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OT but still techy: Stupid Cell Phone Features

D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
I went to buy a new cell phone.

I asked the ~phone guy~, "I would gladly pay $100.00 extra for a phone
where I can enter my monthly minute allowance (350 daytime Mon to
Fri.) and see a minutes used countdown on the display.."

There was about 15 phones on display..
"I'm sorry sir...there are no phones with that feature.."

Fkn!! ..fkn!! @$@#@....10 zillion nearly useless features on these
phones but a "save you money" feature.. Unbelievable..
Fk the camera
Fk the bluetooth
fk the mp3 player
piss on the phone cell browser
piss on the fancy ringtones

I WANT MY "SAVE YOU MONEY" MINUTE TRACKING FEATURE.

Those sneaky cell phone providers..

What can I do?? :(
D from BC
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
D said:
What can I do?? :(

Either bow to their demands and just pay more money every month, or, switch
to a phone that is capable of third party software options. Either the some
Treo flavour, or one of the WM5 types.

I wouldn't wait for the manufacturers to do it, because the larger buyers
(especially in the US) are the carriers who on-sell the phones with long-term
contracts aren't going to like it very much.

I had a quick look on Palmgear, they have "MinuteHawk" which counts incoming
and outgoing calls, with over-time warnings and such.
I'm sure there would be some options available for the WM5 phones.

Only other option I can think of is Symbian, but whichever way you go, it's
going to be an up-market PDA/Phone, thus not cheap to start with.

It's viable for me, because I use the PDA features of my Treo quite heavily,
and the phone quite lightly. But if you're one of the many that just need a
plain-jane phone, then you're stuck with the limited feature set..
In fact, the current Nokia trend is to use the same/similar hardware base,
add a bucketload more useless "features", paint it a different colour, charge
a bucket load more money for it, And you've got yourself another brand new model.

The cynic in me says the bottom-end phones are the ones LEAST likely to ever
get your feature, mainly because they're not making any money on the phone,
and try to make their money through contracts and tightly controlled talk times.
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Either bow to their demands and just pay more money every month, or, switch
to a phone that is capable of third party software options. Either the some
Treo flavour, or one of the WM5 types.

I wouldn't wait for the manufacturers to do it, because the larger buyers
(especially in the US) are the carriers who on-sell the phones with long-term
contracts aren't going to like it very much.

I had a quick look on Palmgear, they have "MinuteHawk" which counts incoming
and outgoing calls, with over-time warnings and such.
I'm sure there would be some options available for the WM5 phones.

Only other option I can think of is Symbian, but whichever way you go, it's
going to be an up-market PDA/Phone, thus not cheap to start with.

It's viable for me, because I use the PDA features of my Treo quite heavily,
and the phone quite lightly. But if you're one of the many that just need a
plain-jane phone, then you're stuck with the limited feature set..
In fact, the current Nokia trend is to use the same/similar hardware base,
add a bucketload more useless "features", paint it a different colour, charge
a bucket load more money for it, And you've got yourself another brand new model.

The cynic in me says the bottom-end phones are the ones LEAST likely to ever
get your feature, mainly because they're not making any money on the phone,
and try to make their money through contracts and tightly controlled talk times.

Thanks I'll Google WM5 phone and see what's around + minutes tracking
software..

Currently, I kinda feel like I'm being forced to buy a car with no gas
gauge..

#$#$ *(*@ ^$$%#$!!! cell phone providers.. It's a trick.
D from BC
 
N

Nicholas Sherlock

Jan 1, 1970
0
D said:
I went to buy a new cell phone.

I asked the ~phone guy~, "I would gladly pay $100.00 extra for a phone
where I can enter my monthly minute allowance (350 daytime Mon to
Fri.) and see a minutes used countdown on the display.."

Here in New Zealand we can call a free phone number and a robot tells us
how much time we have left. I would be surprised if you didn't have a
similar service available.

