Do Some Phone Apps Invade Privacy?
This question is asked in an article in The Sunday Times today.
I can’t say I’m bothered as my Nokia 6310i can’t run apps.
However, if you search the Internet with the title of this post or something like it, you’ll find a lot of people are worried, that your privacy is being invaded.
But not mine!
Did My Anger Burn Richard Branson’s House Down?
If it did, I of course apologise, but then the response of Virgin Media to my lack of landline would try the patience of a saint. And of course, I may be many things, but I’m no saint!
My landline probably failed about the 1st of August, but I’m unsure when, as my TV and broadband was still working and I mistakenly thought that the landline came through the cable. I may be an electronic engineer, but hardware and especially telecoms hardware has always been a mystery to me. Those that tried to reach me on the landline failed and so tried my reliable Nokia 6310i connected through o2.
Only about the 10th of August did I realise that the landline was broken and eventually phoned them on the 12th. Virgin Media support, said that the line was OK and would I try another phone. Not so easy when you live by yourself and don’t have a spare one handy. So in the end I bought a new phone from Maplin for about £30 to test the line. That may seem expensive, but it is a twin one and I needed that anyway. The lack of phone line just brought my purchase forward by a month or so.
The phone didn’t connect either, so I spent another hour or so trying to get through to Virgin. At one time, I was left on hold to rediculous music, which I couldn’t stand. And of course I was paying for the expensive call on my mobile phone. One idiot at Virgin might actually told me to use the ladline as it would be cheaper but another did try to sell me a new calling plan, which would be cheaper. It strikes me that Virgin have already found me a very cheap calling plan. It’s called the no phone plan.
At this point I phoned BT and they will be taking over the phone from the 30th of August.
I finally got some sense out of Virgin by phoning them up and cancelling. But this will cost me £70. The lady with the sense also made sure that an egineer would come round on Monday the 22nd.
They did and fixed the phone. But the engineers did say there was a problem with the cable and it would need properly fixing later. This would of course mean digging up the new pavement. They actually accused the works of causing the problem with the phone, but retracted that when I told them, that the phone line had failed before the work started.
Yesterday, someone very polite, (Unlike me!) , from Virgin phoned to check that everything was OK. The phone hasn’t worked since.
My Landline
Looking at the cable from the outside, it doesn’t look as though it’s a much better piece of work than their cabinets.
This morning it was the usual Virgin get connected obstacle race and I lost it. Wouldn’t you? In the end they phoned back a couple of times, but always at inconvenient or noisy moments. It doesn’t help that there’s a road drill outside.
So now I’ve decided to wait until BT connect my broadband on Tuesday.
I have completely lost what little faith if any I ever had in Virgin Media.
I hope Sir Richard didn’t have to call the emergency sevices on one of his own phone lines! Or perhaps he was waiting for the lines to be fixed and the firemen didn’t get the message quick enough.
Smartphone Coverage Not As Good As Networks Say
I have a very dumb phone with a robust constitution, that does everything I want of it. But there are reports in several papers, including the Daily Mail, that the major networks coverage isn’t as good as they claim.
I’ll stick with my trusty Nokia 6310i!
How To Get Lost On the Hills
According to this report, it would appear the best way is to navigate using your iPhone.
What’s wrong with a map and compass?
Let’s suppose that you are walking one of the London canals and you’re aiming to be out for most of the day. By the time you get back, your iPhone will have exhausted its battery, so if you feel like taking a phone, why not take something with a sensible battery life, like a Nokia 6310i.
Another Reason Why It’s Dumb to Have a Smart Phone!
I picked this up in the Sunday Times, but it’s reported here in detail on the BBC. Basically use your smart phone abroad in some countries and you’ll get a bill bigger than the holiday you’re having.
I’ll stick to my Nokia 6310i.
Nokia Blows It
I use a Nokia 6310i, as it does everything I want from a mobile phone and more. So where did they all go wrong? As rumours are that they are in serious trouble.
According to this article, they spent too much time in the sauna.
I doubt I’ll ever buy a smart phone, as they just don’t suit my lifestyle. I’m even taking my laptop on trains less, as a magazine or paper and my phone give me all the entertainment I need.
I do wonder sometimes, whether a large part of the population are growing tired of electronic toys. Reality is so much more fun!
How to turn a Nokia 6310i Into A Smarter Phone
People laugh at me because I don’t have a smart phone like an iPhone. But then apparently Elton John doesn’t even have any mobile phone.
But then my Nokia 6310i can send and receive text messages, tweet and even send and receive normal phone calls to anybody with a number. That last bit is really cool. Or is it Koool? Who cares anyway? The only thing it doesn’t have is an automatic reject of calls that are trying to cheat me out of money in various ways. But no-one has a phone that does that! Yet! But hopefully, it will come in the next 100 years or so.
I’ve had my 6310i eleven or twelve years now and even now, I find new features that I am starting to use. I’ve known about it for some time, but now I’m using the to-do-list feature to make notes as I ride around London, often at the front on the top deck of a bus. Try doing that in a car!
As the phone stores quite a few text messages, when I have information I might need on the move, I just text it to my phone using LiquidDrop. I’ve just picked up my tickets for Barnsley and I’ve texted the itinerary to the phone for Saturday. No hated piece of paper to take, but I suspect W H Smug, will try and load me up. Perhaps, I’ll buy my Saturday paper in M&S or on the way to St. Pancras.
So the 6310i is getting to be a smarter phone. This is what everyone wants! I once said, “Computers make good slaves, but very bad masters!” That applies to phones as well. And especially mobile ones.
How About An iPhone Tax?
I hate smart phones and I did try one once and found that it gave me no advantages, but many disadvatages over my Nokia 6310i. To be fair for someone like me, who’s had a stroke, smart phones are just not robust enough.
One of the major troubles with iPhones and their cousins is that people spend so much time playing with them, that they don’t do their jobs properly.
So perhaps, if they had a higher rate of VAT, then the extra revenue raised could be used to fix the problems that smart phone addicts don’t solve.
Tweeting My Way South
On the two trips to south London, I used my trusty Nokia 6310i to send messages to Twitter.
In both trips I got a story going; the first about how I’d borrowed the landlord’s dog from the pub next door for protection and in the second about travelling with an attack cat, who got rather agitated in Catford.
Today, I’ll be tweeting my way north, as I’m off to Coventry to see Ipswich Town play.
If you want to follow me, my Twitter ID is VagueShot.
The Anonymous Widower 