You’re right, it does need the MNO to build an interface to handle calls this way and it wouldn’t surprise me that some partition their base.
Apple use a mechanism called the ‘carrier bundle’ which enables/disables things in the phone’s menu depending on the subscribing network’s capabilities; a much neater solution than a menu item that doesn’t work when selected!
Drat!
@StephenPacker has explained it pretty well. I’m also in an area of appalling mobile coverage and rely on wifi calling. It is a simple settings change in the phone app, set once and forget. What Stephen didn’t mention is that it works with delivering SMS messages too so very helpful for any services that send an SMS message with a one time code.
Hmmm both of my banks just give all customers small device about 1/4 size of a credit card that generates OTP. Doesn’t rely on any connectivity. You just put in the correspondent account number or the transfer amount and it displays a password good for 60 seconds. No app nonsense. Battery lasts ages. I got mine 6 years ago and going strong.
In fact old fashion mobiles are making a comeback in Japan. Au Infobar. Buttons and everything.
You can also use a smartphone as a remote for your hifi.
Can’t really understand why someone wouldn’t want one, but it takes all sorts I guess.
Same here with my bank but you can bet that sooner rather than later they will want to phase those out and replace with an app on your phone
My Mother won’t go on line or have a smartphone and of course I respect her decision. But I have to smile because I can remember when I was young and my old Great Uncle who refused to go on the phone (landline) and my Mum used to give him hell for it!
I don’t blame you. As a resident of remote North Yorkshire I know only too well how wet and cold it is here, even in August. The she badger and I both have phones, but there is no signal within half a mile of the house. On-line banking is a pain. SWMBO logs on via WiFi, I take a walk up the fell to pick up the access code which is sent by SMS and phone it through on the landline. Keeps me fit.
One other thing to consider that if there were no mobile phones, there’d be no ‘Android Tribe’ vs. ‘Apple Tribe’ arguments and disagreements!
(Sarcasm mode on) Those never get tiresome! (sarcasm mode off)
George.
You can usually get your bank to send the one time code to your house phone. What happens then is the house phone rings, you pick up and a somewhat artificial voice tells you what the code is and repeats it so you can check you wrote it down correctly.
Probably depends on the bank too.
Best
David
I am reluctant to mention this as I call my dog ‘badger’, but a female badger is called a sow and a male badger a boar. I don’t suppose we can take our names that seriously … or it might be misconstrued.
The only problem we have is that we are on O2. I have a monthly SIM only contract on my iPhone11, so can make calls, send texts over wifi (when available), but SWMBO uses my old iPhone6 and has a PAYG version as she hardly ever uses text messaging and rarely makes calls from her phone, and for some reason known only to O2 (I assume), they don’t allow wifi calling on PAYG.
The real problem is that although we live in a large “village” (population c.5000, which I would call a small town) and the area is supposed to have 4G, most of the time we have no “bars” at all, and neither do our neighbours on other networks. Even in the village centre I will usually only see 3 bars on my iPhone 11. So much for coverage maps. Perhaps I should report O2 to the Trade descriptions people?
And no - I have no intention of paying for a monthly contract for her to make just the occasional call. That’s why we still have a landline.
Anyone can send a text message to a BT landline, I don’t know about other operators. Try it. BT Text To Speech has been around for years; I worked on it in about 2005/6. At Christmas we used to switch off the default Lizzie voice (lovely tones and manner) and use Tom Baker over the Christmas period.
On that basis presumably you can give your landline as your primary contact and provided your bank has no qualms about blatting txt messags to a landline, it should work.
ETA: I just tried it. It’s still Lizzie, she has lovely modulation and very clear enunciation. My message was just like listening to a normal voice mail.
Sadly unavailable to me!
If you don’t have wifi calling as an option on your phone, investigate a booster that connects to your home network. We have 2 here, one from O2 and the other from EE, to overcome our non-existent phone signal. Connect via ethernet to your router (mine go via a 4 port switch elsewhere in the house) and the phone behaves as if it has a good solid signal.
O2 charged for theirs (my then employer covered that cost) and EE hand them out on request. I forget which way round they work, but one requires the number to be registered with the service provider, the other just finds a phone in the vicinity and connects it.
I guess what HouseholdNaim is referring to is a “femtocell” basically a small 3G cell that connects to your internet connection. Have previously used one from Vodafone and currently use one from Three. Their physical location has to be registered (for emergency calls) and for both Vodafone and Three the phone numbers that can access them have to be registered. Provides 3G signal through most of our house. Problem is that if the internet goes down, or there’s a power cut, you lose mobile signal hence need to maintain a landline to phone the utility to request that they fix it.
Willy.
Hi Solwisesteve,
Please do me a favour, tell your estate agent to pick his own smarthphone and eat itself or putting it where the sun never reach.
