A difficulty living in Eureka Springs is the need to travel an hour or longer for most kinds of specialty medical care. That makes me appreciate that when I need help with the electronic devices I rely on, it’s available locally at Common Sense Cellular.
I’ve been one of the anti-Apple people because I don’t like rich, customer abusive, anti-competitive monopolies. So, I held on to my old $50 Android phone for about six years—probably a year longer than I should have. When it started malfunctioning recently, I decided to move to an iPhone because my sisters are big fans and would get annoyed at their text messages only coming in on my iPad (which I’m not around that much), not my phone.
I purchased an iPhone 11 through TracFone, my cell service provider, which had assured me that transferring from an android to an iPhone would be easy. Next, panic. They shut off the old phone and then wanted me to download something to transfer more than 1,000 contacts plus my photos. For part of the afternoon, I had no cell phone at all. I admit it; I cried. I work on the cell phone a lot, so this was a major concern.
My daughter Bri has an iPhone and helped me get it working, but a major clue came from Dustin Whittemore at Common Sense Cellular in Eureka Springs. He said to be sure I had the right Apple ID and password. Evidently, I had changed it without writing down the new password. Dustin gave me a website I could go to (…iforgot.apple.com) on a registered Apple device, my iPad, for me to be able to create a new password.
I still couldn’t get my contacts phone numbers and emails. A TracFone representative suggested I put them in one by one from my old phone. Are you crazy? I went back to Dustin. And even though I purchased my iPhone from someone else, for a small fee Dustin was willing to make me whole again.
It wasn’t easy. My old phone didn’t have enough memory to be able to download the transfer app. Dustin said transferring from android to iPhone is one of the hardest things to do in the cell tech world. He had to try several different things but was finally able to get most of what I needed off my phone.
Dustin told me I had made two of the most common cell phone mistakes. First, I waited too long to upgrade. Second, he recommends you turn off your cell phone for at least five minutes a week. That reboot can resolve a lot of glitches.
While Common Sense Cellular sells Verizon cell phones and service, the company also offers its own internet services including in rural areas that don’t have wired internet service. And they will work on other devices like they did for me. While Dustin was fixing my phone, two other customers came in whose internet was out. Arthur Bruno took great care of these ladies who, like me, were lost without these services they rely upon.
Dustin, who has been at Common Sense Cellular for eight years, said he enjoys being able to help people with their technological needs. By doing so, he positively impacts their lives. “It can be a pain point if you can’t get your stuff off your phone or computer,” he said.
I asked if I could have gotten my contact info off the Samsung Cloud. But Apple doesn’t allow that. Apple is very particular about the method you use to do things and doesn’t play well with other companies.
“It is not impossible to move things from an android to iPhone but they make it harder,” Dustin said. “For example, you can’t Bluetooth an android to an iPhone.”
Common Sense also does cellular internet for people who live in the country where wired internet is not available.
“Primarily we sell Common Sense Internet to people who live in rural areas and don’t have other good options,” Dustin said. “Satellite internet usually is not reliable, or has a plan so limited you don’t have the ability to stream or zoom.”
Dustin also helps a lot of people in other significant ways. Through his business Water Lotus Martial Arts, he teaches Ju Jitsu and Judo at the Eastgate Martial Arts Center across from Passion Play Road. His classes are for people who want to learn self-defense, those who compete in tournaments, and people who want to learn how to fall without injuring themselves. That can be particularly important for older people at greater risk for falls.
He teaches classes, as well as private lessons, for ages eight and up. He also teaches police officers how to defend themselves while de-escalating and neutralizing someone who might be posing a threat to others.
“I’ve been training in martial arts for 18 years,” Dustin said. “I’m very passionate about it. I offer public classes, private classes and defensive tactics training for businesses, Realtors and police. I’ve even taught some staff at an alcohol recovery center. I really love teaching martial arts. Teaching is my dream. I feel like that is what I should be doing. I don’t burn out on martial arts. I can do it all day and talk about it all day and never get tired of it. I’m trying to put a women’s self-defense class together, and I also would like to put together a fundraiser class to buy another piece of equipment for my business.”
For more information, look for Water Lotus Martial Arts on Facebook.