Mobile Phones

[PanBiker]

I have already dropped that into the discussion when I visited the EE shop in Skipton yesterday with my woes. I had read in the replies on the EE community forum pages that you could go into any EE shop and they would sort out your number porting.

I had made up my mind to go with an ultimatum, sort it out or advise the best course for returning the whole job lot for a refund. After explaining my problem to the young lady in the shop on Sheep Street she told me that they did not have the application on their computers for instigating number porting, contrary to what I had read from the "experts" on the EE website. I had taken my letter from Orange with me so I had the PAC code for number transfer with me. She did offer to ring customer services for me which she duly did relating all my information, she was passed around a bit but did ask that my credit should be transferred from my old account and they should also apply the £10.00 that they had debited me for the new sim when I ordered it. I was told that my number port should be completed by midnight. I also had the information on how to instigate a return should that be necessary.

I live in hopes that things are finally moving, I got a text on my new phone last night informing me that I had £5.00 credit. Don't know where they got this money from as it had not moved from my old phone when I checked. About an hour later I got another that told me they could not apply my £10.00 everything pack because I did not have any credit on the account! Nevertheless some movement in the right direction. My old phone this morning is showing "sim not provisioned" which would indicated that the porting operation is finally in progress. I'll have to wait and see but do expect that this should complete at some point today. I will sort out any anomalies regarding credit on my account once the porting has completed and I'm only dealing with one number.

[Stanley]

All I can say is that this is ridiculous and you shouldn't have to go through all this hassle. Mind you, my experience is that you rang the Post Office, asked for a line and they came and installed it and a telephone that worked from that day on with no hassles about complicated contracts. There were some advantages in monopolies.....

[Pluggy]

Looks like I had it easy portimg my number from Orange to Three. It was all over in three days.

[PanBiker]

Mine is sorted now. I think the crux of the problem was that I instigated the porting on a Friday. Apparently the telecommunication industry does not work at weekends? The other less than ideal thing is that it was only ported within the same company as EE now manage both Orange and T-Mobile, it's all the same firm, but obviously still using separate infrastructure. Once the ball was rolling it took less than 24 hours but 5 days to get a start, crazy.

The settings in my phone still show the temporary number, the field that holds this within settings is not editable, it's a minor irritation. I assume my old number has just been aliased with the number on the sim somewhere in the database and routing tables of the network.

Begs the question whether this will have knock on effect to the built in Motorola app for tracing should the phone be lost or stolen. I would assume that this would use either the IMEI or the MAC number of the device rather than the number as this can simply be changed with a new sim. Likewise the GPS features of the phone can be disabled.

[PanBiker]

It would seem that EE have not finished with me yet. Last night I went onto my account to check my usage of data, voice and texts on my £10 Everything pack that I have already paid for. This was eventually set up once I got my number transferred. The pack gives me 500Mb of Data, 150 minutes of free calls and unlimited texts for 30 days.

Checking my account still showed 500Mb of data (not surprising as I don't have data services enabled at the moment), 137minutes of calls remaining and of course unlimited texts as the pack has not been running for the full month yet. I saw from my account that a new pack was due to be applied and started in ten days time. My account gave the option to cancel the next pack and continue to use my existing credits so I chose this option. My account details refreshed after doing this but I found that my data, calls and text allowances had all been set to 0.

It was late last night when I checked this so I rang customer services today at lunchtime. I was told that some services were down and asked if I would ring a different number back a few hours later. I checked to see if I could get into my account later in the afternoon and when I found that I could, I called the new number, it was around 4.00pm and after 10 minutes on the merry go round of button presses reached a CS representative who told me I was through to sales who could not resolve my problems, I needed accounts. They could not transfer me but gave me yet another number to dial. I chased that one and 5 minutes into the call after pressing the last routing option the line went dead. I redialled and after another 10 minutes eventually reached an account supervisor who after explaining my problem told me that she could not access my account to check as the system was down so I would have to ring back in the morning when she was sure that the services would be restored. I resisted shouting at her but it was an extremely fine line.

