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Life with Smartphones


raymac46

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We have had the same wireless phone provider for 26 years (Rogers - originally Cantel.) In that time we have had a total of 4 wireless phones:

  1. 1992-2000 Motorola bag phone - the size of a toaster and only worked if plugged it in to the car's cigarette lighter.
  2. 2000-2008 Nokia candy bar phone. Mobility at last. You could actually make a phone call outside the car.
  3. 2008-2017 Nokia flip phone. Rogers ditched its analog network and went digital so we had to upgrade.
  4. 20017- Samsung Galaxy A5 Smartphone . Welcome to the 21st century I guess.

Now if it were up to me we'd still have the bag phone. But my wife wants to text and you can't really do that on a numeric keypad. So last weekend we set out to the Rogers store and did an upgrade. Results have been decidedly mixed.

  • The Good We got a reasonably priced plan with a new phone, Unlimited phone and text and some data.
  • The Bad The amount of wireless data we got was laughably small (500MB) but I didn't care because who wants to surf the Net on a 5 inch screen with some stupid Android app?
  • The Ugly The phone connected seamlessly to my wireless LAN - then ignored it while it did a system upgrade and 30 app updates using my mobile data. This chewed through twice my allowance for the month in one day. Rogers sent me a message saying I'd have to pay an additional $50 in overage charges. After my threatening a couple of supervisors Rogers agreed to drop the excess charge but I was still over the limit. The store put a data limit restriction on the phone to shut down mobile data until the new billing cycle next month. To get my data set back to zero I would have to call Rogers and threaten to cancel everything I have with them. I don't want to do that.

Bottom Line - the messaging has been great. My mother-in-law was injured in a fall and she's in hospital now. My wife has been messaging and phoning her sister and brother and my daughter. The data - pah. I hate Smartphones. I will never have my own in a million years.

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securitybreach

Well what you do not realize is that nowadays these are more like mobile computers, than phones. I rarely make actual phone calls on my smarphone and that is the case for a lot of people. Most people communicate via text messages more so than actual phone calls. For instance, my phone has a quad core processor, 4gb of ram and 264gb of space. I frequently connect to my home machine via ssh and do all kinds of stuff via my phone. I can do most every thing that I do on my actual computers via my phone and still be mobile. I have unlimited data but I do not use a whole lot as most people are on wifi most of the time anyway. You should of simply connected to your home wifi and performed the updated...

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I did connect to my home wifi. The phone did the updates using my mobile data. Nobody seems to know why. The phone should have been updated at the store before I took it home.

There's no comparison between a 5 inch apps based Smartphone and a real laptop or desktop.

Edited by raymac46
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So if I read this right you can only update automatically when attached to wifi. It looks like the manual update doesn't give that option. BTW you can't get unlimited wireless data from the providers here. The max you can get is 80GB and that will cost $360 Canadian per month.

I don't see why the cellphone store could not power on the system and do the updates before handing it over to the customer. They certainly took no pains to tell how to update anything.

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Yes cellphone plans suck here in Canada.

 

But back to your original problem, my Samsung Galaxy S7 only updates when I'm on Wifi (my Galaxy S3 before that did the same thing). I usually disable my data when I'm not at home or at work. I've never experienced the issue you described....that just sucks.

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I don't see why the cellphone store could not power on the system and do the updates before handing it over to the customer. They certainly took no pains to tell how to update anything.

 

Blimey you Canadians sure do expect a lot from your shopkeepers :Laughing:

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I don't see why the cellphone store could not power on the system and do the updates before handing it over to the customer. They certainly took no pains to tell how to update anything.

 

Because they are glorified salesman. That's like going to a electronics retailer and asking them computer support questions. There is no way that I would trust the idiots at the cell phone place to update my phone? A lot of those people are completely clueless when it comes to tech. As a tech myself, there is no way I would let a salesman mess with my phone or computer. When you get a brand new device from an unopened box, it's hard to update it without breaking the non-tamper seal.

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I've had Android stuff for years, updated regularly but never had mobile data connections simply wifi.

I don't think it's too much to expect a cell phone store rep to know their products. If they didn't update they at least should tell the customer to NOT update manually unless the mobile data is turned off. Of course Rogers probably wants you to go over so they can pad your bill with extra charges. The rep did tell me to be sure to turn off Samsung's "smart switch" which goes mobile if the wifi signal isn't strong enough. I had already done that.

