You know the world is moving fast when....

[billw]

Jeez I pay £13 a month for unlimited data. I think I have calls and texts too but they're never used.

 

[Rorschach]

@selectortone @pe2dave @artie
Speaking for myself I run two sims (long story), one is on O2 PAYG, I use about £1 per year on that account, the other sim is on 1P Mobile which is also PAYG with minimum top up of £30 per year. Works great for my needs. If I used the phone less (and didn't need 2 sims) I would have just stuck with the basic O2 PAYG and probably spent about £1 per month or so.

 

[artie]

Not at all: it's actually £11.27, SIM only. 4G, 2GB data (never get anywhere near that), unlimited calls and texts. Vodafone. 18mth contract.

I have a mobile phone almost exclusively so that I can divert the landline calls when I'm out and about. It's cheaper than paying someone to sit and look pretty between answering the occasional call. It also has the bonus that I hear first hand what the message is, not some translation or half forgotten version. I'm on PAYG and it's usually less than a tenner a month.

My trusty Nokia 3210 expired a few years ago so I replaced it with a smart phone so I could also handle emails on the hoof.
Unfortunately I installed whatsapp and messenger, don't get me wrong they are very handy for sending/receiving photos, drawings etc.
It just seem that 90% of the traffic is monkeys in lipstick or some other nonsense.
I find myself fuming when I remove assorted PPE so that I can see what's incoming only to find I never knew how much dung an Elephant can produce at one time. or some other equally daft video or picture.
But then if the phone is quiet for a time I start to wonder what's wrong.
Such is life in the 21 century.
Dan Dare didn't predict this.

 

[billw]

It just seem that 90% of the traffic is monkeys in lipstick or some other nonsense.

I think that says a lot more about your contacts than the platform.

 

[lurker]

Carrington event

 

[clogs]

u can laugh at me....
it wasn't that long ago my daughter had a fit and asked why my little Nokia didn't have a camera....
wot do I need a camera on a phone for..... dohhhh..... ??????
she bought me an iPhone and said move into the real world......
got to say am very happy with the trade up....
I will never understand or use the features on it......I do like the compass app tho....plus a few more.....
actually the translation app is very handy here.....speak to it or let the phone look at the sign, esp when shopping.....

I was never into electronics, would like a 3D printer but the comp side of it would drive me nuts....
BUT I'm very glad of the electronics in my chest.....my Defib pacemaker work as it supposed to last week.....hahaha....

 

[artie]

I think that says a lot more about your contacts than the platform.

You misunderstand,
I was merely relating my personal experience with mobile and later smart phones, but since you bring up the platforms themselves, there is something I would like to see improved.
Yesterday I deleted 8 messages from people not in my contact list. Most of them included pictures of females so poor and underprivileged they had barely enough clothes to cover essentials.
Others were engaged in activities with gentlemen who had obviously been more than well fed.
They professed that these well fed gentlemen were not sufficient for there needs and hoped that I would click the supplied link so that I could gain there address and call round to help them out.

I think it wouldn't be difficult, if the desire was there to block anonymous messages.

 

[billw]

Most of them included pictures of females so poor and underprivileged they had barely enough clothes to cover essentials.

Ah, now that sounds like MY contacts list.

 

[Glitch]

Also, cash is

The government and HMRC are the big benefactors from a cashless society, once all transactions are credit/debit card, bank transfers and other electronic means they are in control and have even more data about us and could manipulate the markets.

HMRC collecting tax revenues that otherwise disappear into the cash fuelled black economy? Is that bad?
Cash - the favoured currency of criminals and money launderers. Electronic payments easier to trace although the crims are very good at covering their tracks and keeping ahead of detection systems.
Also it's expensive for banks to process cash and move it around their branches.

I speak as someone who had always been PAYE and worked in banking technology and also often paid cash to tradesmen/builders because otherwise they'd have to charge me VAT.

 

[Glitch]

I'm pleased you added (but not always) as not everyone who doesn't want their life on a 'phone is incapable of operating one!

The software on 'phones loses support as well and I have a case in point, my less than 2 year old Iphone running OS 14+ developed a sudden fault which prevented calls, texts and internet access, it took a week to get an appointment at a local Apple genius bar following the usual actions by me and then on line and telephone support, at the shop 5 minutes of diagnosis to be told it's a hardware fault and is rubber ducked, no offer of repair, trade in or discount on a new 'phone, you'll have to buy one in the shop sir, at full retail, my response was no way but even emails to the UK MD hasn't resolved it however that's another story my point is luckily I held on to an 4 year old iphone 6 which I'm using until I decide to change (to an android) and that 'phone is stuck at OS 12 with no further updates available. According to Apple there are many thousands of people using much older models than that on even older OS.
Support for windows lasts a lot longer than 3 to 4 years.

After us Boomers and our parents have gone the following generations will have grown up with smart phones and consider it normal.

I can understand the frustration with the Apple warranty. Hardware that fails within 2 years is clearly not fit for purpose. Apple are not being fair.

I have mobile phone insurance in my banking package. I think we claimed once in the past years but I've replaced a number of smashed screens

Built in obsolescence is common these days. It forces people into upgrades that aren't really necessary although many people will always want the latest model.

 

[Lons]

If I am at home, I have access to everything I need from my phone on my laptop right away as it's all backed up automatically on my google account. Within an hour I can have another phone up and running. And I do have a spare phone at home of course. In an absolute emergency if I was away from home, I can add my account to my partners phone as a second user and within minutes have access to my data.

