; we're going to show you how to build your own simulations; we're going to show you how to ask the right questions of the data.” To give you a little bit of training. Because they can't teach you everything. You really have to have real-world experience in whatever domain you're going to focus on, be it finance or marketing or whatever. All these bright financial operations, that's just analytics for finance, marketing operations, that's analytics for marketing. It's just, to me, I think just the opportunity to have that focus would have been great back then and it didn't exist. And I want to take advantage of it now.Corey: I've always been a fan of advising people who ask me, “Should I go back to school,” because usually, there's something else driving that. Like, I am honestly not much of a career mentor. My value basically comes in as being a horrible warning to others. On paper, I have an eighth-grade education. I am not someone to follow for academic approaches.But when someone early or mid-career asks, “Should I get another degree?” Unpacking that is always a bit of a fun direction for me to go in. Because at some level, we've sold entire generations a bill of goods, where oh, if you don't know what to do, just get more credentials and then your path will be open to you in a bunch of new and exciting ways. Okay, great. I'm not saying that's inherently wrong, but talk to people doing the thing you'd want to do after you have that degree, maybe, you know, five or six years down the professional line from where you are and get their take on it.Because in some cases, yeah, there are definite credentials you're going to need—I don't want you to be a self-taught surgeon, for example—but there are other things where it doesn't necessarily open doors. People are just reflexively deciding that I'm going to go after that instead. And then you can start doing the math of, okay, assume that you have whatever the cost of the degree is in terms of actual cost and opportunity cost. Is this the best path forward for you to wind up getting where you want to go? It sounds like in your particular case, this is almost a labor of love or a hobby style of approach, as opposed to, “Well, I really want Job X, but I just can't get it without the right letters after my name.” Is that a fair assessment?Thomas: It's not unfair. It is definitely fair, but I would also say, you know, if somebody came and said, “Hey Tom, we need somebody to run our data science team or our data engineering team,” I've got the experience for—the only thing I would be lacking is, you know, production experience, like, with machine-learning pipelines or something. I don't have that today.Corey: Which is basically everyone else, too, but that's a little—bit of a quiet secret in the industry.Thomas: Yeah, that's—okay. Bad example. But you know what I'm saying is that the only thing I'd be lacking would be that practical experience, so this is one way that—to at least start that little bit of experience, especially with the end result being the practicum that we'll be doing. It's, like, six credits at the very end. So yes, it's a fair thing.I wouldn't—hobby isn't really the right—this is really something that makes me get out of bed in the morning. I get to work with data today and I'm going to get—I'm going to tell a great story using data today. I really do enjoy those things. But then at the tail end of this, if it happens to lead to a position that somebody says, “Hey, we need somebody, vice president of data engineering. This a really good”—honestly, the things I look for are the roles and the roles I want are to have a role that allows me to really have an impact on other people's lives.And that's one of the things about Selector. The things that we're able to do for these admins that are just drowning in data, the data is just in their way, and that we can help them make sense of it all, to me, that's impactful. So, those are the types of roles that I will be looking for as well in the future, especially at the high level of something data science-y.Corey: I think that that is a terrific example of what I'm talking about. Because I've met a number of folks, especially very early-20s range where, okay, they've gotten the degree, but now they don't know what to do because every time they're applying for jobs, it doesn't seem to work for them. You've been around this industry for 25 years. Everyone needs a piece of paper that says they know certain things, and in your case, it long ago transitioned into being—I would assume—your resumé, the history of things you have done that look equivalent. Part of me, on some level, wonders if there isn't an academic snobbery going on at some level, where a number of teams are, “Oh, we'd love to have you in, but you don't have a PhD.”And then people get the PhD. “From the right school, in the right area of concentration.” It's like, you just keep moving these very expensive goalposts super quickly. Remember, I have an eighth-grade education. I'm not coming at this from a place of snobbery and I'm also not one of those folks who's well it didn't work for me, therefore, it won't work for anyone else either because that's equally terrible in a different direction.It's just making sure that people are going into these things with their eyes open. With you, it's never been a concern. You've been around this industry so long that it is extremely unlikely to me [laugh] that you, “Oh, wait. You mean a degree won't magically solve all of my problems and regrow some of my hair and make me two inches taller, et cetera, et cetera?” But yeah, do I remember in the early days just how insipid and how omnipresent that pressure was.Thomas: Yeah. I've been at companies where we've brought in people because of the education and—or I'm sorry. Let's be more specific. I've been at companies where we've sent current employees—as we used to call it—off the charm school, which is basically [MBA 00:25:44].Corey: [laugh].Thomas: And I swear, so many of them came back and they just forgot how to think, how to have common sense. Like, they were very much focused on one particular thing and this is just it, and they forgot there were maybe humans involved, and maybe look for a human answer instead of the statistically correct one. So, I think that was a good thing for me as well to be around that because, yeah, somebody put it me best years ago: “Education by itself isn't enough. If you combine education with motivation, now you've really got something.” And your case, I don't know where you went for eighth grade, it could have been the best eighth-grade program ever, but you definitely have the motivation through the years to overcome anything that might have been lacking in the form of education. So, it's really the combination—Corey: Oh, you'd be surprised. A lot of those things are still readily apparent to people who work with me, so I've done a good job of camouflaging them. Hazzah.Thomas: Just it's, you got to have both. You can't just rely on one or the other.Corey: So, last question, given that you are the data guy and SQLRockstar is your username in a bunch of places. What's the best database? I mean, I would always say it's Route 53, but I understand that can be controversial for some folks, given that their SQL implementation is not yet complete. What's your take?Thomas: So clearly, I'm partial to anything inside the Microsoft data platform, with the exception being Access. I think if Access disappeared from the universe… society might be better off. But that's for a different day, I think the best database is the one that does the job you need it to do. Honestly, the database shouldn't really matter. It's just an abstraction. The database engine is just something in between you and the data you need, right?So, whatever you're using, if it's doing the job that you need it to do, then that's the best database you could have. I learned a long time ago to not pick sides, choose fiefdoms. Like, it just didn't matter. It's all kind of the same. And in a lot of cases, if you go to, like, the DB-Engines Rankings, you'll see how many of these systems these days, there's a lot of overlap. They offer all the same features and the differences between them are getting smaller and smaller in a lot of cases. So yeah, it's… you got to database, it does what you need to do? That's great. That's the best database.Corey: Especially since any database, I suspect, can be made to perform a given task, even if sub-optimally. Which states back to my core ethos of, quite frankly, anything is a database if you hold it wrong.Thomas: Yeah, it really is. I mean, we've had those discussions. I kid about Access because it's just a painful thing for a lot of different reasons. But is Excel a database? And I would say no but, you know—because it can't do certain things that I would expect a relational engine to do. And then you find out, well, I can make it do those things. So, now is it a database? And, yeah…Corey: [laugh]. Yeah. Well, what if I apply some brute force? Will it count then? Like, you have information, Thomas. Can I query you?Thomas: Yes. Yes, yes, [laugh] you can. I also have latency.Corey: Exactly. That means you are a suboptimal database.Thomas: [laugh].Corey: Good job. I really want to thank you for taking the time to talk about what you're up to these days and finally coming on the show. If people want to learn more, where's the best place for them to find you?Thomas: Well, I'm becoming more active on LinkedIn. So, it's linkedin/in/sqlrockstar. Just search for SQLRockstar, you'll find me everywhere. I mean, I do have a blog. I rarely blog these days. Most of the posts I do is over at LinkedIn.And you might find me at some networking events coming up since Selector really does focus on network observability. So, you could see me there. And you know what? I'm also going to have an appearance on the Screaming in the Cloud podcast, so you can listen to me there.Corey: Excellent. And I imagine that's the one we don't have to put into these [show notes. 00:29:44]. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I really do appreciate it.Thomas: Thanks for having me, Corey. I look forward to coming back.Corey: As I look forward to seeing you again over here. Thomas LaRock, Principal Developer Evangelist at Selector. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice along with an insulting comment because then we're going to use all those together as a distributed database.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.

