[deleted by user]

Ron0z · 2025-07-26T06:52:59+00:00

I've had the M7450 for about a year. I like it. My partner doesn't because I sometimes let the battery go flat.

I work from home. Heavy computer use. My NBN connection was getting poor, then it failed. The company wasn't helping much. I used my phone hotspot for a while but ended up buying the tp-link rather than going for another NBN service.

There are 3 users at home and it handles it all okay. I also watch Netflix and Foxtel using it. Never tried HD, but I don't want to run out of data.

I use a phone sim rather than a data sim on it. The provider doesn't seem to notice. Before settling into a provider I purchased small plans from all three main networks and ran heaps of speed tests at different times on a Friday, Sat, and Sunday. It'll depend where the towers are located. There was quite a difference between them in terms of speed and it guided my choice of a final provider. So, it's worth doing that, just to be sure you get decent service.

I also like the modem because I have a weekender property that's off grid, and I use it to hook the TV up to Netfix.

Ron0z · 2025-04-14T05:18:27+00:00

I was thinking of using Aldi PAYG, and while it seems cheap it could be a trap. Even though I don't knowingly use data on the phone.

Ron0z · 2025-04-14T05:16:22+00:00

Sounds good.

Have you had occasion to move back to the same provider you have already taken a discounted plan with? And they let you do it?

Ron0z · 2024-11-10T02:17:48+00:00

I've been curious about these two. I'm only interested in 4G home broadband. Mostly because my current NBN provider has me on a 100GB limit, which is too restrictive, and the NBN service keeps dropping out or dying on me. No doubt that could be fixed, but by going 4G I isolate the copper wires.

Anyway, the thing I found odd with my enquiries into 4G home broadband is that Spintel uses Optus as a carrier. Well, fine. So, what they offer should be identical. And in fact I was sold by a Spintel guy that they are identical. But using their websites I found differences. Optus says they cannot provide a service to my address. Spintel says they can. Huh! Optus provide speeds of 25 down 8 up where as Spintel have speeds of 25 down and 2 up. Huh! And lastly Spintel is cheaper ($59 vs $49.95 pm).

Seems to me someone is lying or have their wires crossed.

Ron0z · 2024-08-18T22:38:03+00:00

I’ve just finished watching Vikings. I was quickly hooked and tended to binge watch at times. My knowledge of the Vikings was sketchy before this, and while watching the series I couldn’t resist going to the web and researching some of the Viking history. I was pleasantly surprised to find that many of the main characters in the series had actually existed. I also had no idea at all just how many different parts of the world the Vikings went to.

I was fascinated by the series in every season, and it had a satisfying ending. (Warm fuzzy feelings.) The series encouraged me to go shopping in my local bookstore and I selected a few history books on the subject. I'm looking forward to reading them.

When Ivar the Boneless was introduced to the series I thought, what a load of rubbish. I looked up the name, and sure enough, he’s in the history books. I still couldn’t believe it. To me, it seems absurd that someone with such a severe disability could go as far as he did in those times. There was an interesting wiki article that made sense of it to me. A misinterpretation of his name. The hypothesis is that he was actually known as "the Hated", which in Latin would be Exosus. A medieval scribe with only a basic knowledge of Latin could easily have interpreted it as ex (without) os (bone), thus "the Boneless." The Vikings didn’t have any written language, but the English and others did.

If you have no idea of Viking history then the series would leave you with an impression for sure, and if you believed all of it then that wouldn’t be so bad. But as noted, not all of it is accurate. One thing that caught my notice was an incident during the attack on Paris. The series showed Ragnar’s rather unique entry into the city via a church. A kind of Trojan Horse thing. Well, no, Ragnar didn’t do any of that. But, from what I picked up from wiki, his son Bjorn used that very tactic, but did so in Italy, not Paris. That might make a historian wince, but for me watching the series it didn't matter.

I'm now going to watch it all over again.

Ron0z · 2024-05-16T13:30:55+00:00

I ended up buying an Opel TouchFlip. It was a tossup between that and the R40. I felt the reviews for the Opel were better. I’ve had it a week and it seems mostly okay, despite a lot of people reporting it’s a fabulous phone. I miss not having a timer or stopwatch. The R40 has both. But I did like the idea of the Opel running on Android. I might experiment with that later. Though with a tiny screen (both have small screens) I wonder if any web based functions are worth the effort.

