Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Phone

How can I find out if my employer is using a cell phone jamming device?

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:39:30 -0800

I suspect my employer has installed a cell phone jamming device . How do I find it if they have? At the risk of sounding like a paranoid kook - I suspect that my employer may have set up an electronic device to interfere with cell phone usage at my place of work. As of a few days ago, in a very specific area of my building radiating out of one point about 25 feet, all cell phone signals go to one bar or zero out completely. The loss/severe reduction in signal affects both CDMA and GSM phones. If you step beyond the threshold of a separating wall, the signal returns full force.

Is there a feasible way to find out if there is a cell phone jammer being used in this area?

I am terrified of talking on the phone but my job responsibilities will require me to do so.

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:06:15 -0800

I have a near-pathological fear of talking to strangers on the phone. My expanded job duties will soon include calling clients. How do I get past this fear? I am already looking for another job for unrelated reasons, but it is likely that I will be in this one for another few months due to the economy etc. Plus this is just a fear I'll have to get past in any job.

I think this mainly stems from the fact that I am hearing impaired and had speech therapy for years. I can function perfectly well with people I know, and I don't have too many problems in person, but over the phone I have trouble understanding people, and they have trouble understanding me. I get embarrassed when I have to repeat myself or ask them to repeat words. It is not a volume level, I have devices to help me with that. In my non-work life I try my best to use email wherever possible when I have to contact businesses or other people I don't know.

I will not be making cold calls, I will be calling existing clients to verify information, confirm orders, etc. Normally I will only talk to them once or twice so it is not as if I will be building an ongoing relationship. I expect a large proportion of clients will not speak English in the way that I do (accents, dialect) which increases the frustration in trying to understand each other. Up to now I have not had to make phone calls in this job. They are expanding my duties.

I really need to get past this because I think it will hinder my future career. The anxiety is such that my stomach tightens even writing this.

he can't feel it kick; can he at least see it?

samsarah — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:37:07 -0800

Pre-paid/pay-as-you-go cell phone solely for picture messaging? My brother and his girlfriend are currently separated by most of the length of California. She is 6 months pregnant, and they will likely not see each other again until right before the baby is born. She would like to text him pictures of her growing belly while they are apart.

Catch: Due to ridiculous circumstances I won't go into, my brother CAN NOT get picture messages on his phone. This is not something that can be changed. At all. He also does not have a computer and will not use email. This will also never change.

So, I'd like to send him, as a gift, a pre-paid cell phone or some other relatively inexpensive device on which he can get pictures of his baby growing. I know next to nothing about these things, and after looking through the previous threads still have the following questions:

1. Are there pre-paid phones that can get picture messages? He will never need to talk on it, or even text on it. Just pictures.
2. If so, does anyone have experience with a good phone and/or carrier?
3. General information on good pay-as-you-go carriers?
4. Any other magic solution that will get pictures of that belly to my brother?

THANK YOU!

Smartphones + Groupwise = What Rocks?

puritycontrol — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:45:33 -0800

I'd like your input on choosing a smartphone. The biggest priority is access to my email and calendar on Groupwise. I strongly prefer a physical keyboard, also. I've checked previous posts on smartphones, which have good advice, but don't address my biggest concern. I would like to know which platform (Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Android, etc) will allow me the easiest access to my email and calendar on Groupwise 7 (soon to be upgraded to 8). My university has BES, which I gather will sync email and calendar, so I'm curious about my other options.

I currently have an LG Vu and love having a touchscreen -- I find it more efficient to press one thing than have to scroll to get what I want. But I hate typing on it. I've actually grown to dislike typing on it more and more as time goes on. Granted, it has a rather small screen and smartphones tend to have larger screens, but I was still unimpressed when I typed on an iPhone. Therefore, I would much rather prefer to have a physical keyboard -- unless Groupwise access on an iPhone is light years better than anything out there. Then I might reconsider.

Access to email and calendar would be a huge convenience for me. I am not a power mobile emailer or texter by any means. All this talk about apps does nothing for me. Google Navigation piqued my interest but is not a necessity (already have a GPS). Web browsing would really only take place when I'm bored waiting in line or if I needed to look up the answer to a random question that pops into mind while out and about.