PlanBri Uncut Ep.190 with Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia ft. Gia Mariano Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannalapa... https://www.instagram.com/gracekomalley/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannachicke... https://www.tiktok.com/@gracekomalley... Twitter: https://twitter.com/BChickenfry https://twitter.com/grace__omalley Our Merch: https://store.barstoolsports.com/coll... https://store.barstoolsports.com/coll... SUPPORT THE SHOW: PIRATE WATER: Go to drinkpiratewater.com to find Pirate Water in a location near you GAMETIME: Download the Gametime app or go to the website, enter your email, and redeem code PLANBRI for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply). The MTV Video Music Awards are LIVE this Tuesday at 8/7c. Buy Your GoWild! Pass Today! www.flyfrontier.com/planbri Learn more about TracFone at https://www.straighttalk.com/multiline?utm_medium=BAC&utm_campaign=AW&utm_content=EVRGRN&utm_term=GNRC-%25epid!_%ecid!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/planbri

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology with special guest John Dwyer, President of Prepaid and Cricket Wireless at AT&T.0:48: John shares a “State of the Union” in prepaid and specifically for Cricket.3:10: How have customer expectations changed today versus before the pandemic?4:33: AT&T has an exciting new announcement - what is going on and what are the details?7:23: Predictions about how the distribution model will shift moving forward.9:34: The disconnect between digitizing digital phone service and customers.11:26: What people need to know about Cricket.Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Recon Analytics, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, John Dwyer, AT&T, Cricket, JD Power, ACSI, Verizon, Tracfone, Mint, prepaid, pandemic, tax refund, tax season,

