The trap of online payments

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67Dart273

67Dart273

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.............but ended well

I just have a basic flip phone. Unfortunately, this seems to be near an end, as it seems Verizon is dumping us off more and more towers. I can't even get service in the basement of my house, which is downtown. I am NOT looking forward to a "smart phone" which is larger, less rugged and a bunch of nonsense I don't want or use

ANYway, went to pay the bill this morning onliine, and "I guess" the credit card wanted more security. So you "punch the button" and the procedure is supposed to send you a security code by text to your phone (what happens if the phone doesn't work?) and then you enter that text online to finish

BUT THE TRANSACTION kept timing out before the text showed up!!!

Finally had to call the credit card customer service, and AMAZINGLY a well spoken woman who I could actually understand answered and fixed the issue. Frankly, I'm amazed

But "all this ****" is a self fulfilling failed convolution............you have the plastic money, linked to the fake fone, linked to the possibly it works cable internet.......and if one of them fails, you can't pay your effin' bill!!!
 
Last year I got a $99 Samsung Galaxy a10.

It's kind of a bare bones smart phone.

Plan is only $35 a month.

Besides a modern phone you also get a pretty good camera and a decent web browser.

I've only installed one app and that is a free, non-intrusive GPS speedometer.

The only reason I got rid of my 2012 phone is because it went through the washer and I couldn't fix the touch part of the screen.
 
I had to upgrade my phone years ago when we started getting paid via debit card.

I was a self employed trucker and I neeeded to get my pay info and expense info and having one place to get it was great. Plus I got paid 3% on my daily balance... some of my load settlements were over $10,000 so getting paid after simply taking a photo of the signed bills of lading beat having to FedEx the paperwork in and waiting 5 days.

Now I get my load info via text... I sometimes use the map app to avaoid getting lost (although the app for trucks is much more accurate).

I can't imagine going back to pay phones or even a flip phone...
 
67Dart273 said:
.............but ended well

I just have a basic flip phone. Unfortunately, this seems to be near an end, as it seems Verizon is dumping us off more and more towers. I can't even get service in the basement of my house, which is downtown. I am NOT looking forward to a "smart phone" which is larger, less rugged and a bunch of nonsense I don't want or use

ANYway, went to pay the bill this morning onliine, and "I guess" the credit card wanted more security. So you "punch the button" and the procedure is supposed to send you a security code by text to your phone (what happens if the phone doesn't work?) and then you enter that text online to finish

BUT THE TRANSACTION kept timing out before the text showed up!!!

Finally had to call the credit card customer service, and AMAZINGLY a well spoken woman who I could actually understand answered and fixed the issue. Frankly, I'm amazed

But "all this ****" is a self fulfilling failed convolution............you have the plastic money, linked to the fake fone, linked to the possibly it works cable internet.......and if one of them fails, you can't pay your effin' bill!!!
Click to expand...


My old phone (9 years old) finally gave out last October... Not much selection in flip phones now, the only few available make texting awkward because you have to use the # buttons and press them 3 - 4 times just for one letter.... :BangHead:

I had to give in and get a smart phone, but am happy with the Keyocera line as they make very durable phones... Popular with military and construction people...

I like it because it's durable and can take a good blow, and can go 6 feet under water for up to 30 minutes, so dropping it in the sink accidentally won't kill it....


https://kyoceramobile.com/duraforce-pro-2/
 
Actually the flip phone is making a comeback.

At least one company is trying to sell it as "exciting new technology".
 
I fought the idea of a smart phone for a long time.
It just got to the point I couldn't do my job without it.
There's a lot I won't use it for, like coming here, but it comes in handy for a lot of other uses.
I have an iPhone 8, I use several apps on there a lot more than I ever thought I would.
Now that I have it, I wouldn't go backwards.
One thing I won't do is sit at the dinner table with a phone in front of me. I guess if you're sitting alone it's okay, but I won't do it if I'm with others.
 
Remember these phones...

ded25c2be217e86450659aef56babf67.jpg
 
When I was six and moved into the house Mom and Dad bought from my Grampa, there was a wall mount hand crank phone and about 30 people on the party line LOL
 
Look at the Sonim XP5 phone. It is a basic phone that has HD voice and is over priced for what it is. From what I read they are trying to cancel service to phones that are not HD voice compatible, or rather they are forcing you to upgrade.
 