I'm on AT&T and I'm eligible for an upgrade in a month. My contract is up in May, so I would have to wait until then if I want to switch carriers. However, from what I gather, I'd have to pay more for our family plan on Verizon and Sprint; T-Mobile would be the same price. Therefore I would prefer to stay on AT&T because the addition of a data plan is already going to put a li'l dent in our budget.

So right now it looks like the frontrunners are the Tilt 2 and the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Because I've recently moved to a rural area, I have only been able to handle dummies of new phones. The Bold 9700 felt like velvety heaven in my hand, the DROID's keyboard was way too stiff, and I wasn't fond of the Pre's keys either. The N900 looks nice but I simply cannot afford to buy it unlocked.

Sorry for the long post -- you'd think I was asking relationship advice (I guess I am, kinda). Thanks in advance.

Dual sim chip cell phone

Juicylicious — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:08:13 -0800

Please help me figure out what brand/type of cell phone to get. I am in Qatar. I need to get a dual sim chip cell phone to use for the next year. Unfortunately, electronics here are very expensive. I would like to purchase one online and stay under $150.

I've seen quite a few dual sim phones on ebay, but they are all associated with a cell service, i.e. T Mobile. Can those phones work in Qatar? Do I just look for an "unlocked" phone that holds two sim chips?

Any recommendations on a phone with a qwerty keyboard, dual band, dual chip?

If you were a G1, and you were born today, what cell phone would you be?

Greg Nog — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:10:38 -0800

I would like to buy a nice new cell phone with a physical keyboard to replace a broken G1. Please help me with any knowledge about the Droid or the Cliq or any other suggestions you may have! So my G1 recently died a horrible death, and although I quite liked both the phone itself and the Android OS, I'm wary about getting another G1 to replace it, given the age of the product.

I liked the G1 mainly for the easy access to my gmail account, the web browsing, and the easy access to Google Maps, which I used pretty much daily and which I was utterly delighted by, whenever they added new bells and whistles to it.

I've looked into the Droid (which seems like a nicely high-tech update), but I find typing on the keyboard to be unpleasant; the keys are all flat and flush, leading me to accidentally push buttons I didn't mean to press with my GIANT APE FINGERS. Is there some way I could mod these with, like, a tiny dab of clear epoxy on the center of each key to lift and separate them? (I realize this sounds like a five-year-old's solution to the problem, but that's generally how I roll in this lifetime.)

Another alternative might be the Cliq, but if my basic research is right, it's on the earlier iteration of the Android OS, yes? Will it be updated to Android 2.0? The keyboard looks much better on the Cliq, although I don't really care about all the social apps and whatnot that it seems to excel at. And if all I want is an old iteration of Android with a comfy keyboard, wouldn't I be better off getting the cheaper G1?

I'm also receptive to a caution that I should just wait; that soon enough, some new Android device will stroll along to replace the Droid, and that it may well have a better keyboard and physical push-buttons on the front.

I'm out of my t-mobile contract now (FREE, FREE), so I'm happy to switch to any carrier that will do a nice job of being good to me.

Should I buy a mobile phone in Mexico?

Admira — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:03:03 -0800

Can I buy a mobile phone in Mexico and use it in Australia? Hi All!

I'm headed to Mexico next year and was wondering if I could pick up a phone in Mexico and use it here when I get back to Australia?

I've got no idea if they are cheaper there than here, but if so I'd be tempted. Things that worry me are network compatability, and also getting a charger for it here.

Any advice around this is much appreciated! Thanks!

Good Phone for the Could You Speak Up A Little Crowd

DU — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:22:46 -0800

Loud, clear, land-line phone without feedback whine? I don't know if we are hard of hearing, or getting old or what, but I and especially my wife have a hard time hearing what people say on our landline phone. We turned up the volume to the loudest it goes and it's still not loud enough. This is a corded phone, btw.

Worse, the sound from the mic is feed to the speaker (I guess because otherwise you can't hear what you are saying? huh?). With the volume set high, this causes terrible feedback whine.

