Three Mobile Broadband Rant Rant Rant

[Paul C]

9 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Why would I carry it about? I don't use it in any other place than the car!

 

Because I drive 2-3 different cars and vans PER DAY, ie over the year, I'll probably drive in the region of 400-500 different vehicles. I know my case is unusual and others are unlikely to need their phone (to use Google Maps) in quite so many different cars.

 

9 minutes ago, Loddon said:

 

Love it when Apple fan boys try to....

 

I'm not an Apple fan boy. I used (and loved) Android for a long time. But.....phones got bigger and bigger, I wanted a modern powerful-ish phone but without the creeping enlargement of screen size and it getting more and more awkward to fit into a coat or trouser pocket (along with the other phone - the work phone - I need to carry. And no, I can't really combine them to carry just one phone). If there was an Android phone that could "do it" the same way as an iPhone mini but for the mag mount, I might very well get one and stick the magnetic sticker on the back of it. But there isn't. So I had to switch to Apple, at least for a personal mobile.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

3 minutes ago, Paul C said:

 

 

 

 

I'm not an Apple fan boy. I used (and loved) Android for a long time. But.....phones got bigger and bigger, I wanted a modern powerful-ish phone but without the creeping enlargement of screen size and it getting more and more awkward to fit into a coat or trouser pocket (along with the other phone - the work phone - I need to carry. And no, I can't really combine them to carry just one phone). If there was an Android phone that could "do it" the same way as an iPhone mini but for the mag mount, I might very well get one and stick the magnetic sticker on the back of it. But there isn't. So I had to switch to Apple, at least for a personal mobile.

Not being of the smart phone fraternity, I'm a bit of a bystander on this subject, but one observation to make is that as I've got older, a small screen on any phone isn't really a selling point to me

[GUMPY]

I can happily run two Sims in my Android phone and did when I was working to separate work from personal. I was supposed to use the work phone but didn't as it meant I had to carry two phones. 

Are iPhone dual SIM?

 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Loddon said:

I can happily run two Sims in my Android phone and did when I was working to separate work from personal. I was supposed to use the work phone but didn't as it meant I had to carry two phones. 

Are iPhone dual SIM?

 

 

Some of the newer 'high end' ones are.

[Paul C]

2 minutes ago, Loddon said:

 

Are iPhone dual SIM?

 

 

Yes, but one needs to be an e-SIM. That's not the issue though, there is a custom app which has only been written for Android which runs on the work phone.

11 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Not being of the smart phone fraternity, I'm a bit of a bystander on this subject, but one observation to make is that as I've got older, a small screen on any phone isn't really a selling point to me

 

No worries, I'm quite happy to accept that a bigger phone/screen is a bonus sometimes. In the rare (say 5%) of cases when I need to use the phone as a satnav, its a PITA to view it, especially if the car dashboard design makes it difficult to locate high up.

[GUMPY]

17 minutes ago, Paul C said:

Yes, but one needs to be an e-SIM. That's not the issue though, there is a custom app which has only been written for Android which runs on the work phone.

Hence the reason I have an android dual SIM phone, No need for an ESim which looks to me, from a quick Google, to be another thing to tie you to apple. How long before I phones only accept ESim 🤭

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul C]

5 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Hence the reason I have an android dual SIM phone, No need for an ESim which looks to me, from a quick Google, to be another thing to tie you to apple. How long before I phones only accept ESim 🤭

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agree, a decent dual-SIM Android phone + magnetic sticker would probably do it.

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, Paul C said:

 

Agree, a decent dual-SIM Android phone + magnetic sticker would probably do it.

To be fair to i phone users. I think once the user is hooked on their operating system it must be a pain to switch to android, and vice  versa. I used to love my very very easy to operate windows phone but they were not considered " cool " enough by 12 year olds, so they didnt catch on, and are now all but defunct  hence me being android again for some years. ( plus cost )

[GUMPY]

2 minutes ago, Paul C said:

 

Agree, a decent dual-SIM Android phone + magnetic sticker would probably do it.

About £200.

My Moto G8 plus is £238 and is two years old.

So I can't justify replacing it to get 5g yet even though the Moto G50 5g version is only £200.

[MtB]

15 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

To be fair to i phone users. I think once the user is hooked on their operating system it must be a pain to switch to android, and vice  versa. I used to love my very very easy to operate windows phone but they were not considered " cool " enough by 12 year olds, so they didnt catch on, and are now all but defunct  hence me being android again for some years. ( plus cost )

 

I have a foot in both camps. I have two phones, one Android, the other an iPhone 8.

 

So every day I have a choice. I find the iPhone FAR easier to use in a million trivial ways, so that's the one I use. Not because its cool (is it?) but because it always works. For example today in a weak signal area I've just turned the Android on and it says "no signal". It's on the desk next to the iPhone showing one bar of signal. Can you see why I tend to use the iPhone? 

 

 

Both by the way, are on the same Vodafone account as Voda is the best of the bunch for signal around here.

 

 

[Tony Brooks]

28 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

To be fair to i phone users. I think once the user is hooked on their operating system it must be a pain to switch to android, and vice  versa. I used to love my very very easy to operate windows phone but they were not considered " cool " enough by 12 year olds, so they didnt catch on, and are now all but defunct  hence me being android again for some years. ( plus cost )

 

I don't know but I suspect that if your I phone stores your stuff on the Apple cloud it could be a real pain extracting it to store elsewhere. I would not be surprised if you had to do it file by file.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

I don't know but I suspect that if your I phone stores your stuff on the Apple cloud it could be a real pain extracting it to store elsewhere. I would not be surprised if you had to do it file by file.