Rich talked about finding cool spots to visit using Google Maps and Instagram. On Google Maps, search “scenic spots” and on Instagram search for a city name and then hit Places, then the X to see spots where people are posting the most stories and photos.Rich also talked about using a parking app called SpotHero to secure a parking spot at the Taylor Swift concert. He also talked about how cool the LED bracelets they gave out were, from a company named Pixmob.Rich also wondered how to donate to the Maui relief efforts. This website has a good rundown of ways to help.Android phones can now alert users about AirTags nearby that might be stalking them. Explained in this video.Taya in Moorpark asks if there's a good service to upload her recently scanned photos into. Rich recommends Google Photos.Debbie in Anaheim is wondering if there's a way she can see what kinds of signals her neighbor with giant antennas on the roof is emitting. It's messing with her Wi-Fi. Rich recommends checking out WiFi Analyzer apps to scan the area.Disney+ is raising prices again. Rich likes the rundown posted at Cord Cutter Weekly.Sal in Chicago asks how to block Spam calls on his phone. Rich recommends downloading the app for your carrier if it's AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile. Otherwise, enable scam call protection and Bixby Text Call in Phone Settings on Samsung devices and Pixel owners get call screening built in.Amazon is having a new day called Prime Big Deal Days in October. They're also delivering some items without additional packaging so they might show up on your doorstep in their original box.Roland in Florida asks how to upgrade the RAM on his computer and if it's worth it. Rich says to check out the system scanner on Crucial.com and if it's inexpensive, it's worth it.Rich talks about how restaurants are adding more fees and surcharges to bills so be on the lookout for them, you might already be paying for service charges before you sign for the bill. Fred sent along a spreadsheet where diners are keeping track of all the charges.Joseph in Santa Barbara wants to know why someone else is getting his iMessages. You can use the iMessage Deregister tool to knock other devices of iMessage.Michael in Waco, TX wants a number row on the keyboard on the iPhone. Rich says to check out the app called Swiftkey and enable the number row in settings.Verizon is raising prices on several legacy unlimited plans.Gary in Costa Mesa wants to know about using remanufactured printer ink cartridges.Seraphene in Studio City wants to know about editing videos on iPhone. Rich recommends CapCut and Splice.Apple might be changing the location of the end call button on iPhone.Dan in San Jacinto has issues with Bluetooth headphones and his Fire TV Cube. Wirecutter recommends 1MORE SonoFlow and Anker headphones are also highly regarded. Here's the Alexa light up remote we were talking about.Waymo and Cruise are allowed to operate in San Francisco 24/7. Some riders are doing the unthinkable in the backseat.The Cadillac Escalade EV is a cool $130,000.Caleb Denison, Editor at Large at Digital Trends joined to talk top TV picks! His picks for high end sets include the LG G3 OLED and the Sony A95K. For mid range TV's, check out the TCL QM8 or the HiSense U8K. You can buy these in smaller screen sizes and save money.Bob wants to know about the best apps to find electric vehicle charging stations. Rich likes A Better Route Planner and PlugShare.Wendy asks about a flip phone for emergencies. Rich recommends the Tracfone.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology.0:26: What the earnings report for U.S. Cellular looked like for Q1.1:12: Altice and Frontier also reported for Q1.2:08: Everything gets better with speed 3:55: What the new handset data shows.5:34: The role brand perception plays in customer satisfaction.6:08: DISH was hacked and had a long outage - how that will likely affect their numbers when they finally report their Q1 earnings and how they are doing overall.9:20: The DOJ is investigating the Mint Mobile acquisition by T-Mobile.10:50: Mint customers have been among the happiest in the industry.Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Recon Analytics, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Frontier, Altice, Qualcomm, US Cellular, NPS, DISH, earnings, quarter 1 earnings, DOJ, FCC, MVNO, Ting, Mint Mobile, Verizon, Tracfone, T-Mobile,

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Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology.0:27: Mint Mobile has just announced their sale.3:04: Competition for the wholesale market - what's going on there?4:14: Mint was unique in the market, but is its value really that great?6:45: What Recon's data collected on Mint says about customer satisfaction. 10:45: What is the long term outlook for MVNOs?13:25: What Mint has done well to attract a buyer.Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Recon Analytics, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Mint Mobile, T-Mobile, MVNO, DISH, Boost, Tracfone, Comcast, Charter, Consumer Cellular, Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds, acquisition,

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Millennial/Gen Z ShowdownEPISODE 07They may not all know what a Walkman is, but we uncover some fascinating insights about Gen Z with one of our fan-fav guests, Erin Campbell!What we cover in this episode: - Millennial trivia with Gen Z- Gen Z Mobilization- How do we really feel about the aging process and our favorite beauty brands?- Watch who you trust with your eyebrows!- What happened to JTT?We'd love to continue this conversation with you over on social media! Catch up with us on Instagram and Facebook:IG: @talkfortytomepodcast FB: facebook.com/talkfortytomepodcastWebsite: talkfortytomepodcast.comERIN CAMPBELL, CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AND CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARDErin comes from a background as Senior Vice President of shopper strategy and digital media at Saatchi & Saatchi X. She taught over 800 Walmart executives on the Millennial generation and led the team responsible for teaching about the Gen Z consumer base. Erin has done work for P&G, Philips Electronics, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Coke, Spinmaster, Tracfone, Walmart, Target and more. With a B.A. in journalism, obsession with “The Office” (also a millennial) and doing burpees in a heated workout studio, Erin is constantly pushing herself out of her comfort zone and is unashamed to ask for what she needs to succeed. The CMO's philosophy is that marketing should offer an inherent value to the consumer. Her preferred value exchange is humor and emotion, which she believes has the power to change behavior for the better and can leaves nothing behind but a smile. She lives in Bentonville, Arkansas near the other leaders of GEN Z with her husband, son and cat, Yogi and believes women are magical.Links Mentioned:Cle De Peau BeauteMerit Cream BlushNars Orgasm Liquid BlushAnastasia Brow WizAnastasia Brow PenMakeup By Mario Softsculpt

