My iphone

[mickthecactus]

After retiring my company let me keep old number and gave me the last issue from the old stock.

My daughter has organised the transfer over which is quite complicated (for me ) and has done a great job. Lunch date coming up!

[questa]

I had a samsung which was a rogue...it would not operate properly. My son gave his 2 kids new iPhones and I got the cast offs...reprogrammed and easier to use.
Mick, I have finally realised why we had kids...to handle our IT problems.

[mich64]

My husband and I both have an IPhone 5, although different models. After discussing our options for upgrading for weeks, we set off yesterday to the Mall to talk to our cellular provider. After being shocked by the new monthly charges we would incur if we updated our phones, we tried 3 others in the Mall. After the second provider experience, I sat myself down on a Mall bench and told my husband he was best leaving me there. My concrete brain could not understand the bartering skills required to get the clerks to offer better pricing. In the end, we left frustrated and without new phones. More research is required and perhaps bringing along a nephew or niece who knows how to bargain better than we do! We added up the bills for our cell phones, internet and satellite (all with the same provider) and it was almost as much as our monthly car payment!

[bjd]

Mich, do you actually need the latest updated models? Do you work with your iPhones?

I know that internet/phones are expensive in Canada, compared to what we pay in France, but it's good to question what you actually need.

I have the cheapest Samsung I could get through my internet provider. I bought it 3 years ago, update what I need when asked (gmail, waze,chrome) and avoid the rest. I don't watch youtube videos on it, have just a couple of apps and use it to tether for wifi when I'm at the coast. And I use the phone of course for calling and sending text messages. Much of the time it stays home while I go out.

[cheerypeabrain]

We've never indulged in smartphones altho it's getting more difficult to get by these days without one I suppose. We will resist for as long as possible...as it is I get accused of spending far too much time playing with my laptop and kindle fire...if I had a smartphone pinging at me all day long I worry that I would be distracted from real life even more than I am already...

[bjd]

Cheery, you can turn off the notifications.

[mich64]

Hi bjd! It is not that we particularly need IPhones, it is that the provider plans seem to be only offering IPhones as the free option. You are correct about how expensive phones and service are in Canada, I do not understand why, I guess just because they can, but that is why we are looking for a plan that includes the phone because it is the less expensive option. I guess we will keep what we have until we can find something for at least about the same we are currently paying. It was almost $50.00 a month more to sign a new contract.

I do not like the industry, I feel they work together to keep increasing the prices together and gauge your frustration while making the deal. If you get a little frustrated with them they go to their manager and come back dropping the price little by little, I do not understand these practices, I have difficulty enough with honest communication, so it was best to sit on the bench.

[whatagain]

I've got an Iphone 5 or maybe 6. I don't really care. My daughter has an iphone X. since today. Paid by my wife if I understood correctly.

[Deleted]

Mar 16, 2018 9:04:17 GMT cheerypeabrain said:

We've never indulged in smartphones altho it's getting more difficult to get by these days without one I suppose. We will resist for as long as possible...as it is I get accused of spending far too much time playing with my laptop and kindle fire...if I had a smartphone pinging at me all day long I worry that I would be distracted from real life even more than I am already...

It's really unnerving to me that so many people just assume that the whole world has a "smart phone" welded in their hands and cannot seem to just go about their day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute life and all of their surroundings without staring into a screen, fixated on a gadget.

I cannot and will not "go there".

I view it as the demise of a civilization that once existed.

[bjd]

Just because you have a smartphone doesn't mean you have to be glued to it all the time. When I bought mine, I thought I should learn how to use one before my brain turns to mush.

[kerouac2]

My smartphone stays at home 95% of the time because I only take it with me if I have a specific phone call I need to make or if I am travelling. Most people know not to try and call me on it.

I do need to change phones soon, though, due to the usual issues of the battery getting weaker and weaker. I think my current one is about 5 years old. I do not plan to buy anything really sophisticated, though. I'll see what Orange has a deal for.