I atill have a Nokia 3310 for usual conversation or SMS. I don’t see why now, everyone is obliged to own a smartphone with stupid apps, being so a targeted at every level.
Regards
Roberto
100% agree
Good Morning All,
Just catching up on this thread. I can’t help thinking we need to approach this from the other direction.
I’m sure there are a fair number of people on this forum who remember those far off days when our cards used to be swiped and we’d get a ‘tracing paper’ receipt for the transaction.
There was no need for a three digit number off the back of the card or a need to receive a verification code over such as a mobile.
I see I can’t use my fingerprint ‘ID’ to access First Direct on my phone in the last week…
The financial industry needs to find a simple secure system rather than keep applying sticking plasters to a system that clearly isn’t fit for purpose.
I suspect this is much easier said than done though.
Now back to dealing with Octopus who want to charge me some £228 for using some 279 units (including the daily standing charge of £0.21). Despite sending me an EM on the 4th June confirming they had taken over as my supplier the bill is dated from 18th May!!!
There can’t be any confusion over the amount of electricity used as I have a SMETS2 SMART meter…
Regards
Richard
Ha. I used to be like you rsch, wondering why people need this stuff. Then my employer gave me a 3310, then a better but still basic Nokia, then a smartphone. I now own my own having moved on job wise.
Apps then eh? First off, you install what you want. Some come preloaded but most can be deleted, or hidden away from the main screen. It’s your phone to use how you like. As you mentioned ‘stupid apps’ I thought I’d see what mine are…
Text: ubiquitous, doesn’t impact data and all packages these days have unlimited texts. A great way of exchanging non urgent info.
Whatsapp: brilliant. I have groups for immediate family, my rapidly aging siblings, the people who until March I spent most days in the office with and still appreciate informal interaction, and a few others, plus individuals. There’s the Executors group that I run dealing with my late parents’ estate - so easy to exchange imformation, or when an important letter arrives the other exec can take a photo and I can see it 2 seconds later. Plus unlimited video & voice calls when on wifi, but even on data these don’t take much.
Online banking. So useful, so handy, and no need to be near the PC or a need to fire it up to check or make a payment.
Nextdoor: local social media thing. It’s good, I’ve sold a lot of stuff on there that didn’t warrant eBay fees, and given away as well as recieved lots of free stuff; instant recycling. Useful for knowing too what’s going on locally now that the local paper has gone.
Twitter: I look occasionally. Not vital, nice to have.
BBC Sport: largely redundant in lockdown but generally v useful, easily customised to suit my interests.
Lottery: Yh, I want a Statement and a Bentley with Naim in it. I don’t need to remember to go to the shop to get a ticket, and it tells me when I win.
Outlook: Email is still a thing.
BBC Sounds: Love this. Twitter often mentions a great prog on R4 etc. Fire Sounds up, Bluetooth into the Muso, the 272 or the car, and it’s there.
Podbean: my podcast app of choice. There’s a world of interest there if you look. Download a podcast, chuck the phone on the car seat and play it through the car audio. All that took was a one-off 30 seconds of pairing - BT > Pair > select the Volvo, done, now everytime I get in it’s ready to go.
Naim: well you just would.
Waze: sat nav with voice in the car for the odd time I’m going somewhere new.
Duo Mobile: 2FA security thing used mainly by our IT dept, and others. V useful.
ParentMail: our sons’ school’s preferred method of communicating with parents. They also send emails but PM is a much neater interaction.
Dropbox: getting files off, more useful when it was an iPhone but Android works with USB. I could lose this.
WhatThreeWords: geographic location appp. V useful, esp when I met up with the wife at an unknown remote spot after lockdown eased. Emergency services use it too.
Trainline: buy tickets, check on train schedules, all from the pub or the work party you’re at.
GooglePay: converts my phone to a contactless payment vehicle without the contactless limit, with each transaction listed with all required details other than what I actually bought.
Maps: in a strange town? The answer.
NSandI Prize Checker: I win some interest most months on Premium Bonds, this is the neatest way to check when you’re out or without having to access login credentials,
Phone: useful thing a phone…
Camera: Excellent quality pics all the time, or like when I was out in town & saw an ad in a window for a job that would suit my younger son. I could have found a pen & paper, or just take a photo & Whatsapp it to him. He got it.
Chrome Browser: the internet
My watch app: links phone to watch, it counts steps like a Fitbit, the phone can trigger the camera remotely, control audio on the phone, and synch the time. Great, background app that makes life easier.
There are more. None are stupid, all have varying degrees of usefuleness but no-one said we can only use phones for serious things. And like you 20 years ago I had your view, but these things make life easier, esp Whatsapp & being an executor. The benefits totally outweigh any downsides. The phone was free btw, I take on my sons’ cast-offs as they become available. It works for me, and for them.