We tried a second phone and had the same problem. Are there phones out there that don't feed the mic to the speaker? Or that otherwise filter the whine out? Or simply a clearer, louder phone without me having to know how they made that happen?

We'd rather not spend $300 on a Special Phone but I do realize that we'll probably have to spend more than the $15 cheapest-they-had model.

Prepaid iPhone data plan in Mumbai?

jesseendahl — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:40:15 -0800

Hi, I will be living in Mumbai for 11 weeks next summer. I have an unlocked iPhone 3G. What is my best bet in terms of carrier and plan for the cheapest and most reliable data access? I plan to do local calls over the cell phone voice network and international calls via Skype on the iPhone. Thanks in advance!

How to use an iPhone in Spain without running up a ridiculous bill?

scooterdman — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:03:14 -0800

How can I use my iPhone in Spain without running up a ridiculous bill? I talked to AT&T, and, not surprisingly, their plan is nonsense. You pay an extra nominal fee and get (a whopping!) 25 megabytes of data before they start issuing major fees.

I basically want to use my phone while there to check email, use Google Maps, access Wikipedia, etc. Nothing fancy.

What should I do? Is there a reasonable way to go about using an iPhone in Spain? Or am I out of luck?

FYI: I also have an old iPhone that I would be open to hacking/jailbreaking if that would be of any use, as well. Would rather not mess around with my new 3GS.

Is it worth it to get an Android phone without the 3G data plan (only EDGE data)?

kenliu — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:33:24 -0800

Is it worth it to get an Android phone without the 3G data plan (only EDGE data)? I did a phone plan search on Billshrink and found out that I can get the new Google phone (the mytouch) from T-Mobile, but get unlimited data (presumably by doing a SIM card swap from a different phone) for about the same amount I currently pay per month.

I like the mytouch phone and Android apps. The 3G data plan is desirable, but not enough for me to pay the 20 bucks or so per month. I'm currently using a BlackBerry with unlimited data (EDGE), and it's slow, but not unusable.

So the question is - is it worthwhile to get an Android phone without the 3G data plan? Is EDGE too slow to be practical for Android apps?

What to do with blank SIM cards?

msbutah — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:56:24 -0800

I have about 30 surplus SIM cards, all for AT&T. They are new and unused SIM cards. Is there any life for new SIM cards with no account on them? I routinely have piles of these unused SIM cards as a result of my job, about 30 to 50 a month. The reason is due to the fact that whenever we upgrade a phone, they send us the new phone with a new SIM included. Not wanting to deal with transferring accounts from SIM to SIM, the current user simply moves their old SIM and keeps their number, and we're left with unused, new SIM cards as well as the matching plastic cards that they've been punched out of.

The waste not want not person inside of me feels that there should be some way to put these to use, either by reselling them or donating them or doing something useful with them, other than throwing them out. Help?

Phonefilter: help me choose a new smartphone that's not a iPhone for email and roaming?

wingless_angel — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:24:36 -0800

Phonefilter: Help me choose a new smartphone with QWERTY keyboard. Primarily for email, some browsing, calendars. Constraints: in the UK, contract may be a problem, need to use overseas a lot, I rarely use the phone part, don't want an iPhone. I have decided I am in need of a new phone, my Nokia E65 is just not cutting it when I need to have access to email and a bit of internet et cetera when on the road. I travel a lot and sometimes getting Internet access is a pain, but I have found that in many places I can still use WAP on my phone to get email which is fantastic.

I live in the UK but travel to the US, Europe, Asia etc a lot for work. I have not lived here long so I am not sure if I qualify to get a phone on contract. I am using my old phone on O2 pay and go right now. I need a plan or provider that offers reasonably priced roaming data in the months that I know I'm travelling.

I have a Mac so I need to be able to sync with that, possibly over wifi/bluetooth? My Nokia was always crap for that. Bonus points if I can tether and use the phone as a modem at a pinch. Wifi would be cool too, though I have the iPod touch for that.

I work for a small NGO so we don't have a great infrastructure (or any tech support really), we are still on Exchange 2001 but I would love a phone that could integrate my Exchange mail and my Gmail and give me push email.

I have an iPod touch which I love, but I find typing on it a real pain so I don't want an iPhone. I send text more than I use a phone to make calls. I would prefer a proper QWERTY keyboard.

