We currently have Verizon Wireless - it was the only one that had reliable, totally clear coverage inside our house, in DH's office at work, and at DH's best friend's house waaaay out in the boonies. DH had AT&T at our old house because they had the best reception there (and the Really Really Kewl Phone that he got to keep when he left his previous employer only worked on AT&T), then we moved here and he had to go outside to get one bar with a lot of static - rain or snow, NO reception! I had a Sprint phone that was all right at the new place, a little hiccuping and echoing but not bad, but they were doing hinky things with the billing so when my contract expired I was happy to bail. Cost us two hundred bucks to get out from under AT&T though, even though his phone was unusable at home OR work. Their whole attitude: "not our problem!" But, YMMV, big time. It's a good excuse to invite your friends to come to your house, feed them dinner or a snack and try out their phone reception! LOL (As well as asking folks at work, school, whatever for what companies have the best reception there, for additional info.) I think I've let my cell run dead maybe once since I first got one seven or eight years ago. Just habit for both of us to plug in when we get home. When we had that huuuuuuuge ice storm a year or so ago, most of our friends "topped up" their cell phones with their car chargers, just by sitting in the running car listening to the stereo for 15 minutes or so - but we could still make calls! I remember it well, because we were the only people in our social group who had power and heat (nice living 2 blocks from a hospital LOL) and it was Grand Central Freakin' Terminal at our place for a week with people coming by to warm up, leave their pets, take showers, wash clothes, you name it. The people who lost power here also lost POTS, for the most part. Oh, and my phone (Samsung Flipshot, which I hate) and DH's LG Dare both have GPS locator whatchamacallits that tie into E-911 systems. According to the E-911 info from our city, on average the cell-phone based GPS locators can get to within 50 meters when activated by the E-911 system. (Yes, it can be turned off.)

The Bosch in Europe will most be Axxis clones. Most European's don't have the monster size washers we have here. I just purchased a Bosch WAS24460UC (Same as Logixx 8 in UK)washer on ebay for $699. Wisconsin has a $100 energy star rebate right now on this washer too. So I got it for $599. It is a great washer. The tag on the front GLASS door says "Made in Germany". I also bought a Siemens WT46E300US condensor dryer to go with the washer. I got that on E-Bay for $359 with free shipping. Siemens and Bosch made the exact same appliances for the US with different badging on front. Simens brand laundry is not being sold in the US anymore and current inventory is going at firesale prices. The dryer is also made in Germany. The Axxis+ line is the GOOD/Reliable Bosch line that they have built their name on. The Vision series is an attempt to get rid of the sour taste many people had with the Nexxt line. The Nexxt line was utter rubbish in my opinion. The Axxis line in the US is very similar to the models sold in Europe with differences being they dumbed down the interface for the US. We get spin speeds of slow, regular, max, etc. Europe gets 600, 800, 1000, 1200RPM , etc. US gets temps of cold, warm, hot, sanitary, etc. Europe gets 40C, 50C, 60C, 90C. Why we are treated like idiots I don't know. The machines work great though. I will try to post some video later.

"I mean, do cookies look alike coming from different sheets?" Why I would not base a decision on a single factor for any oven. It depends on the functionality you need. I would not trade the functionality of a setting which lets me roast perfectly in the usual time without any preheating whatsoever. That's everything from potatoes I just roasted to Thanksgiving turkey which I start in a cold oven. Why do those functions not get the same value as the stupid cookie thing? Because the cookie thing is used for marketing and repeated so it becomes a standard when it should be only one criterion in a list that will be different for everyone. Last weekend, I made oven-steamed branzinos for 4. There were two whole fish in a roasting pan with white wine and herbs, covered with foil. In the old days, it would be essential to slit each fish down the center to get the top filets cooked through to the bone since the oven heat came from below. In my oven, I can use the "surround" setting which cooks from top and bottom at the same time. The fish were perfectly and evenly cooked through and beyond delicious. No cutting. I can bake 4 loaves of sourdough in succession with 2-3 minutes of oven recovery time. Granted a reasonably even oven overall, how long does it take for the other ovens to recover full heat at 450? And how important is that to the buyer? Important to me because I bake bread and pizza a lot. Not important to someone who doesn't. There are trade offs. I don't make cookies often and turning or switching trays is no big deal. If it is, and you don't mind the oven liner chipping, or you don't mind more limited functionality, then there are various choices. There are no right/wrong choices here. Even value is relative. And I could make a very good case that DD's Kenmore double oven, which is a bit smaller, has many of the same functions as other single-fan ovens with 0 porcelain issues and the best self-cleaning I've seen since my Thermadors in the 1970s. I made a mess in her oven with a high heat roasted chicken and was stunned at how well the self-clean worked, especially given all the self-clean horror stories here.

Poor cell signal at home? There are different solutions for that. Two approaches: 1) Change the setting on your phone to enable "Telephone over Wifi". After you've done that, when you get home, first switch to Airplane mode and then turn on Wifi. Assuming a good Wifi signal and broad coverage in your home and yard, you will now have consistent and reliable service with your cell phone for both data and phone calls. 2) Get a network range extender. I griped to my carrier that the signal in my house has been degrading in recent years - they sent me one for free. They sell them for $250. How it works - it's a mini personal cell tower, not a signal amplifier. It connects to the router with an ethernet cable (I jimmied mine to connect via wifi) and it sends out a normal cell phone signal. I have 5 bars of service throughout my house and yard now, up from 1-2 when the connection was from the cell tower. If you can't get a range extender, the call over Wifi approach is an excellent substitute and is normally pretty reliable for a very good quality signal.