 

This is where google/android scores for me because (using their photo storage as an example) you can use Google photos 'cross platform', including Android phones and iPhones.

 

So using the respective app. you can view and download your pics. on any device. You cannot view photos stored in the iCloud on an Android device though an app. I'm pretty sure you have to do it via. a browser which is much clumsier. Hence my daughter who has an iPhone doesn't use the native photo storage feature on her iPhone which uses iCloud. She uses Google Photos which works on an iPhone because it uses Googles servers not Apple's. Google drive works similarly well on an iPhone too, for storing things like documents she needs for work.

 

So when she switched from a Android phone to a iPhone recently she could still easily access all her pics. She also uses Google Maps on her iPhone as she says it's far superior to Apple's effort. Plus all her previously stored locations could still be accessed.

 

Amazon photos works in the same way for pictures. An app. is available for both iOS and Android.

[cuthound]

On 24/12/2022 at 11:07, dmr said:

Apple do sell a significantly cheaper "SE" range for people who want the Apple technology without the big money status thing, but SE users (like me) are rather looked down upon by the proper Apple fans.  I dunno what SE stands for but think the S might be for Springer 

 

"Slightly Exploited" rather than those paying a premium to be fully exploited? 😂🤣

[George and Dragon]

On 23/12/2022 at 17:28, johnmck said:

They are all at it in one form or another. Ali has just come out of contract with Vodafone and thought it would automatically drop to a sim only, as mine did. Wrong... You have to apply for the sim deal, or payments remain the same as the original contract price. Their sim deals were extortionate,  so she shopped around and found a Vodafone sim deal that met her requirements. Would Vodafone allow her to switch to this retaining her number? Nope. So she got the pac code, transferred to a giffgaff pay as you go sim, then went back to Vodafone as basically a new customer. Madness. But Vodafone is the only provider that works for us in rural Leicestershire. 🤯

You should be able to use all these other networks too: VOXI, Virgin Mobile, Asda Mobile, Lebara Mobile and Talkmobile are mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that use the Vodafone network. Being an MVNO means that they piggyback off Vodafone’s network infrastructure to power their services, so you should expect the same level of coverage as you would get on Vodafone itself.

[Richard10002]

Virgin Media now own O2  so their sims are now O2..... mine has been O2 since mid last year.

[Paul C]

Lebara are currently the cheapest I can find, with a 21GB/month deal for £3.18 via uswitch.com

[LadyG]

I have received notice that I've been selected for a really good deal if I sign up now rather than waiting for renewal date. Not that I am told when or how much I save.

I think I can get a better deal with an EE provider, do I just send for a sim card, it's for my Hafury phone. Do I ask for a pac code, then what do I do? 

I have dual SIM slots, one is bad enough imho.

What does SIM only mean, I want a phone with access to the internet as well, but primarily a phone which is not dependent on internet.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2023 by LadyG

[Paul C]

Once you receive the SIM card and its activated (you'll be assigned a temporary number), you can give the PAC code to the new provider. Typically by filling an online form on their website once registered and logged in to the "My Account" or similar area. Also at this stage you choose a date of transfer. Then on that date, your old prodiver's SIM, connection and contract will be deactivated and your new provider will be associated with your old number. You will probably need to turn the phone or device off-on to make the config changes.

 

If its a phone, the new data settings are often automatically sent and updated. If its a mifi device, you might need to go into the profile and update apn settings to let mobile data work.

 

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

What does SIM only mean, I want a phone with access to the internet as well, but primarily a phone which is not dependent on internet.

 

When you get a new phone, even though you may pay a "price", the monthly cost includes payments towards the total cost of the phone. That cost is paid off once the original contract ends, but the providers tend not to tell you or reduce the cost, so if you don't want a new phone most providers will provide you with a new SIM at a price that does not include payments towards a phone or the service provider's excess profit. The SIM provides all you need as long as you select the correct deal for you.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

What does SIM only mean,

 

This means that YOU provide the phone (any phone you like) and the 'supplier' just provides the SIM card.

 

If you buy a SIM + Phone it will (normally) cost you £100s more (over the length of the contract) than buying a phone and a SIM separately.

[rusty69]

I picked up a three sim about 10 years ago that gives free data each month. It's only a tiny amount, but enough to just check emails. I've never put any money on it. Quite surprised it's still going really. 

 

 

Currently on voxi. 

 

Been through all of them in the past. 

 

My first orange Internet mobile using wap was back in 2001, 50p a day for a tiny amount of Internet, which meant sticking my trusty Nokia 6310i in a mushroom vent. 

 

Boy, I'm feeling old. 

Edited February 21, 2023 by rusty69

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

My first orange Internet mobile using wap was back in 2001, 50p a day for a tiny amount of Internet, which meant sticking my trusty Nokia 6310i in a mushroom vent. 

 

 

How impressed we were when I got my Nokia 6310i (Mars-bar phone) it was an enormous step up (or down) from the previous phone which had a battery the weight & size of a house brick, a long 'telephone curly-cord' and big black 'handset' with an aerial that put Daventry to shame.

 

Something similar to this ......................

 

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

How impressed we were when I got my Nokia 6310i (Mars-bar phone) it was an enormous step up (or down) from the previous phone which had a battery the weight & size of a house brick, a long 'telephone curly-cord' and big black 'handset' with an aerial that put Daventry to shame.

 

Something similar to this ......................

 

Still got mine 

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Still got mine 

 

I think mine was the 'economy' version being Silver rather than Black.

[rusty69]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I think mine was the 'economy' version being Silver rather than Black.

I had one of those too, the 6310.