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nicholas said:
Here in New Zealand we can call a free phone number and a robot tells us
how much time we have left. I would be surprised if you didn't have a
similar service available.

We have that here, but it's limited to some pre-paid plans. and then
they'll only tell you how much money you have left, not how many minutes that
translates to.

Most plans don't have that option at all. Most notably the ones that give
you X minutes per month. The bastards.
 
J

Jan Panteltje

Jan 1, 1970
0
I went to buy a new cell phone.

I asked the ~phone guy~, "I would gladly pay $100.00 extra for a phone
where I can enter my monthly minute allowance (350 daytime Mon to
Fri.) and see a minutes used countdown on the display.."

There was about 15 phones on display..
"I'm sorry sir...there are no phones with that feature.."

Fkn!! ..fkn!! @$@#@....10 zillion nearly useless features on these
phones but a "save you money" feature.. Unbelievable..
Fk the camera
Fk the bluetooth
fk the mp3 player
piss on the phone cell browser
piss on the fancy ringtones

I WANT MY "SAVE YOU MONEY" MINUTE TRACKING FEATURE.

Get a pre-payed, any pre-paid shows cost last call, and money left.
If you go past that, then it is 'no connect'.

Safest thing.
Get a Nokia 1600 prepaid :)
No camera, no bluetooth, no mp3, no internet, no downloadable ringtones.
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
Here in New Zealand we can call a free phone number and a robot tells us
how much time we have left. I would be surprised if you didn't have a
similar service available.

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

One of the early GSM cell phones I had was equipped with a register
that displayed the accumulated number of minutes, but it was deep
within the menu system and you would have had to reset it every month.



Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Get a pre-payed, any pre-paid shows cost last call, and money left.
If you go past that, then it is 'no connect'.

Safest thing.
Get a Nokia 1600 prepaid :)
No camera, no bluetooth, no mp3, no internet, no downloadable ringtones.

I automatically get charged extra on my monthly bill for anything over
350 daytime minutes per month. (Mon to Fri)
I still want the hassle free automatic option of using extra minutes
and getting charged for it...
However, I want to see my minute burn rate displayed so I can control
my call lengths..

I almost suspect a pile of cell phone features are a pacifier to
detract people into not thinking about minute tracking features that
could help save money..

I think cell phone providers are acting like gangsters with this set
up.
"We won't help you save money, but here's a free toaster."
D from BC
 
J

Jim Yanik

Jan 1, 1970
0
I went to buy a new cell phone.

I asked the ~phone guy~, "I would gladly pay $100.00 extra for a phone
where I can enter my monthly minute allowance (350 daytime Mon to
Fri.) and see a minutes used countdown on the display.."

There was about 15 phones on display..
"I'm sorry sir...there are no phones with that feature.."

Fkn!! ..fkn!! @$@#@....10 zillion nearly useless features on these
phones but a "save you money" feature.. Unbelievable..
Fk the camera
Fk the bluetooth
fk the mp3 player
piss on the phone cell browser
piss on the fancy ringtones

I WANT MY "SAVE YOU MONEY" MINUTE TRACKING FEATURE.

Those sneaky cell phone providers..

What can I do?? :(
D from BC

my Moto C139 TracFone counts down the minutes I use.
It also displays the date they expire.
 
J

Jan Panteltje

Jan 1, 1970
0
I almost suspect a pile of cell phone features are a pacifier to
detract people into not thinking about minute tracking features that
could help save money..

It is worse then that, they use 'hot buttons' to do GPRS, internet, what
not.
Part of that is now illegal in some countries.

I think cell phone providers are acting like gangsters with this set
up.

Sure, but prices are going down, not much profit margin....

It is all a ripoff, maybe better if Voip via wifi, via local hotspot and
internet.

"We won't help you save money, but here's a free toaster."
D from BC

Its getting that hot hey ;-)?
Defective battery?
 
