Just a phone...

[gintonic]

Noted. One point I can make is that I'd want to transfer the sim and hence account from my 3310. The possible snag being that the sim card is ye old full size and can't be cut down. So I'd prefer any new phone to have a slot for full a size sim card. Means I just continue with my current 'deal' for calls.

take a close look at this. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B2DHWRR6/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

On the surface it looks like it is 4G and takes a standard SIM - but please keep in mind you may still need to get a new SIM for a 4G network. I think you are possibly fighting a losing battle in trying the keep the deal you currently have. O2 is now VMO2

 

[Tony L]

How about a GPO 232? Easily fits in a backpack and gets a strong signal anywhere within a short cable reach of a BT 631A socket. Guaranteed Zuckerberg-free.

PS Bell extra.

 

[Tony Lockhart]

Well, despight using emails to deal with them, I've had a variety of plumbers, etc, in recent years and they ALL were crap. Main signs were work NOT being done as claimed AND creating NEW problems as they messed about. Seems like *anyone* can be a plumber if they can put up a web page saying they are!

Anyone can fit kitchens too, but I used a recommendation from a cousin who has just spent a lot more on his extension and kitchen than our house cost 7 years ago! A beautiful job, much better than I could hope to do even with unlimited time.

 

[Cav]

Just read that. It seems to mainly blame traditional education, reading in a classroom. Which I am sure is true. But doesn't give much attention to computers and "smartphones."
I am not an ophthalmologist, but I do know that the human eye focuses by muscles that alter the curve of the eye "lens" according to the distance. So I would think that if for the past 10 years children and adolescents have been focusing for most of their time at a distance of 12 inches, the eye muscles will develop accordingly....

From RNIB website: "In people with myopia, the light entering the eye comes to a focus point before it reaches your retina. This makes vision blurry and is caused by the eyeball being too long or the cornea (the clear window at the front of the eye) being more steeply curved."

My Optometrist of 40 years says the same and that how the eye is used has no bearing on visual acuity.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

How about a GPO 232? Easily fits in a backpack and gets a strong signal anywhere within a short cable reach of a BT 631A socket. Guaranteed Zuckerberg-free.

PS Bell extra.

Alas, not much help on a rainy day when my wife has had a fit while we're out and hurt herself so we'd need an ambulance.

I realise that others find it amusing/baffling at best that I just want a phone for calling a taxi or 999 when out. But to me it shows how 'mobile device dependency' has altered what people take for granted. Without realising that not everyone has the same situation or preferences.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

From RNIB website: "In people with myopia, the light entering the eye comes to a focus point before it reaches your retina. This makes vision blurry and is caused by the eyeball being too long or the cornea (the clear window at the front of the eye) being more steeply curved."

My Optometrist of 40 years says the same and that how the eye is used has no bearing on visual acuity.

If your Optician/Optometrist doesn't know that when you change from looking at something at one distance to looking at another distance your eye physically changes shape (*), then I'd recommend you get a new optician!


* This assumes your eyes are working correctly. Alas, many people *don't* have eyes that adapt like this. Hence the need for glasses - which change with age because the eye becomes less adjustable.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

take a close look at this. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B2DHWRR6/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

On the surface it looks like it is 4G and takes a standard SIM - but please keep in mind you may still need to get a new SIM for a 4G network. I think you are possibly fighting a losing battle in trying the keep the deal you currently have. O2 is now VMO2

I found a Nokia webpage a while ago that said that if I can go to a Nokia shop to buy a new phone they can transfer my current phone account from my old phone to a new one they sell to me. That sounds promising if true. Snag being that I doubt we have a Nokia shop in town!

 

[Tony L]

Alas, not much help on a rainy day when my wife has had a fit while we're out and hurt herself so we'd need an ambulance.

I realise that others find it amusing/baffling at best that I just want a phone for calling a taxi or 999 when out. But to me it shows how 'mobile device dependency' has altered what people take for granted. Without realising that not everyone has the same situation or preferences.