30 minutes later I received a text message from EE thanking me for contacting Customer Services and asking me to to complete a customer satisfaction survey. All texts were free so I scored them 0 (extremely unsatisfied) on their scale of 0 to 10 on every question that they asked.

I can see that tomorrow I may well be asking for a PUK code to take my business to another provider.

"How likely would I be to recommend EE to a friend"? ........ 0

[Stanley]

And they tell us this is the age of easy communication..... I'll pass thank you....

[Tizer]

Poor Ian, it's so depressing and takes up so much time. These companies are heading the same way as the banks and I guess we'll see a report on them similar to the one for the banks that I've just posted on The Beware the Bankers topic.
http://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/view ... 903#p64923

[PanBiker]

I rang "Customer Service" this morning at 11.00am, It takes about 8 number press choices to navigate through to where you need to be after entering your mobile number. You then go onto the merry go round with music, (no indication of where you are in the pecking order). I put the phone on handsfree and listened through three of the latest songs from the hit parade then the line was disconnected with an unobtainable tone.

I have checked EE's terms and conditions and because I have used their network at least once I am apparently locked into a 6 month contract(even on PAYG) before they will issue me with PUK and PAC codes to migrate to another network.

Seems like I'm dammed for the moment, I'm keeping a note of the abysmal "service" offered by them and have looked at my options for redress via Ofcom. It's not very encouraging though involving mediation and waiting periods (what am I doing now?).

One avenue would be cut my losses, abandon my existing credit of £12 and existing but missing allowances, get an unlock code from the net and buy a new SIM from another network. I would lose my number which would be a bit of a hassle so I don't really want to go down that route if it can be avoided. There is a limit to my endurance though.

I only went to EE as they had the phone I wanted, I could have bought it over the odds SIM free which with hindsight would have been the best bet but unfortunately I'm not in that place.

[Tizer]

A question on phone cameras. As you know, I'm not a smartphone user, I still don't find any need for communicating with one and just have an old mobile phone for emergencies; but I do like the way that a camera has been incorporated into smartphones so that you can take photos without having to carry a more bulky camera. I wouldn't give up my compact digital camera but the smartphone camera could be carried all the time, which allows more opportunities for snapping unexpected pics. I don't need the phone aspect so I decided to look for a digital camera which has the size and convenience advantages of the smartphone camera but so far I haven't found one. All the compact cameras, even the smallest, lightest ones seem to have bulky lens mechanisms which probably means bigger batteries than the phones. I guess none of the manufacturers make one because they think everyone already has a smartphone and wouldn't want such a camera. Also, it's hard to search for such a thing online without just getting all the ordinary cameras instead.

The other option is to acquire someone's old smartphone and simply use it as a camera. But - not knowing much about smartphones - I don't know if that's feasible. If I got one, could I use it as a camera without a subscription to any network? Is it possible to simply connect the smartphone to my PC with a USB cable to download the images a I do with my compact camera? In other words, just use it as a camera and ignore all the phone aspects.

[PanBiker]

Never thought of it Tiz but I suppose the answer will be that the phone will require a SIM card of some sort to activate the device. They are fairly dead without one, you could just get a cheap SIM from the supermarket but you may also have the problem of a particular device being locked to one network if it a second hand phone. Again that is a fairly simple matter to unlock.

You can buy SIM only phones which may be worth looking at. In all other respects the phone does act like a normal USB device, you just connect it to your computer to extract the images although there are more exotic ways of handling and storing your images in smartphone land.

If you already maintain an old mobile why not just upgrade to a cheap generic Android phone and shove a pre-pay sim card in. That way you will still have your phone, and all the bits and bobs which come with the Android platform, (its LInux based but looks nowt like it), some of the other bits might come in handy but you don't need to use them if you don't want. You can get some very cheap deals without having to go on contract. The camera lenses and facilities though do tend to increase in quality along with price. For a reference all the images in The Amateur Radio threads that I populate are taken on my mobile, its very convenient. My mobile cost less than a low end compact camera.