B

Barry Lennox

Jan 1, 1970
0
I went to buy a new cell phone.
I asked the ~phone guy~, "I would gladly pay $100.00 extra for a phone
where I can enter my monthly minute allowance (350 daytime Mon to
Fri.) and see a minutes used countdown on the display.."
There was about 15 phones on display..
"I'm sorry sir...there are no phones with that feature.."
Fkn!! ..fkn!! @$@#@....10 zillion nearly useless features on these
phones but a "save you money" feature.. Unbelievable..
Fk the camera
Fk the bluetooth
fk the mp3 player
piss on the phone cell browser
piss on the fancy ringtones

Agreed, they are baubles to entertain and distract the feeble minded
and under 30s They have learnt that if they pack enough baubles in
there, folk forget to ask for the important things, instead they
simply chant "way cool".
I WANT MY "SAVE YOU MONEY" MINUTE TRACKING FEATURE.

What, and probably minimise our profits, are you mad?
Those sneaky cell phone providers..
What can I do??

When I HAVE to use a cellphone, I use the smallest cheapest Motorola
one, a C155, it has a "network-connected timer" that is useful, but
does not necessarily agree with the billing time, ie, it also counts
ringing and busy signals, and 0800 free calls,

Or, Throw it away, there was life BC
 
M

mpm

Jan 1, 1970
0
Why does this remind me of the 9/10ths of a cent they charge for each
gallon of gasoline...??

I knew we were screwed the minute they tried to pawn off 6-second
billing increments on us!!
Like that was somehow a savings by not charging the whole minute.

-mpm
 
M

mpm

Jan 1, 1970
0
I could not agree more!
I want a cell phone to communicate, that's all.
If I want to take a picture, I'll go get my Nikon.

That said, some marriages might make sense.
Like a cellphone / glucose monitor (for diebetics).
....especially if the phone could transmit the readings direct to your
physician.

-mpm
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
mpm said:
I knew we were screwed the minute they tried to pawn off 6-second
billing increments on us!!
Like that was somehow a savings by not charging the whole minute.

Vodaphone here in Australia (at least on some plans) charge to the nearest
second.

"Pay for only the time you use" they say in their sales blurb.

Till I actually sat down with a friend who was under their wonder plan and
spewing their sales BS. I said you NEVER talk for only a second, and once you
average out your "normal" use, it ends up costing more than the 30 second
blocks that a lot of the other carriers normally charge.

The people who fall for this crap, in my experience, NEVER know what the
single second charge rate is. At least none of the ones I've asked never knew.

It's like they just don't care about how much the basics cost. They "say"
it's cheaper, but have never actually worked it out.
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
I automatically get charged extra on my monthly bill for anything over
350 daytime minutes per month. (Mon to Fri)
I still want the hassle free automatic option of using extra minutes
and getting charged for it...
However, I want to see my minute burn rate displayed so I can control
my call lengths..

I almost suspect a pile of cell phone features are a pacifier to
detract people into not thinking about minute tracking features that
could help save money..

I think cell phone providers are acting like gangsters with this set
up.
"We won't help you save money, but here's a free toaster."
D from BC

The main customers of the handset makers are really not you and me,
but the service providers, so anything that helps rack up the online
minutes is a good thing. Like the stupid button that conveniently
turns on the useless web browser (with additional charges) on my old
phone.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
J

Jeff Liebermann

Jan 1, 1970
0
D from BC said:
I asked the ~phone guy~, "I would gladly pay $100.00 extra for a phone
where I can enter my monthly minute allowance (350 daytime Mon to
Fri.) and see a minutes used countdown on the display.."

It's a conspiracy. See:
<http://digg.com/tech_news/Verizon_very_upset_with_a_Minutes_Used_Firefox_Extension>
<http://verizon-minutes-used.blogspot.com/>
Verizon and others apparently tried to pressure Mozilla into removing
the program from their web pile. It's still there. However, you'll
need a smartphone that runs Windoze Mobile 5 (WM5) and Firefox in
order to use it. My Verizon XV6700 does all that. I scribbled a web
page on the phone to give you a clue as to its features:
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/xv6700/XV6700.htm>
The problem with this particular phone is that it has every feature I
could ever want, but all of them are broken in some minor way
sufficiently to drive me nuts. Still it's better than most.