67Dart273 said:
When I was six and moved into the house Mom and Dad bought from my Grampa, there was a wall mount hand crank phone and about 30 people on the party line LOL
Click to expand...
I'm old enough to remember crank phones and party lines. I was a kid, but I remember it.
My great aunt was a busy body and would sit on the line and listen to people's conversations.
Being on a farm could get boring!
 
67Dart273 said:
When I was six and moved into the house Mom and Dad bought from my Grampa, there was a wall mount hand crank phone and about 30 people on the party line LOL
Click to expand...

Do you remember what your ring was? Three longs and a short?
 
Unfortunately, the older flip phones will not support the newer 4 & 5 gig software. That's why we have to upgrade our phones. Since I entered the telecom world 51 years ago, technology has progressed by leaps & bounds. Especially in the last 10 years, but humans are resistant to change. Most of us would rather stay with the things we are used to & comfortable with. The bad part about that is, technology marches on & we have to adapt.
 
mopardude62 said:
Do you remember what your ring was? Three longs and a short?
Click to expand...

Our number was one nine F 4, we were the 19th person on the line (not in order) and our ring was "Fast 4" or 4 short rings. No idea why I can still remember that

They came in and installed a non-dial desk phone when the new lines were run, ----still had about 20 people on the line. After a short time? a year? they replaced that with a dial phone Mom and Dad had a dial phone well after touch tone was implemented
 
We had a rotary phone until 1989.
 
I had the same samsung flip phone and plan for for 10 years and the phone company sent me a new flip phone for free,I guess it's 4 or 5 G type of deal..Very poor reception for the 5 times I've had to use it..
 
I don't remember how many rings we heard. You guys know about ringer frequencies, right? The ringers are resonant (responsive) to set frequencies so that not everybody has to hear everybody elses rings.

After the dial phone got installed, we only heard one other customer. There's was two short rings, ours was one long ring

And now, some more annoying stories from the old days

This is the "main" operating station at K6NCG, the Treasure Island Amateur Radio Club shortly after I left. I can tell because at the time I left there was not a matching Drake receiver for the Drake transmitter, otherwise known as "Drake twins". But the PHONE is the same. When you used the phone you were required to log calls, and expected to pay for personal "toll" calls. Someone got sloppy so they put a lock in the dial. I came in on the meeting night when that got installed, and commented, "that won't stop anybody" and proceeded to demonstrate how you can dial a phone BY STOMPING THE HOOK SWITCH so many times LOLOL

Positions_005.jpg


This was the so called "ritty" (RTTY, or Radio TeleType) and CW (morse) position. I used it a lot. In fact a friend and I went up to the Mare Island mothball fleet and obtained some of the RTTY gear shown there

The "key" there is either a "bug" or a keyer paddle, I can not tell which. A "bug" has a weighted horizontal pendulum which automatically makes "dots" di di di di di di for as long as you hold the paddle and until the pendulum runs out of juice. You made the dashes manually by manually tapping the paddle the other direction.

A keyer paddle is essentially a precision SPDT switch. Center off, you hold it left or right to cause the electronic "keyer" to manufacture dots and dashes

The transmitter on left is a Hallicrafters HT-37, the receiver with the big "V" shaped front bezel is the tremendous Collins 75A-4, and the scope unit above is part of a military URA-8 RTTY terminal unit. It too came from the mothball fleet. I helped hook it all up

Positions_006.jpg


Below is the main station as I knew it Collins receiver, Drake transmitter, National NCL-2000 linear amp This is Al Dockins, RIP, a great guy

Hams_004.jpg


Me, at about 20 years old, on the 120ft tower. Many of the guys would not climb it. Maybe they were smarter

Hams_018.jpg
 
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A view from the tower. The circular barracks were brand new, and they are now gone. Dozed into dirt

Views_002.jpg


A few / some of these may or may not be still standing

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All gone. Even YBI (Yerba Buena Island) has been vastly changed by the new bridge

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Below, your's truly with my just bought 63 SS on the road to what would become 4 years and the end of my enlistment at NAS Miramar, San Diego. Top Gun. Fightertown, USA

I don't even know that guy. Don't recognize him LOLOL

Hams_011.jpg
 
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