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and  technology.  0:26: There's a new prepaid brand on the scene: Total by Verizon. Roger shares the scoop. 2:26:  Comparing Total to Metro and Cricket.  5:35:  The benefits of assisted sales at holiday time. 6:29:  Comparing digital sales and assisted sales now and what worked better pre-pandemic and why.  Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Recon Analytics, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Total, Verizon, pre-paid, Straighttalk, Simple Mobile, Tracfone, AT&T, Leap Wireless, Cricket Wireless, Metro, no contract,

Gen WHAT? From Gen X through Gen Alpha, we're diving into them all in today's episode. Join us and generational expert Erin Campbell as we discuss differences in today's generations. In this episode, we cover:Why the years seem to pass faster as we get olderHow social media is designed to seize the attention of all of us regardless of age and how we deal with technology and our kidsDigital detoxing for ourselves and our family We'd love to continue this conversation with you over on social media! Catch up with us on Instagram and Facebook:IG: @talkfortytomepodcast FB: facebook.com/talkfortytomepodcastWebsite: talkfortytomepodcast.com'You will never be younger than you are in this moment.' - Mel RobbinsERIN CAMPBELL, CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AND CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARDErin comes from a background as Senior Vice President of shopper strategy and digital media at Saatchi & Saatchi X. She taught over 800 Walmart executives on the Millennial generation and led the team responsible for teaching about the Gen Z consumer base. Erin has done work for P&G, Philips Electronics, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Coke, Spinmaster, Tracfone, Walmart, Target and more. With a B.A. in journalism, obsession with “The Office” (also a millennial) and doing burpees in a heated workout studio, Erin is constantly pushing herself out of her comfort zone and is unashamed to ask for what she needs to succeed. The CMO's philosophy is that marketing should offer an inherent value to the consumer. Her preferred value exchange is humor and emotion, which she believes has the power to change behavior for the better and can leaves nothing behind but a smile. She lives in Bentonville, Arkansas near the other leaders of GEN Z with her husband, son and cat, Yogi and believes women are magical.Links Mentioned:Follow GenZ Brands on Instagram and Tik Tok at @drinkgenzDigital Detox: The Two-Week Tech Reset for KidsLessons in Chemistry: A Novel

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and  technology.  0:28: Details about the new unlimited plan that Verizon released recently. 4:41: Where Xfinity and Spectrum fit in 6:35: Is Verizon changing from a premium brand to a value brand? 8:34: Both T-Mobile and Verizon are bundling their fixed wireless services with their phone services. Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Recon Analytics, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Verizon, 4G, millimeter, Tracfone, Spectrum, Xfinity, AT&T, T-Mobile,

De trabajar con datos en un banco a sacar adelante un proyecto de ‘machine learning' para responder a un reto social planteado por una compañía de telecomunicaciones. Este ha sido el desafío al que se enfrentaron Jaime Blanco, Daniel Fernández de Castillo, Sergio Martín, Laura Rodríguez y Gerardo Ruano entre otros. Un reto solventado con éxito. Y es que los dos modelos de ‘machine learning' que desarrollaron han conseguido el primer y segundo puesto en un reñido ‘datathon' internacional de Tracfone Wireless, el mayor operador móvil de Estados Unidos. Los participantes debían crear un modelo que determinase qué clientes estaban en riesgo de exclusión social y podían acceder a unas ayudas del gobierno para no perder su acceso a internet durante el confinamiento por COVID-19. Tracfone tendrá en cuenta la solución ganadora en sus procesos de trabajo, para conseguir personalizar aún más su servicio. En este capítulo de Blink los protagonistas nos cuentan su experiencia.