[patricklondon]

I have one - an Android rather than iPhone, bought outright and on PAYG rather than contract (I hate "walled garden" technology on principle). I find it's useful almost as a substitute computer for some operations - my bank has an app which I can use for simple payments, for example, or the weather app, and occasional social media (though typing is a bit of a pain on such a small screen). Just at the moment I find it more convenient as a means of looking up vocab when I'm trying to read something in a foreign language, or the odd bit of casual googling when some question or other arises in my mind. But I don't expect to be glued to it all the time: it's quite easy to switch off notifications, so that I need only pick up what and when I choose to.



My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings
"too literate to be spam"

[onlyMark]

I have a PAYG Huawei smart phone that cost about 30 Euros at most. I use it for whatsapp and skype with the odd search here and there when I'm out.

My daughter showed me yesterday how to take a screenshot. Do you know how to do it?

[mossie]

I'm ahead of you Mark, I have an old clamshell type bought many years ago from the Vodaphone shop for about £15 with £5 worth of calls on it. It lives in my coat pocket but very, very rarely comes out. It is only switched on if I want to make a call. I have to remember to call my landline every so often just to keep it current as I am told they will give my number to someone else and I will lose the little balance that is on it. Bloody robbers these people.

[bjd]

Mar 17, 2018 13:56:02 GMT onlyMark said:

I have a PAYG Huawei smart phone that cost about 30 Euros at most. I use it for whatsapp and skype with the odd search here and there when I'm out.

My daughter showed me yesterday how to take a screenshot. Do you know how to do it?

I just looked up "how to take a screenshot". Unfortunately, I have no idea which model Samsung I have and pressing the home button and power buttons at the same time don't seem to do anything.

Kerouac, I don't think your phone is 5 years old. You bought yours shortly before I bought mine -- you were learning to type with your thumbs! I bought mine in March 2015. I still don't type with my thumbs.

[mich64]

We no longer have a land line so we require the two phones since my husband still works. We originally got cell phones because of our jobs and because of living out of the city we travelled the highways daily. I use my phone for phone calls not so much for searching or texting. Due to my sister being ill I have it with me at all times. I guess because I use it so infrequently that is really the reason I am trying to find the least expensive option.

We do bring one with us when we travel and like WhatsApp and Ways for driving directions.

[patricklondon]

A couple of other things I use my smartphone for: transport apps (there's one to say when the next bus is due at any stop you like in London, and others for buying and storing tickets and boarding passes, though for the latter I usually print out as well, just to be sure), and some entertainment - got a lot of music stored on the additional memory card, and I listen to radio over the internet. I also found that Eurostar's onboard wifi, though it won't let you connect to the wider internet, does have its own streaming TV and movies, which passes the time. Of course, you need to be careful about how you connect to the internet: if you're on PAYG as I am, it pays to look for free wifi rather than pay the provider's charges for data transfer.

I also use WhatsApp a bit - we have a family group on it, which is handy for swopping photos and bits of news.


My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings
"too literate to be spam"

[fumobici]

I'm rather fond of my cheap little LG phone. It does everything i require, and it's PAYG $50 USD/year $10 per GB for data, as seldom as I use it, it comes out ridiculously cheap to use. I just bought a 50 Euro unlocked Elephone Android (obscure Chinese brand) on Italian Ebay to use on my trip next month, I'm planning on getting a one month Orange SIM in Nice, and with last year's EU roaming regulations it will work in Italy as well as Orange is partnered with both TIM and Vodafone in Italy. The plan for a month with enough 4G data to run Google maps and such will cost about the same as the phone did.

[questa]

Having slagged off on mobile phones and how I hate them, I must say that now the Emergency warning system is worth it. Registration is optional and if any natural disaster threatens a message is sent to those in the area. We have bad fires atm and for someone to 'go or stay' is a crucial decision.

[bixaorellana]

I still hate them.

If any natural disaster is that bad, I'll know about it one way or another.

[mich64]

It sounds like you have a pretty good deal there Fumobici! It was only at the beginning of this year that phones in Canada are sold unlocked, until then you would have to pay your provider a fee close to $100 to unlock your phone (at least where I live anyway).