Just looked at the specs and my phone has two cameras the rear camera is 5MP at 4:3 and 3.8MP at 16:9 (configurable) and the front camera is 1.3MP.

[Tizer]

If you already maintain an old mobile why not just upgrade to a cheap generic Android phone and shove a pre-pay sim card in.

Thanks for all that information, Ian. If I did as you suggest would I be getting involved in any kind of contract or is it simply a one-off purchase of the SIM card and no need to make any contact with the company? (One-off because I would only use it as a camera.)

[PanBiker]

I should have said above that you can buy SIM free phones rather than SIM only. That basically means that the device is not locked to any particular network and you can then shove any kind of pay as you go SIM in it.

I should add that a smartphone is getting more like the proverbial Star Trek tri-quarter, the range of apps you can download for them is staggering and I have yet to pay for any that I have installed on my phone.

I basically use my phone for calls and texts but I do have a data allowance and can use it for the internet if I wish. It connects to my home WiFi when in range or any other free service when out and about. I have additional apps for fitness monitoring (walking, cycling, utilizing the inbuilt GPS). Calorie tracking, Various for amateur radio, Aurora alerts SOTA summits, and an app that indexes all the amateur radio repeaters in the area based on your current location, bar code scanning, QRA code scanning, mapping and navigation (can be used in the car). There are thousands to go at and I have probably missed a few. Oh and of course the inbuilt camera.

We were posting at the same time Tiz and I think you can just buy a generic SIM which you can pre pay cash onto. It will be provide by one of the networks as the SIM also contains the telephone number for the device there will be terms and conditions attached regarding its use but as far as I am aware you are not under a contract. You would need to check what the terms are. You could have look round the supermarket when you are next in or better still go to a dedicated phone supplier such as Carphone Warehouse if you have one near and tell them what you want to do. You will also be able to get the information on all the different offerings from any of the mobile network operators online.

I used to carry the hand me downs from my children which were OK I suppose at the time but the versatility of the modern devices cannot be denied. I get a lot more use out of my phone now than I ever did and I'm still on PAYG.

Will be incommunicado from the site shortly as we are taking the Grandchildren up to Carnforth shorty. Happy hunting TIZ

[Tripps]

"The other option is to acquire someone's old smartphone and simply use it as a camera. But - not knowing much about smartphones - I don't know if that's feasible. If I got one, could I use it as a camera without a subscription to any network? Is it possible to simply connect the smartphone to my PC with a USB cable to download the images a I do with my compact camera? In other words, just use it as a camera and ignore all the phone aspects. "

I'm in a similar situation - I have a cheap (About £50) Android phone. I bought it because my son had one, and I was jealous impressed. It was unlocked so I just transferred my PAYG sim card. I just use it as a phone, and that very rarely.
It will take photos, but must have a sim card in it to do so. I have used my current Lebara card which has credit on it, and another one Giffgaff, which doesn't. In each case it was possible to take a photo, and then connect the phone to a computer with a USB cable, and move the photos as you wish. I use Windows, but assume Linux would do the same. -So all you need is a phone and a card.

There are quite a few things you can do with a sim card but no subscription.
I hope this is helpful.

[Tizer]

Yes, that is very helpful David. Ian has provided a lot of information but you've already done the actual experiment. I always knew deep down you were a scientist!

[Stanley]

He remembers obscure song lyrics as well.....

[Tizer]

Continuing the camera phone saga...
There I was in the local Tesco last week, passing the time before going to collect Mrs Tiz from the hairdresser, when I found myself standing by the mobile phones. I hadn't gone ahead with the idea of getting a phone just to have the camera (as discussed above) because I'm still wary about getting caught in a so-called PAYG where you lose any remaining money at the end of the month. I looked at a Samsung at £39 and picked up the card to read the details. The network was described as Tescomobile but it's run by O2. Now that's interesting to me because O2 seems to be the only network that give a signal in and around our house. So off I went and found a friendly Tesco lady and interrogated her about the PAYG and she assured me I wouldn't lose the money at the end of the month. I went off to collect Mrs Tiz and to give myself time to think about it, and then we returned to the shop. This time we went to the customer service desk and I put the same questions to the lady there...and got the same answers, which was promising (it's not uncommon these days to get different shop staff giving different answers!). In the end Mrs Tiz bought the Samsung for me to shut me up and to get home for a cup of tea (I hadn't planned it that way, honestly).