No matter. I have the mobile data off now and won't use it again. I am no technical dummy so I'm sure other more naive users got burned by Samsung/Rogers too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
... Canada’s cellphone bills are the highest of any developed Western country. To give you an idea, a two-year 5GB/month plan on Rogers with no device payments runs about US$110/month.

That's unbelievable. :o

Here in Oz my current plan is $AU40/month, no contract, with 8GB data.

My Pixel will only update automatically on wifi. If no wifi, it will notify updates are available and warn that mobile charges will apply if updating using mobile data.

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You have to protect yourself with Rogers.

  • Keep mobile data turned off completely if you are getting close to your skimpy 500 MB limit per month.
  • Never ever update manually. Even with wifi a manual app update will chew up your mobile data if its available.
  • Keep background processes updates turned off.
  • Don't text photos.
  • Make sure your phone has an automatic shutoff of mobile data when you reach your monthly limit, just in case.

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securitybreach

You have to protect yourself with Rogers.

  • Keep mobile data turned off completely if you are getting close to your skimpy 500 MB limit per month.
  • Never ever update manually. Even with wifi a manual app update will chew up your mobile data if its available.
  • Keep background processes updates turned off.
  • Don't text photos.
  • Make sure your phone has an automatic shutoff of mobile data when you reach your monthly limit, just in case.

 

That's horrible and sounds like early 2000s telecoms. I am on Tmobile and I get unlimited text, talk and LTE data for like $60 a month. Even better than that, I am on a plan where I pay an additional $20 a month and I can switch phones every month if I wanted. It's basically like renting a phone..if I want a new one, I turn in the old one. The money I have paid for the phone goes towards the next phone as well. So if I have paid $150 all together, that 150 goes towards the next phone. That's not how I use it though but you could buy a phone on payments if you chose to keep the phone.

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If you go over your allotment of data, Rogers will charge you about $8 per 100MB up to a max of $50 per month extra. You can give them permission to charge more after that if you want. :pirate:

Other Canadian telcos have comparable plans. There is no competition. No unlimited plans offered. It really isn't worth having a smartphone if you ask me.

Edited by raymac46
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I don't want nothing in my pocket that's smarter than I am. ;)

 

~Eric the Luddite

 

As a computer geek, why would you not want a pocket-sized computer?

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Our devices are beginning to own us. Take back your lives before it's too late. :smashcomp:

 

Meh, just connect me to the net.... B)

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The reason cable TV/Internet/Phone/Wireless sucks in Canada is because we have Oligopolies - small number of companies that say they compete but do not. It's not like a tightly regulated monopoly like the electric company or water company - they give decent service. The Oligopolists do not.

Where I live I have a choice of 2 companies for Phone/Internet/TV and maybe 3 for wireless. They all have comparable rates and those are not competitive price wise. I choose the least bad company (Rogers) and they give me a small discount for all my business. Right now the other company (Ma Bell) cannot give decent Internet or TV service in my area although in a couple of years they might.

Smaller competitors can't get in because of the huge costs of capital investment. The majors won't allow the little guys to use their infrastructure but if the government forces them to, the big guys just buy the small guys out.

The Oligops can treat their customers like crap because said customers have few options. You cannot compare the situation in Canada to that in the US.

If I cut my cable TV cord I just give the Internet streaming biz to the same company. Well Netflix gets a bit of my entertainment dollar. The Canadian telcos haven't found an effective way to compete with Netflix yet. And where I live over the air broadcasts are not possible except for a couple of local Canadian TV stations.

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The situation is similar where I live in the US as far as internet. (Our city is about 88,000 so we aren't living in the suburbs). I have a choice of two: Verizon (phone) or Comcast (cable). I chose the company I distrust a bit less. <sigh> There are a few places that actually have two cable companies. My mom, who lived about 1 hour and 15 minutes away in the next county had a choice of two cable companies: Service Electric and RCN. Her cable tv prices were lower because there is competition. For the longest time Service Electric didn't require any box to be attached to the tv which meant older people could use larger universal remotes with a few buttons that they could actually see.

 

We can't cut cable because we live too far away to get more than 3 channels on the tv. The situation was much better when there were analog signals but those days are long gone.

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  • 2 months later...
Cluttermagnet

Raymac's thread was interesting enough to read all the way to the end.

Thought I might append a humble question of a similar nature here in this

thread...

 

I just had my first ever smart phone experience. With Consumer Cellular.