#datascience #ai #artificialintelligence #deeplearning ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR ALL/ AI FOR ALL Avishkar Misra, Ph.D., is the Head of Data Science at TracFone Wireless Inc., where he is building a data science practice to anticipate and address customer needs using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Previously, he was the Director of Data Science Practice at ThinkBig Analytics, a consulting arm of Teradata. Before that, he worked at Oracle, Amazon, Microsoft, CAE Australia and LMIK Medical Research Project. As an experienced technologist, he has successfully launched products, services and teams to deliver impactful artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions. For example, during his time at Amazon, he built Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions for Advertising, AmazonGo stores and Movie Recommendations. The Deep Learning-based algorithm that he invented for movie recommendation has been described as “Once-in-a-decade-leap” in Recommendations at Amazon. Avishkar has a passion for harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence, building teams and creating a culture of innovation. He holds 14 patents and co-authored 14 scientific papers for inventing new solutions to complex problems across several domains, including online and offline retail, product recommendations, advertising, agriculture, IoT, healthcare and telecom. Avishkar holds a Doctorate in Computer Science from the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) for his work with incremental engineering of medical imaging systems. Kindly Subscribe to CHANGE- I M POSSIBLE - youtube channel www.youtube.com/ctipodcast

For only the second time in 137 years, AT&T cut its dividend. That had to be like a gut punch for a lot of AT&T shareholders who were relying upon those dividends.So, is there still profit available in the wireless industry?Every month that I pay my AT&T Uverse bill, I think, how could this company not make money? But maybe I just answered my own question. AT&T has spread itself thin for about the past decade or more. They're trying to be far more than a wireless service provider. If you are a dividend investor, should you buy, sell or hold?I'll give you two thoughts.  First, there are alternatives for investing in wireless technology. Obviously, Verizon is one of those options since that is the subject of today's stock analysis.  I mention more on alternatives in today's video.Second, I want to help you grow your knowledge on selling dividend stocks, so you know when the time comes. I have prepared a special video lesson called When To Sell a Dividend Stock. You can find that video lesson for free at www.WhenToSellaDividendStock.com Here are the other topics I cover this week. The numbers before the topic are the time stamp on the recording. These points are also indicated in the chapter section of this podcast. If you're short on time, jump to that section of the podcast.1.49 What is Verizon's business strategy?  2.37  How stable is Verizon?  3:11 Who are Verizon's primary competitors? 3.38 What sets Verizon apart from its competitors? 4.21 How will the acquisition of Tracfone affect Verizon? 5.31 Tell me more about Verizon's earnings.  8.38 How does Verizon's dividends compare to AT&T's  13.13 How competitive is Verizon with its peers?  14.38 What are the bullish characteristics of Verizon?  16.06 What are the bearish characteristics of Verizon?  18.20 How are analysts valuing Verizon?19.40 What is the analysts' sentiment toward Verizon?In ending, please remember that this information is for educational purposes only. It is not investment advice.I sincerely hope this information will help you grow your financial knowledge so that you can be in control of your financial future!Have a great week!Van Richards, ChFC®

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology. 0:27: Verizon's earnings are out - time to analyze their execution on their plans. 2:55: Even though C-Band deployment was been delayed, Verizon is working to get more markets ahead of schedule. 4:36: What's Verizon doing with fixed wireless? 6:10: How does Verizon compare to T-Mobile? 7:14: AT&T launched their multi-gig fiber - the initial reports are in. 8:55: AT&T released their earnings report - what it contained. 11:42: Verizon's number included acquiring Tracfone. What dangers does Roger see about this merger? 13:27: T-Mobile's strategy for prepaid versus postpaid. 14:47: What's going on with prepaid churn levels? Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, media, Recon Analytics, Verizon, earnings, AT&T, T-Mobile, fixed wireless, fiber, DSL, churn,

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner welcome Jeff Moore to the podcast. Jeff is the Principal and Founder at Wave7 Research which monitors wireless competition in the United States. 0:43: Jeff shares about how Verizon's recent acquisition of Tracfone will affect the retail and consumer markets. 3:15: Breaking down what this looks like at BestBuy. 4:15: Verizon took control of Total Wireless - what this could mean for their business strategy. 6:45: Discussion of Verizon's history with StraightTalk. 7:29: Jeff shares his thoughts about T-Mobile versus Tracfone/Verizon in Walmart.  9:27: How this affects the other competitors in the prepaid space. 11:11: Musings about what could happen in personnel and culture after this acquisition. 14:22: How Verizon could be planning to sell more internet access via the prepaid brands. https://wave7research.com/ (Learn more about Jeff's work at Wave7 here.) Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, media, Recon Analytics, Verizon, Tracfone, Walmart, BestBuy, Target, retail, Lively, Metro, Cricket, Boost, Simple Mobile, StraightTalk, Go Smart Mobile, Page Plus Cellular, 