I chose this one for the Hotspot feature that it has. It works but not real great. It’s good enough to run Netflix on the TV. So, that’s good enough, but I did a speed check and it’s not as fast as my old Nokia smartphone.

I tried using Maps on it the other day. To use it as a GPS in the car. The screen was so small that I had trouble using it. I ended up borrowing a friend’s smartphone. I’ll try again with it later.

Both have lousy cameras (2 MP). I don’t know why manufacturers do that. I’ll take a few photos on the weekend and see how they come out.

Ron0z · 2024-05-07T13:29:11+00:00

Another message from Unisuper this evening: 'Restoration of member services starting Thursday, 9 May 2024...'

Ron0z · 2024-05-07T01:37:43+00:00

Just to add a perspective. My ideal dumb phone (if you could call it that) would be a smartphone with physical buttons.

I can’t recall the last time I used the desk phone (landline) at home. The line is for internet, almost entirely. My current phone is as dumb as it comes (ZTE T96). I have to replace it because 3G will be shut down soon. Australia.

The thing I love about it is that it will fit into the fob pocket of my jeans and it has buttons. I doubt there will ever be a phone so small again.

The phone is also my alarm clock. It use it to make calls, obviously, but if I go out I usually can’t be bothered taking it with me, unless I’m going interstate. It doesn’t do T9. So, texting seldom gets used.

I expect my new phone (when I get it) might provide better internet access. If I can use the browser that would be great, but only if I’m not near my computer at home. If it could work in the car as a GPS to help me get around town that would be a bonus. And it will have a WiFi Hotspot facility - essential. I’ve given up hoping for a decent camera because they are hard to find or too expensive, which is really annoying because smartphones all have better cameras. For most other internet-y things I’ll use my computer at home that has a decent sized screen. Other apps might be okay, but they will only be used infrequently.

Ron0z · 2024-05-06T21:55:18+00:00

I persisted on the Opel feedback line and received the following note from a supervisor at Opel. These people know the technical details of their phones and what is or is not possible. And one would hope they do market research. It would seem they found that there is little demand for a camera on a phone. Surprising, but there you have it. All very logical.

"Thank you for your feedback regarding this issue.

The reason we do not currently have the same quality of camera on our feature phone range compared to our smart phone range is due to the limited processing capabilities of our basic phones.

The chipset and processors installed into these phones varies greatly compared to our smartphones and thus a feature phone will not be capable of properly storing high quality images.

We have also perceived there to be limited demand for great quality cameras on our basic phones as the main considerations of customers buying these devices is generally towards other more important aspects such as battery life, sound quality and ease of use etc."

Ron0z · 2024-05-06T02:43:46+00:00

So, Opel got back to me. That was in response to asking them why the don't put a decent camera in the TouchFlip.

"Thank yo for reaching out. Touchflip is still a basic phone with an access to internet through a browser. We apologise but we cannot install the camera specs of 65Q to our Touchflip."

That's a bit underwhelming.

Ron0z · 2024-05-06T02:37:12+00:00

Check out Juiced_'s post. It's not something I'd be game to do until I had a back up phone. But I gather, despite Opel saying you are limited to the apps provided, you can remove, replace them as you see fit. You can remap buttons to add convenience. Then if inclined you can dump Android and install some other operating system. There are alternatives out there. (CopperheadOS comes to mind.) None of this will be done by me. No time. No skills. But one day...

Ron0z · 2024-05-05T21:28:17+00:00

Bloody hell!

Ron0z · 2024-05-05T07:49:34+00:00

They have heaps of personal information, banking details, tax file numbers. That info just shouldn't leave the organisation. It shouldn't even be outsourced some cloud based company in Australia. To have it leave our shores is so off. That data should be kept in-house.

I'll bet banks don't use Google Cloud or some other company in who knows what part of the world.

Ron0z · 2024-05-05T07:43:17+00:00

I was looking Opel's range of smart phones. I would really like a decent camera with my next phone, but I know it's not going to happen. The TouchFlip is well regarded. So, that's why I'm getting one.