Which we like very, very much, BTW (CC). Bottom line is I briefly had an

Alcatel Kora, a low end unit, for all of a half hour or so before I decided

I needed to put it back in the box and return it to CC for a refund. No

issues with CC. No issues with Alcatel, and I'm sure the phone they sent

was brand new and functional. I got on our phone and had a long chat with

a CC rep and she is emailing me a prepaid return label to ship it back.

Soooooo... why on earth, you are probably wondering, would I do such a

thing like that? Well...

 

When I learned the device is Google-infested and I would have to enter into

an agreement with Google to get control of the OS and apps, that was the

end of it. Ain't gonna happen- even if I never own a smart phone ever. She

told me that I-phones wouldn't have the Google baggage. Whatever. I'd

also not want to do any business with Apple if at all possible. Snooty, over-

priced- I've never really thought much of Apple. Closed hardware ecosystem,

etc. What a pile of hooey... Anti-competitive...

 

Well, guys, have I just drawn a Venn diagram describing the 'empty set'?

The universe of smart phones that aren't made by apple or infested with

Google? Inquiring minds want to know- which is why I posted this dumb

semi-rant here.

 

BTW on a much more positive note, CC recently doubled my wifi hot spot

hours from 500M/month to 1G/month at zero added cost. Yay! I'm just

finding more and more to like about that company. My wifi hot spot device

has been a very good answer to my low BW connectivity needs from Casa

David. Meanwhile, Betty's on a Comcast pipe which is plenty fast enough

for our needs, and no hassles about BW limits for us... BTW my ZTE hot

spot is 4G, I believe. Anyway, it's plenty fast for my casual internet browsing

and emailing, even if it's a photo-intensive session. Not as fast as fiber and

cable, of course, but fast enough, just the same...

 

CC makes it pretty easy to watch your connect hours/BW build over the

month. I have never gone over so far.

 

I've been able to live without a smart phone for years. It won't kill me to

learn I can't get one on my terms. I wouldn't trust Google with change from

a dollar...

 

Clutter

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securitybreach

Well you cannot presently buy a smartphone that is not Android (google) or iOS (Apple). There is not another choice right now. There are talks of smartphones coming out without the google ecosystem but none are out yet. That said, you can install a custom rom (OS) without the google apps on an android device after rooting it.

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Cluttermagnet

Josh- When you say "custom ROM" do you mean an actual piece of hardware

like a 'SIM' card? Or is more in the sense of Flash memory which can be

endlessly rewritten? (after rooting the phone) Is the OS on an 'EEPROM'?

In would expect a hard wired ROM IC, tiny thing surface mounted to the

internal PCB...

 

On further reflection, I would hope the SIM card in a smart phone is an

entirely separate thing. I need the right SIM card to be able to access

Consumer Cellular (AT&T backbone). If it is entirely separate from the

ROM then maybe a reprogrammed OS might work- but you need all sorts

of helper software to tell the hardware to 'be a cellphone' and work on CC

network. I suspect this entire enterprise is waaaaaaaay beyond my pay

grade. I've never even owned a smart phone, know nothing about using

one...

Edited by Cluttermagnet
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Basically a rom is the system image and there are many custom ones out that change the look and functionality of the phones:

 

(Android Read Only Memory) A file containing the executable instructions (a system image) of an Android OS and affiliated apps. The "stock ROM" comes installed on the phone or tablet, while a "custom ROM" comes from a third party. The custom ROM is either a uniquely modified OS, such as Cyanogen, or a stock version made available for older devices or for new devices before the vendor release date.

https://www.pcmag.co...820/android-rom

 

XDA forums has subforums for most every single Android device out there that includes sections on how to root, customize, install custom roms, themes, reviews of phones and accessories, etc.:

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Cluttermagnet

Wow, great, Josh! Thanks for a good starting point. I'll go read these links

and poke around the net a little, see if I can get a sense if this is doable

for me at my level of experience and ability. I take it you can somehow

'flash' a recently rooted phone with a custom OS, at least that's what this

all sounds like at the moment. So no changing out of little tiny modules

like we do with 'SIM' personality chips that configure a phone (smart phone)

to be a *phone*?

 

I'm still thinking Android more than Iphone, for whatever reason. And

Galaxy models are in the forefront of my current thinking, again for no

particular reason. A lot of folks seem to be getting various model Galaxy

phones...

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