What can a leader do to change a toxic work culture? When you're in this position it can feel frustrating and even hopeless. If you can't make progress, it can lead to higher employee turnover and even threaten your goals.  Some leaders either give up entirely on changing the culture or ram through initiatives without garnering support first... neither is a recipe for success. Enter my interview with Jay Smith, CIO of https://www.tracfone.com/home (TracFone Wireless). You'll discover the key to changing a toxic work culture and a positive first step to get others on board with the changes. Jay's led positive change across TracFone Wireless, a company with revenues of $8B and 21M subscribers, plus World Fuel Services, NASCAR, Tyco, and CNA. Jay's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessmith/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessmith/) WHAT YOU WILL DISCOVER FROM THIS EPISODE: Jay's first job that helped him realize his career path. What inspired him most about his first professional job at Lockheed. The turning point of his career. What he learned running a consulting company and how it helped him become a better corporate executive. How to measure success when running your own company. Why you need to foster the “Entrepreneurial Spirit” in your team, and how to nurture it. Where decisions should be made in the company. How to change a toxic work culture. Why you must start small to build trust. Two traits to instill in every employee... humility and vulnerability. What happens when the senior leader asks for feedback. A blueprint for giving feedback to your boss and team. QUOTES: “Have the courage to take a risk and go for your dream.” “Create small cross-functional empowered teams that are responsible for business outcomes.“ “Start with small ways to earn credibility and trust.” ------------------- https://www.benfanning.com/the-ceo-sessions/ (Apply to be on the show) ------------------- https://www.benfanning.com/the-ceo-sessions/ (Connect with Ben:) https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benfanning/) https://www.instagram.com/benfanning1/ (https://www.instagram.com/benfanning1/) https://twitter.com/BenFanning1 (https://twitter.com/BenFanning1)

The FCC's approval includes conditions to "address potential harms and to ensure the transaction will be in the public interest," the commission says. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest today on the Brett Allan Show is the amazing Brandon Severs. We talk about his current project, "Head of the Class and his character "Terrell Hayward". How the show differs from the *80's" version, early career starts, what pushes him as a creative, the importance of family support, best advice given and more. Enjoy! Brandon can be seen starring in HBO Max's family comedy series, “Head of the Class” opposite Isabella Gomez and Robin Givens. A reboot of the popular 1980's sitcom of the same name, the 2021 series follows a group of overachieving high school students who meet their greatest challenge: first time teacher, Alicia Gomez (Gomez). Brandon shines as Terrell Hayward, an athletic and bright student who is all about team mentality and the optimist in a class of stressed-out overachievers. He is also the son of Darlene (Givens), from the original series, who is now the co-president of the Parents' Association. Brandon was also recently seen as Liam Carter in the Disney+ series, “Diary of a Future President” which released its second season on August 18, 2021. In 2020, he was seen in Quibi's award-nominated action series “#FreeRayshawn” opposite Laurence Fishburne. From 2016-18, he starred as Dusty in Disney XD's hit hidden-camera prank series, “Walk The Prank.” Born in Las Vegas, Brandon started acting at a young age initially booking national television commercials for brands like The Walt Disney Company, Tracfone and Toyota to name a few. He quickly started landing theatrical work with appearances on TBS' “Men at Work,” ABC's “The Neighbors” and “The Whispers” and NBC's popular long running soap opera, “Days of Our Lives.” In his spare time, Brandon enjoys playing several musical instruments including, the drums, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, piano and ukulele as well as singing.Be sure to follow us on social media for all the latest podcast updates!Twittertwitter.com/@brettallanshowIGinstagram.com/brettallanshowFacebookFacebook.com/brettallanshowNOW ON YOUTUBE!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChHL...

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology. 0:38: It's earnings season again! How did Verizon fare with their most generous offer yet in Q3? 4:54: Consumer versus Business analysis for Q3.  8:04: Verizon actually gave a breakdown of their fixed wireless numbers. 10:42: How did Tracfone do? 11:45: Walmart started selling T-Mobile pre-paid phones. 13:38: What Verizon could be planning to do with Tracfone. 16:37: What they're looking for from the other carriers in Q3. Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, media, Recon Analytics, Verizon, Tracfone, pandemic, supply chain shortages, fiber, DSL, fios, AT&T, C-Band, Tracfone, StraightTalk,Walmart, America Mobile, Safelink,

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology. 0:26: Cox Communications filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile, in January 2021, and a ruling has been made. 2:10: A brief history of why there would be an exclusivity agreement with T-Mobile and Cox Communications. 4:38: It looks like Cox is stuck with T-Mobile and higher-than-market rates right now. The DOJ & FCC may get into the disagreement. 6:20: Mobile X is launching on Verizon. 7:46: T-Mobile seems to be moving out of MVNO carriers. What benefit would that have to them? 9:11: Visible is in the news this week for a data breach. 12:36: Timeline for the Tracfone merger - will it get approved with the current makeup with the FCC? Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Recon Analytics, MVNO, Cox Communications, T-Mobile, Sprint, Charter, Comcast, Altice, Verizon, Charlie Ergen, Boost, John Legere, Tracfone, FCC, MobileX

Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner discuss the latest news in telecom, media, and technology. 0:26: T-Mobile has released their Q2 Earnings Report. 4:38: T-Mobile shared data on its rural buildout.  7:49: T-Mobile reported that they beat Verizon's business-sector churn.  9:35: T-Mobile's projections for net adds - is it too aggressive or right on track? 12:39: Comcast shared their Q2 Earnings Reports for the wireless portion of their business.  19:03: Is the MVNO business model working? Is a hybrid MVNO a good strategy? Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, wireless, cellular phone, cellular service, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Recon Analytics, T-Mobile, Earnings, Quarterly Report, Tracfone, account growth, AT&T, Comcast, Altice, DISH, US Cellular