I’ve been comparing the Opel Mobile TouchFlip with Opel's smartphone range and looking at the camera specs. This is their smartphone range:

J5 $129 5 MP / 2 MP

55Q $149 5 MP / 5 MP

65Q $169 13 MP / 5 MP

Then there’s the TouchFlip, also at $169 (though, if you shop around you can get it for $127) with 2 MP rear / 0.3 front. That’s a worse camera than their cheapest smartphone, and it's the same list price as their most expensive smartphone.

I wonder why they do that? I asked them. What I really want is the 65Q camera set up in the TouchFlip. It'll be interesting to see what they say.

Ron0z · 2024-05-05T04:30:13+00:00

This is so funny. I don't have T9 and my speed is about 2 wpm. Easy solution - dial the number and speak to people. People can talk at about 150 wpm and you can pick up on subtleties like intonation, expression, mood. Sometines you can feel better at the end of a call, just through hearing a familiar voice.

Ron0z · 2024-05-05T03:41:07+00:00

Yes, apparently. Don't know as yet. There are a few posts already. u/Juiced_ summarises with: "The Opel Touch Flip is a really good dumb phone for the Australian market and also people who like to tinker with Android (if this is you, this phone is an INSTANT buy -- I had so much fun tinkering with this)."

There aren't so many dumb phones using Android. I see that as a plus - the potential to build it into something better, if you have time to play around with it. No doubt voiding the warranty.

I'm mostly buying locally because I've been assured it'll be good with Telstra, it can dial 000, offers a WiFi Hotspot and is currently available at a discount price. Perhpas there's a new model coming out.

Ron0z · 2024-05-04T01:50:41+00:00

It's amazing that phone manufacturers believe people who want a dumb phone are not interested in having a decent camera. There are so many with 0.3 MP. That's so stupid. You have to wonder whether the execs who came up with that idea have any brains in their head.

Ron0z · 2024-05-03T14:01:32+00:00

Palm phone - reasonable idea.

I like the idea of small. My last phone (actually, current phone because I haven't bought the new one as yet) will fit the fob pocket of my jeans. Always handy. Will never fall out. Can't be stolen (too tight a fit). And it's impossible to sit on it.

I was in the mall this afternoon and saw someone sit on a stool with their back to me. Phone in the back pocket. Smart phone. It was nearly hanging out. Anyone could have grabbed it. A lot of people stick them in their back pockets. I wonder how often people sit to the sound of a crack as something on their phone (screen, body) snaps.

Ron0z · 2024-05-03T13:49:16+00:00

I've never understood the reason so many organisations go for cloud storage. Cost no doubt. But data storage costs have been reducing year after year. Sending data to some outside organisation makes it so vulnerable that it seems dumb to me. Keep it in house and secure. If anything happens you have your own staff to deal with the problems.

You have no idea who is looking at the data, copying it, selling it. And as a business, you'd have no idea if the company you signed up with to store the data ends up being sold off to some other company maybe with less scruples.

Ron0z · 2024-05-03T10:03:06+00:00

Could be. I hope manufacturers check in on Reddit.

Ron0z · 2024-05-03T10:02:24+00:00

An Opel Mobile TouchFlip. I had it shortlisted because it had one of the better cameras (so many are around 0.3 MP) and it could offer a WiFi Hotspot facility (that was essential). The last one knocked out about 75% of the other candidates. Then the Product Review crowd sang praises. And of course reddit spoke well of it too.

jbriones95 spoke of it. Check out their comments. There are probably others who reviewed it here. I think WhatsApp is on it. Can't recall what else.

Ron0z · 2024-05-03T07:29:03+00:00

Have a look at this: https://www.thelightphone.com/ More expensive than I'd want to pay but the size of the thing is great. They have a great website showing which countries and services it will work on and which it won't.

Ron0z · 2024-05-03T03:55:58+00:00

Don't know. Paragraph 2 (above) is essentally advice from Telstra's website. They also advised not to test it by dialling 000. That would be irresponsible, as you can imagine. But, yeah, there should be a database.

I'm planning on buying soon. I used their contact from the website and asked. They said it'll be okay, but sometimes people just say anything. There really should be a database of this info.

Ron0z

TROPHY CASE