My apologies Jim, my post was intended in humour and based on your views on computing etc. I realise now it was in poor taste. It certainly wasn’t intended that way. I’ll leave it rather than delete as I owe you and your wife an apology, and that should be public.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

take a close look at this. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B2DHWRR6/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

On the surface it looks like it is 4G and takes a standard SIM - but please keep in mind you may still need to get a new SIM for a 4G network. I think you are possibly fighting a losing battle in trying the keep the deal you currently have. O2 is now VMO2

I'm puzzled/curious as to why a change of phone would mean I *had* to change the sim card to get 4G. Surely that side of the signal path is in the phone?! Note also the Nokia page info I've already mentioned that says they can transfer for you from old to new phone your existing account.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

My apologies Jim, my post was intended in humour and based on your views on computing etc. I realise now it was in really poor taste. It certainly wasn’t intended that way. I’ll leave it rather than delete as I owe you and your wife an apology, and that should be public.

Accepted. No worries. I quite understand *why* people tend to think along the lines of many comments I've seen in this thread. But I think it does indicate a general presumption of 'normalcy' which doesn't necessarily apply for everyone. Think of a parallel where anyone who enjoyed LPs was ridiculed because these days you can use your mobile device to listen to music. 8-]

The point is that different people can have varying situations, requirements, and preferences. Large companies shouldn't be given an easy ride if they try to ignore that and tell us "Apples are the only fruit" (Computing pun intended. 8-})

Off to do our lunch...

 

[gintonic]

I would need to check, but I think differing cellular technologies required a compatible SIM. A 5G SIM should be backward compatible with the previous cellular technologies.

But a SIM compatible with only 2G would work in a new phone on 2G networks, but may not connect to 4G networks. You may need a new SIM to connect with a 4G and above.

I used to teach some of this, but it is long gone from my memory

 

[Tony Lockhart]

I found a Nokia webpage a while ago that said that if I can go to a Nokia shop to buy a new phone they can transfer my current phone account from my old phone to a new one they sell to me. That sounds promising if true. Snag being that I doubt we have a Nokia shop in town!

Surely that’s just take the old SIM card out of the old phone and put it in the new phone? Or at worst, call the service provider and they’ll send a new SIM card with your old number on it?

 

[PaulMB]

From RNIB website: "In people with myopia, the light entering the eye comes to a focus point before it reaches your retina. This makes vision blurry and is caused by the eyeball being too long or the cornea (the clear window at the front of the eye) being more steeply curved."

My Optometrist of 40 years says the same and that how the eye is used has no bearing on visual acuity.

I have my doubts. If I sit at the computer for two hours, then look out of the window, it takes me a few seconds and an effort to manage to focus to the far distance. After which it comes automatically. And I know that it is a cliche', but people who study, write or read all day or work at short distances, like watchmakers, seem to wear spectacles more than surfers or sailors. There are also, I believe, exercises you can do to strengthen the focusing muscles. I seem to remember that Aldous Huxley tried that in the 1930s, don't know with what results.

 

[PaulMB]

But maybe it is neurological rather than muscular.

 

[gintonic]

Surely that’s just take the old SIM card out of the old phone and put it in the new phone?

if old SIM is 2G or 3G only compatible - you can put it in a newer phone but it will still only connect to the services defined by the SIM

Or at worst, call the service provider and they’ll send a new SIM card with your old number on it?

maybe - they may send a SIM that has a different pricing structure attached to it. OP may need to port old number to new SIM themselves - or call VMO2 to register old number with new SIM.

 

[JezmondTutu]

That;s fine with me. Most people use 'doze'. I don't. You choose what suits you, not 'everybody else'.

I genuinely have no idea what you are talking about, I do hope you get your problem solved though.

I ran a Comms Data unit, have you tried searching for Dumb phones? That isn’t inferring you are dumb, it is a description of a phone that has limited functionality.

 

[Funk]

From RNIB website: "In people with myopia, the light entering the eye comes to a focus point before it reaches your retina. This makes vision blurry and is caused by the eyeball being too long or the cornea (the clear window at the front of the eye) being more steeply curved."

My Optometrist of 40 years says the same and that how the eye is used has no bearing on visual acuity.

I saw this video that attributes it to a lack of being outdoors:

According to the video, daylight is the trigger that tells kids' eyeballs to stop elongating and without that it keeps going for too long resulting in astigmatism. Kids just don't spend anywhere near as much time outside these days as they used to.