You said I'd be stuffed if my laptop broke, I said NO I WOULDN'T and explained why, nothing more nothing less, not for a second did I suggest you couldn't do the same.
Are you back up to your old tricks trying to start an argument?

 

[Lons]

After us Boomers and our parents have gone the following generations will have grown up with smart phones and consider it normal.

I can understand the frustration with the Apple warranty. Hardware that fails within 2 years is clearly not fit for purpose. Apple are not being fair.

I have mobile phone insurance in my banking package. I think we claimed once in the past years but I've replaced a number of smashed screens

Built in obsolescence is common these days. It forces people into upgrades that aren't really necessary although many people will always want the latest model.

It wasn't so much the fact that it was bin fodder at less than 2 years neither was it the way Apple responded generally in fact their support department and genius bar is excellent, it was the company policy of offering nothing at all as a final solution to a long standing customer who bought 2, sometimes 3 iphones every 2 years or less, had been loyal and spent a great deal of money. I never asked for a free repair, I was prepared to pay and was shocked it couldn't be done, they could have offered me a trade in against a new £800 phone but refused and the same attitude refusing a discount which I could have got even from Costco so it was clear that customer loyalty means very little.
I emailed The MD personally and then had a few people chasing their tails but same result so I'll never buy another Apple product and have told the MD why, My wife also knows when the contract ends if she wants an iphone 12 it won't be on my business contract so they've lost 2 of those come March, it's hardly going to make any difference to Apple.
Ironically I was seriously looking at an Apple laptop before Christmas, not any more!

 

[Rorschach]

You said I'd be stuffed if my laptop broke, I said NO I WOULDN'T and explained why, nothing more nothing less, not for a second did I suggest you couldn't do the same.
Are you back up to your old tricks trying to start an argument?

You said if Bill's phone broke he would stuffed, I was using that same logic on you if your laptop broke. But as you proved and I proved, if either a laptop or a phone breaks you are not stuffed, just inconvenienced for a short time. As you said, you can use another laptop to get up and running again in a few minutes, and I said you can do the same with a phone. Both require another device of course.
Not starting an argument

 

[TRITON]

I could not fit the three screens of that size onto my desk. I am feeling deprived

As for mobile banking apps I trust the secrutiy on my PCs much more than on my phone. So far I have never installed a banking app on it.

AQ

Aha, a project for a bigger desk

I dont trust online banking either, beyond paypal and its connected to my bank account. I just dont trust the web to be safe enough and although I've used the web since it began, ive not a clue how it all works and the crims do.
In fact even logging into paypal i only do by internal links inside my ebay account. That way at least i know the links i am following are 100% secure. I'd never google 'paypal' and log in via one of the results(Yup I know its probably fine,but....) nor would i go from email to paypal. Its only via my ebay - account - Paypal account- 'see your account summary' and log in from there that I would trust the internet to get me there securely

 

[Phil Pascoe]

We bank on line. My wife has worked for banks for 38 years.

 

[Cooper]

I have found this thread most reassuring, for years I thought I was the last person on the planet not to use a mobile or smart phone. The only time I miss one is when I meet family at the airport.

 

[Felix]

It seems that lots of people confuse the Internet with the World Wide Web (www) - they are not synonymous with each other. The Internet is just that - an inter-connected network of computers that consists of routers, switches, servers, home computers and more recently hand-held devices (smartphones, tablets etc). The www (as created by Tim Berners-Lee) is just software that runs on many individual computers commonly known as web-servers - although there are systems that group together multiple computers that act as one as seen by you and I.

The www was originally written as a client/server application in order to disseminate information within the academic community. Over time the protocol (http/https) has been significantly expanded to allow web-servers to perform a multitude of tasks mostly over secure links (hence the 'https' in front of any url) in this day and age - webmail, e-commerce, video streaming, banking - and so on.

The www uses the Internet to transmit data from one place to another - that's it.

When people say the Internet is bad - it's not the Internet they're talking about - it's the www. It's people that write (code) software that runs either on the web-servers or another computer (generally without the user's knowledge) with the purpose of some illegal activity that are the 'bad' element.

Each member of this forum that uses a computer has the potential to run their own web server as opensource software exists to enable you to do it relatively easy.

I'll leave it there as this subject is massive and I'll probably end up confusing myself - let alone anyone else

Have your eyes glazed over yet........

Cheers
Dean

 

[billw]

I have found this thread most reassuring, for years I thought I was the last person on the planet not to use a mobile or smart phone. The only time I miss one is when I meet family at the airport.

My mum steadfastly refuses too.

 

[Spectric]

HMRC collecting tax revenues that otherwise disappear into the cash fuelled black economy? Is that bad?
Cash - the favoured currency of criminals and money launderers.

That would be great if it applied to all, but those with the big money still hide it to avoid tax in so called tax avoidance schemes. If all the loopholes were closed and enforced then HMRC could reduce taxation for all and still pull in more money.

 

[Glitch]

That would be great if it applied to all, but those with the big money still hide it to avoid tax in so called tax avoidance schemes. If all the loopholes were closed and enforced then HMRC could reduce taxation for all and still pull in more money.

Tax avoidance is perfectly legal and something we all should strive for. It does get stretched to the limit by the global DotComs using tax havens within the law, or F1 drivers and billionaires who can afford to live in tax friendly places like Monaco. But that's more to do with ethics rather than law.

Tax evasion is illegal whether it's tradesmen working for cash, buying fake and knock-off goods, or the super rich hiding funds offshore. Estimated to be 10% of UK GDP. More prevalent in Southern European countries. Greece being a prime example of systemic tax evasion.