On this episode we have the amazing visual artist, Mark Rogers. His work is mind-blowing. He does these absolutely mesmerizing painting of aliens, wizards, and other strange things. Check out hist stuff on Instagram he is @markrogersart. Seriously, while you are listening to this interview check out his Instagram. This was a great conversation, and I was so happy to talk to Mark. I really admire his work. Also, on this episode we also have Gary Arnold. A man who claims to be able to communicate with otherworldly entities through his $5 TracFone.  Guests: Mark Rogers Gary Arnold Call The Mystery Hotline at 1-888-726-0055. Tell us your mysterious story of the strange, the unknown, and the paranormal. If you have a guest or topic that you would like to hear on this show, please email podofmystery@gmail.com. You can also send any feedback or comments to that same address.   This audio program is copyrighted by me, Jason Rigden in 2021. And is freely available under the Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution License. 

In this episode of CISO Talk, James Azar hosts Igor Spektor, CISO at TracFone wireless as the two discuss team building, the challenges of a new CISO role and the advantages of it as well. The two also talk about cybersecurity vs corporate mission, how the successful firms understand that and what CISO's can do to enhance security across the enterprise. Tune in to this amazing podcast and make sure to subscribe and comment Bio: Senior subject matter expert in Information Security, Risk Management and Security Transformation. Master at identifying and clarifying information security and technology risks, and coordinating remediation effort. Dynamic leader who builds high-performance teams and responds rapidly to changing priorities in fast-paced environments. Skilled strategist with proven problem solving, communication, and decision-making abilities, conducting a detailed analysis of complex challenges to formulate effective solutions in line with business objectives, timelines, and budgets. Proven ability to lead and direct. Effective team leader, continually empowering staff through training, guidance, and motivation Specialties: Information Systems, Information Security business transformation, IT Security Strategic Planning, Information Security Operation, Endpoint, Mobile and cloud Security, Compliance and Risk Management, Budget and Planning, Security Operations and process improvement.    Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorspektor/   CISO Talk is supported by these great partners please make sure to check them out: KnowBe4: https://info.knowbe4.com/phishing-security-test-cyberhub  Whistic: www.whistic.com/cyberhub **** Find James Azar Host of CyberHub Podcast, CISO Talk, Goodbye Privacy, Tech Town Square, Other Side of Cyber and CISOs Secrets James on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-azar-a1655316/ James on Parler: @realjamesazar Telegram: CyberHub Podcast ****** Sign up for our newsletter with the best of CyberHub Podcast delivered to your inbox once a month: http://bit.ly/cyberhubengage-newsletter   ****** Website: https://www.cyberhubpodcast.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPoU8iZfKFIsJ1gk0UrvGFw Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CyberHubpodcast/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyberhubpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/cyberhubpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyberhubpodcast Listen Here: https://linktr.ee/CISOtalk   The Hub of the Infosec Community. Our mission is to provide substantive and quality content that's more than headlines or sales pitches. We want to be a valuable source to assist those cybersecurity practitioners in their mission to keep their organizations secure.  

0:25: DISH just released their 4th Quarter numbers which closes out the prepaid carriers. 2:30: It seems that COVID-19 is no longer negatively affecting the wireless market. 3:08: Was it a good business move for Verizon to buy Tracfone in the current market? 4:07: Tracfone is going through a transformation. 5:10: DISH announced some interesting things about the Sprint CDMA network. Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Recon Analytics, prepaid, Q4, DISH, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Tracfone, Boost, net adds, stimulus, GDP, Verizon, cellular, postpaid, StraightTalk, recession

CTFN's editorial trio discuss the latest on GrandVision/EssilorLuxottica, opposition to Lockheed's acquisition of Aerojet, Verizon's Tracfone acquisition, and Judge Merrick Garland's confirmation hearing to be Attorney General.Follow us:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctfn_newsWebsite: https://ctfn.news/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/connecticut-financial-news/

0:27: T-Mobile released their Q4 2020 Earnings Report, it was a strong quarter. 1:53: Contrasting T-Mobile with Verizon and AT&T. 3:45: Impacts of a muted churn enviornment. 4:20: T-Mobile's secret to success.  5:06: Will gross adds bounce back? 6:05: T-Mobile keeps talking about how much of an advantage the network that they are deploying will be. How will this impact rural America? 10:54: T-Mobile is piloting wireless 5G broadband. That will position them to compete with smaller cable providers. Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Recon Analytics, T-Mobile, churn, Sprint, Q4 2020, AT&T, Verizon, postpaid, TracFone, low band, mid band, rural, iPhone, 5G, Comcast,