Here's what I bought, the only difference being that I got it in the shop, not online:
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-mobil ... d=191-3510
Now I've just got to get used to using a touch screen and must try to avoid taking photos of my feet or having my fingers in the shot!

[plaques]

My very old mobile has recently run out of time, lost me a couple of bob or two. It would appear that ALL sims will run out of time between 90 or 180 days. Sim expiry. Just send yourself a text or a quick phone call every now and again and keep it open.

[Pluggy]

Welcome to smart phones Tiz.....

Don't get too involved putting Apps on it or it will be running like a slug on Valium in no time. You touch the camera button and 10 seconds later it takes the picture, sometime between the two it plays the digitised high end SLR recording.....

Don't to forget to charge it every day.

[Tizer]

The one thing that does irritate me is the long time switching on. Yes, I know `everyone' keeps their phone switched on all the time so they instantly receive all those `important' calls and messages but I'm not interested in all that. I guess I'll have to leave it on and just keep charging it as you say Pluggy. My old phone went from dead to alive in seconds whereas the new one is like a teenager waking up!

Plaques, in the old days before smartphones we gave my dad a mobile phone for emergencies but he didn't use it, and you could guarantee it would have run out if he did had an emergency.

[PanBiker]

You have to remember that you are not switching a simple phone on any longer. You are actually booting a handheld computer with a Linux operating system and customised desktop with touch sensitive screen. Quite a lot going on under the lid for a little handheld. With regard to additional apps on the device, I would not worry too much about overloading the little beasty. I have all sorts running on mine with no real detriment to the performance of the device. It's pretty good at multitasking a well, I quite regularly have three or more apps running at the same time without any problem. There are thousands of apps to choose from and some very useful ones, all I use have been free as well. No problem in looking in the play store Tiz, you might find something useful.

[Pluggy]

Must have the wrong kind of apps on mine. I think the next one will need to be a quad core.

Android apps are going the way free Windows software went years ago, full of advertising and 'Agendas'. You install some trivial (or you think its trivial) app and it wants access to the WiFi, GPS, Google account, Mobile Data, and bluetooth, and you're left wondering why it needs all that for a blob chasing game.....

Maybe I'm too cynical.

[PanBiker]

Basic spec on mine is:

Operating system
Android 4.4.4, KitKat®

System architecture/processor
Qualcomm® SnapdragonTM with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU, Adreno 305 with 450 MHz GPU

Memory (RAM)
1GB

Storage*
8GB

Removable storage: Supports up to 32GB microSD card (I have a 16GB installed)

The removable storage has no bearing on performance of course, when I got this one last year it was voted the best budget android device hence my choice. It also handles both the American GPS and the Russian GLONASS satellites simultaneously for increased accuracy and very quick lock on. When out walking I tend to have Endomondo Sports Tracker running as well as a Geocacheing app, both relying on the tracking facilities. I minimise the sports tracker once started, have the Geocache app live and minimise that If I want to use the camera or any other of my amateur radio apps, repeater finders, SOTA summit finders etc. The quad core certainly makes a difference, my first generation Blackberry was a slug in comparison (it could take 5 minutes to get a satellite lock) and then may have frequent dropouts in use.

[Pluggy]

Tiz's phone is very similar to my single core Samsung - apps can bring it to its knees. Its a bit like comparing an old Celeron to Stanley's FM3......

[Stanley]

Do I have to worry about my paygo card now as well?
Recorded a film last night on the new TV. Playback of film last night that was recorded on the Sony setup was very poor sound volume but I've checked last night's and it's OK. Very pleased with the improvement....

[Tizer]

I understand that people buying the new type TVs are also buying speakers to add to them, apparently because the TVs are so slim they can't accommodate big enough speakers inside. Another cunning wheeze!