I can imagine that prolonged staring at fixed distances (including books, phones, monitors etc) does little to help the issue but it may not be the cause.

Oh, and to keep the thread on topic - just buy a more modern phone, the SIM it needs and move with the times. Some posters on here seem to take an almost perverse pleasure in trying to live in the past and moaning about all the hassle it now brings. It's like cavemen refusing to use that 'new-fangled fire' or someone saying that there's no good reason you shouldn't have to hand-crank your engine to start it.

Don't choose to stand still and then complain you've been left behind.

 

[gez]

Alas, not much help on a rainy day when my wife has had a fit while we're out and hurt herself so we'd need an ambulance.

I realise that others find it amusing/baffling at best that I just want a phone for calling a taxi or 999 when out. But to me it shows how 'mobile device dependency' has altered what people take for granted. Without realising that not everyone has the same situation or preferences.

Yup, unfortunately that's the way of things with technology. Mostly it's the tech companies telling people what they need and then selling it to them, rather than the other way around. Very few people "need" a 6" screen phone, but people have been convinced they do. Hence why today it's almost impossible to find a smartphone with a screen smaller than 6" and sub 5" screen phones are now non existent. Try googling "best small smartphone" and you'll get every site presenting a list of 6" plus phones.

As has been said, get yourself a 4G capable non smartphone, they do exist. Use it with your current SIM (the phone will almost certainly be 2G/3G backward compatible - but best ask just to make sure), and then swap to a 4G SIM when your provider tells you they'll be shutting off 2G/3G.

This is the official position by the way: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/252592/3G-and-2G-switch-off.pdf

Each MNO is setting its own timetable for switch-off
Each MNO has confirmed that its 3G network will be switched off first, starting from early 2023:
• Vodafone is starting its switch-off in early 2023
• EE plans to start its switch-off in early 2024
• Three expects to switch off by the end of 2024
• Virgin Media (VM)-O2 has not yet announced its planned 3G switch-off date.

 

[gez]

Also to clarify some of the confusion regarding compatiblity:

To support a given network 2G, 3G, 4G etc both the phone and the SIM have to be compatible. Your current SIM (presuming it's very old) will likely only be 2G/3G compatible, and presumably that's true of your current phone too. All current phones capable of 4G or 5G is very likely to be back compatible wtih 2G/3G too (best to double check the specs though - for which I recommend this site https://www.gsmarena.com/ ). Hence my advice above to change phone and use the existing SIM until you get told it'll stop working then get a 4G (more likely it'll be 5G now) SIM.

There is no account to transfer. Your number is registered against both your current SIM card and your phone's ID. The latter the network doesn't care about, you can use any SIM in any phone that isn't network locked (very few are these days). So there is literally nothing to "transfer" or "migrate", so ignore what the Nokia website is saying. When it comes time to change to a new 4G/5G SIM, you just go through the steps your network provider tells you to follow. Very likely will be either a) we'll send out a new SIM for you to use, or b) they may get you to commit to a new 18-24 month SIM contract. Either way your current number SHOULD be retained (it's part of their licence conditions that they cannot impose number changes on customers).

Forgot to mention. The one problem you may run into is that SIM cards have changed physical formats over the years, they've gotten smaller. It's possible (likely) any new phone now will not support your current SIM cards physical format. Old SIMs were larger and new phones tend to take the newer smaller SIM formats.

SIM card sizes: Standard, Micro and Nano explained

There are three different SIM card sizes and this guide will talk you through the differences between them.

www.4g.co.uk

Eg, these three modern 4G compatible Nokia's all use the smallest SIM format:

Nokia 105 4G (2023) - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

Nokia 8210 4G - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

Nokia 110 4G (2023) - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

 

[Cav]

If your Optician/Optometrist doesn't know that when you change from looking at something at one distance to looking at another distance your eye physically changes shape (*), then I'd recommend you get a new optician!


* This assumes your eyes are working correctly. Alas, many people *don't* have eyes that adapt like this. Hence the need for glasses - which change with age because the eye becomes less adjustable.

My optometrist is very well qualified and knows what she is talking about and I trust her expertise and experience above those less qualified or with no qualifications at all.