0:26: It's earnings season! Verizon's numbers for the last quarter shows they are struggling to attract customers. What has been working for them and what hasn't? 5:09: Verizon talked about their 5G sites and their 5G plans for 2021. 6:25: Comparing AT&T's numbers with Verizon's - is it better to have more net adds or better profitability? 7:48: Apple has reported an incredible 4th Quarter; a lot from overseas customers. 8:56: AT&T and Verizon didn't have a problem with offering devices that no one wanted to buy - let's compare their strategies. 9:22: Stores are closed for all companies, but COVID cannot be blamed for Verizon's numbers. 10:52: Is there a difference between operational metrics and financial metrics?  12:50: AT&T talked about their fiber - it's a multi-use network. 14:47: Comcast released their numbers and have renegotiated their contract with Verizon which is good for them but not so much for Verizon. Tags: telecom, telecommunications, business, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, Recon Analytics, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, 5G, C-Band, Ultra Wideband, COVID, COVID-19, Coronavirus, T-Mobile, Bell South, DirecTV, Warner Media, Hollywood, fiber optic cable, Tracfone, StraightTalk,

I am cataloguing this episode under budgeting, but will you be pleasantly surprised to hear just how many topics are covered in the discussion today with Financial Coach Betty Lewis and FinTech & Cryptocurrency expert Link Green. This episode includes gems galore! There is something for everyone when you talk about budgeting. Listen in for budgeting ideas, house hacking, cash vs, cards, cryptocurrencies, emotional money mindsets and more! The discussion is vast and I ensure you that you will hear something new, I know I did! Sit back, relax and enjoy. To inquire about Betty's services, please find her at the following places: Instagram, FB, YouTube @YoungRichRooted and www.YoungRichRooted.com To reach Link, please find him at: Insta @jo3y_gallactic FB @Link Green YouTube @Link Green The Khemist Please remember to like, share, subscribe, rate and review the podcast. Follow or contact me at: www.readysetfree.me Instagram @Ready.Set.Free Facebook @Ready Set Free You Tube @Ready Set Free Email: info@readysetfree.me Contact Audio/Video Engineer Orlando at mygoodmediallc@gmail.com

Nvidia acquires Arm, Verizon acquires Tracfone, and all the news out of Apple's fall 2020 event.   How to Contact us: 650-999-0524   How to Listen:

This week Roger and Don discuss Verizon's acquisition of Tracfone, NVidia's ARM merger and AT&T CEO John Stankey's op-ed on expanding rural broadband.

In this episode of The G2 on 5G, Anshel, Will and Mark Cover:1. MVNO World Congress & 5G opportunities including Fixed Wireless Access - FWA2. Netgear Mobile 5G Router on AT&T3. Qualcomm + US Cellular Hit 3 Miles at 200 Mbps with mmWave in Rural Wisconsin Settings4. AT&T COVID-19 Silver Lining – Learning to Adapt to the Unexpected5. Verizon buying Tracfone for $6B6. Apple Event – Apple Watch & iPad including potential 5G iPad

T-Mobile strikes long term deal with American Tower. T-Mobile execs speak on network plan. Verizon to acquire Tracfone, network access changes and possibly more bundles for Big Red. (S2 E14) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/smtreport/message

The Sprint and T-Mobile Merger is official, Tracfone busted for fraud, and Apple buys DarkSky. How to Contact us: 650-999-0524   How to Listen:

KRACK (WPA2 WiFi security vulnatiblity exploited, install security updates now), prepaid cellphone plans (Tracfone and others explained, both GMS and CDMA supported), YouTubeTV revealed (great user interface, good for sports and live TV, many programming holes, $40 per month), Profiles in IT (Van Jacobson, Internet packet switching protocol pioneer), Bad Rabbit ransomware (targets enterprise networks, uses fake Adobe Flash installer), half the missing universe found (located in baryon particle streams connecting galaxies), robotic humanoid granted citizenship (Saudi Arabia grants Sophia citizenship, AI is invading the human workforce), and Product of the Week (Solar Paper for charging mobile devices, generates up to 10 watts). This show originally aired on Saturday, October 28, 2017, at 9:00 AM EST on WFED (1500 AM).

ACTRESS, SINGER, DANCER AND AUTHOR VANESSA WILLIAMS TALKS ABOUT SUCCESS IS CALLING, A PROGRAM THAT HELPS WOMEN BY PROVIDING THE KNOWLEDGE AND TOOLS NECESSARY TO MASTER THE PHONE INTERVIEWVanessa Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment today. She has conquered the musical charts, Broadway, music videos, television and motion pictures. She has sold millions of albums worldwide and she has achieved critical acclaim as an actress on stage, in film and on television.Vanessa partnered with TracFone and Dress for Success to expand the Success is Calling program in its second year. Success is Calling is a program that helps women by providing the knowledge and tools necessary to master the phone interview, which is often the crucial first step to employment. In 2015, Success is Calling positively impacted more than 300 women who became gainfully employed after graduating from the program, and this year the program aims to reach twice as many women across the country, helping them enter into and thrive in the workforce and beyond.VANESSAWILLIAMS.COMSUCCESSISCALLING.TRACFONE.COM