On our past three holidays our option to use our phone in Europe meant that we were charged $10 day a whenever we used it. When we went to Costa Rica last year, we ended up having to use both of them when one in our group had a fall by the pool and broke her wrist so we loaned them one of our phones to keep in contact with us, while we were thankful we had the use of them in the end it cost us about $120.

We look forward, if we travel this September, if we do get new phones that they are unlocked and we just have to purchase a card for much less. When on the move, we contact our parents that we have arrived at our next stop safely, they are still wary and nervous of us driving when away so it relieves them when we call and say we arrived safely. It would make them very happy if we just did not leave the country, but they know we will never stop traveling so anyway we can make them happy we do, neither operate a computer or cell phone so phone calls are what we do. In the early years we used to find a pay phone and use our credit card to call home and that worked well, but it is difficult to find a pay phone most places now.

[fumobici]

What I did was got on Italian Ebay (so the phone would work meet the current GSM quadband 4G specs for the EU, and so the charger would have an Italian plug) and bought a reconditioned two year old phone from a seller with good feedback who shipped from Hong Kong. The SIMs you get from major carriers bought within the EU will work seamlessly across borders per the EU mandate last year to end the practice of charging roaming fees within the EU. It's not foolproof though, to be sure it'll work you have to make sure the phone is compatible with the carrier you'll be using. That can easily enough be looked up on the internet. Voice and text should be no problem regardless, but broadband internet can be fussier. If you have the wrong phone, your internet might not work, or work only at slow 2G speeds.

[questa]

Bixa, do you carry a phone when you travel? I have never done so, even when I spent years away from home. My lack of ability to use a phone combined with the presence of many cafes with cheap rates made it easier to choose these than worrying if I have the right equipment.
Anyway, my adult sons had an agreement with me...no contact unless there was a real problem...'no news is good news'. If I got hit by a truck (which I did)I could send emails home. I guess it depends on how much you communicate on a day to day basis anyway.

[bixaorellana]

Questa, no phone for me when I travel. I've been give a mobile phone twice and both times got rid of them very quickly. I do not want to be constantly connected! Really, if there is a problem at home about which you can do nothing, why ruin your trip by telling you about it? You can always Skype (free!) if you just want to talk to someone. As far as needing the phone, I'll grudgingly admit that some of the apps allowing you to check-in or to get updates on flight status can be useful. But I don't buy into the idea that they're crucial to travel or that people have to be in constant contact. There is always the old method of deciding where & when to meet. Or, as in the case of the friend I visited in Istanbul, relying on your psychic abilities. This friend doesn't even wear a watch, yet we always found each other with no problem at whatever site we visited. That included Hagia Sophia, which as you know is very big and crowded.

[questa]

Questa, no phone for me when I travel. I've been give a mobile phone twice and both times got rid of them very quickly. I do not want to be constantly connected   (quote  Bixa)

Hallelujah! another member for the Unfettered Traveler's Association. I remember seeing pictures of British travellers in the past with scores of flunkies carrying bath tubs, dining tables and chairs and anything they felt would make them feel more at 'home'. Raises the question...why go? The whole point of travel is to see/experience the new and unfamiliar that is not on a screen but all around you. You have to re-adjust all your own personal "settings" to reflect a new You, created by the different circumstances.

However, if you spend much time conversing with "back home", looking at the latest bunch of baby photos or the grandkids' sports trophy...well, I feel I haven't left home. Might as well watch a video of the place with the narrator telling us what we are seeing and hearing.

[kerouac2]

Then at least you could put the video on 'pause' and go to the kitchen for snacks.

[bixaorellana]

Mar 21, 2018 22:55:16 GMT questa said:

... scores of flunkies carrying bath tubs, dining tables and chairs and anything they felt would make them feel more at 'home'.

Oh, but I do have that!

[questa]

Of course! How could I have imagined otherwise?

[kerouac2]

Shades of "Out of Africa."

[bjd]

Here is an article about internet providers in Canada for Mich:

www.cbc.ca/news/business/internet-services-rates-canada-1.4596554

There might be cheaper cell phone providers too.