There's also another conspiracy theory that suggests the absence of
Wi-Fi from most cell phones was precipitated by cell phone provider
pressure. I believe it as Verizon will barely admit that their XV6700
has Wi-Fi. They don't seem to like VoIP via Wi-Fi.
There was about 15 phones on display..
"I'm sorry sir...there are no phones with that feature.."

It would have been useful to know which cellular provider you were
interrogating.
Fkn!! ..fkn!! @$@#@....10 zillion nearly useless features on these
phones but a "save you money" feature.. Unbelievable..
Fk the camera
Fk the bluetooth
fk the mp3 player
piss on the phone cell browser
piss on the fancy ringtones

I can see you're not a candidate for the new iPhone. Without all
those features, you're just not "cool". You gotta plug in the ear
phones, turn up the volume to the threshold of pain, and strut down
the street showing off the phone which you just overpaid. Having the
phone ring with my own composition is the ultimate in "cool".
Incidentally, you left out location based services and push to talk.
I WANT MY "SAVE YOU MONEY" MINUTE TRACKING FEATURE.

Get a pre-paid phone. Verizon has some key combination you punch to
tell you how many minutes you have left on your account. Think of it
as the modern version of the pay telephone. Please insert 10 cents
for the next 3 minutes. You can also get your minutes remaining
online.

My XV6700 and most phones have a usage timer in the phone. That's
useless for several reasons:
1. It has no way to reset the monthly usage counter at a
pre-specified date and time.
2. It does not accurately reflect various billing rates, such as free
minutes. Only the cellular providers billing machine has all that.
Those sneaky cell phone providers..

In the US, almost all cell phones are subsidized by the cellular
providers. The price you pay for the discount is that they have a
rather large say in what features are still functional when you
activate the phone. In Europe, users either rent or buy their phones
with very few subsidies. Fewer features are disabled or missing.

Note the disabled features:
<http://support.vzw.com/pdf/BT_Chart_Handsets.pdf>
What can I do?? :(
D from BC

1. Thou shalt not abbrev.
2. You might try asking the same question in one of the 200 assorted
alt.cellular.* newsgroups, preferably in the one for your unspecified
prospective cellular provider.
3. Write your own program.
 
J

Jim Yanik

Jan 1, 1970
0
I could not agree more!
I want a cell phone to communicate, that's all.
If I want to take a picture, I'll go get my Nikon.


a cellphone camera is useful if you get into an auto accident;chances are
you will usually have your CP with you,but not your Nikon.
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
It is worse then that, they use 'hot buttons' to do GPRS, internet, what
not.
Part of that is now illegal in some countries.



Sure, but prices are going down, not much profit margin....

It is all a ripoff, maybe better if Voip via wifi, via local hotspot and
internet.



Its getting that hot hey ;-)?
Defective battery?

Hot buttons & GPRS???
I didn't understand that part...
D from BC
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
my Moto C139 TracFone counts down the minutes I use.
It also displays the date they expire.

Here's the minute tracking feature I'm looking for..

I enter this information on the cell phone.
Mon to Fri 8a.m. to 7pm
350 minutes allotted minutes
Free weekends.

So....
It's July 1st..Sunday
I get a phone call..
I answer my phone and can immediately see I have 350minutes.
My weekends are free
There is no change to the counter during the call.

July 2nd..Monday
I get a phone call at 11am..
I answer my phone and at any time I can look at my phone see my
allotted time dropping..350,349,348, etc..

I get another phone call at 8pm.. (At this time my phone is free)
I look at my phone at during the call the counter remains the same.

Does the Moto C139 act like that?

If so that'll be great...
During the month I can shorten my call times when I see I'm getting
closer to running out of my allotted minutes and I'm at risk of
getting charged for extra minutes.

D from BC
 
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