Ditch the Cell

Benzle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:01:24 -0800

Just finally got my Google Voice account! I have been using Skype for a long time, and now with google voice I am finally ready to get rid of the cell phone all together. BUT, can anyone recommend a good piece of hardware, (The iPod Touch comes to mind) that I can use "like" a cell phone, with minimal tweaking, where wifi is available. A netbook would work, but a little big, can you hook up a mic to any Palm or anything? Thanks everyone.

I've got a syncing feeling this may not be possible.

dan g. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:19:33 -0800

Are there any verizon non-smart phones out there that could syc via bluetooth (or some other non-internet way) with a google calendar? Wife and I are looking at replacing our very old school verizon phones with new non-smart phones. we don't want any data plan or internet function on the phone but would like to be able to sync up the calendars on the phone with a google calendar we share.
Has anyone else tried to do something like this?
I'm not opposed to a hack of some sort to get it working, but the day to day syncing would need to be pretty straightforward or I think it would become an annoying burden.

Any and all advice welcomed and appreciated.
Thanks!

best service provider in oregon

slograffiti — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:54:52 -0800

what cell phone service provider will have the best coverage in Portland, Oregon. i'm moving and my verizon plan is almost up, and i want to know if i should renew that or if other providers have better service in the area.

What does this High Pitched Noise mean? Am I a Dog?

bluefly — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:06:22 -0800

I just bought a charger for my cellphone at Target. It's not the special manufacturer's brand, but an after market one that costs half of what the Sprint store chargers cost. When I plugged it into the wall, it started making a high pitched noise. I haven't plugged the other end of the charger into my phone for fear of ruining it. Is this normal? Is my charger bad? Thanks.

Answering Machine with white list to permit only certain callers

royalchinook — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:39:36 -0800

I would like to find a hardware answering machine that has some advanced controls to manage which incoming numbers can make the phone ring. I have an annoyances that I'd like to cut out - telemarketers calling (I went on Canada's DNC list but that made it worse because now all the spam calls are from the States); the solution I thought of would be to have all numbers that I haven't approved to go straight to voicemail without ringing the phone at all. Other callers in a "white list" would ring the phone like usual. My current answering machine does actually have a "black list" feature but the spam calls are always from a new number so it doesn't really make sense.

The other annoyance I had that I was able to solve is to have certain hours where no one can ring the phone. I solved this with the Night Mode feature on my Panasonic phone which is awesome.

Some restrictions I have is that I'd like this to be a hardware solution instead of software because I don't want my computer running all night just to be an answering machine, I'd also like to stay away from VoIP because I've tried that previously with Vonage and found the quality and reliability to be unacceptable.

Cheap cell phone plan for three months in US

Busoni — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:55:01 -0800

Looking for a cheap pay-as-you-go or pre-paid plan, to use until the end of December. I have a Motrola Razr (v3r, or something like it, as I recall), which I used to use with T-Mobile, although I'm not opposed to buying a cheap phone for the interim (although it'd have to very cheap). What are my options? I might go through the entire week without making a call, or if I'm out, maybe three calls max. I'm not interested in texting.

How many chars SMS can I send from Fido to Bell?

ImaginaryFriend — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:30:31 -0800

How long of an SMS message can I send, if my phone is on Fido, and the recipient is on Bell? 140 characters? 160? How long of an SMS message can I send, if my phone is on Fido, and the recipient is on Bell? 140 characters? 160? Does it matter what kinds of phones or accounts we have? I have a... uh.... sensitive message I want to send to someone. It's 153 characters and I don't want it to get cut off....

How can I remember to always put my mobile phone on silent before meetings and turn it back on afterwards?

grouse — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:10:43 -0800

How can I remember to always put my mobile phone on silent before meetings or seminars? And to turn the sound back on when the meeting is over? Any useful tricks? I don't seem to have a problem remembering this in artistic environments, only in work environments.

MMS cheaper than SMS?

Wood — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:36:25 -0800

Is MMS cheaper than SMS for long text messages? Years ago when I first & last used MMS it was like 50 cents even when SMS was 10 cents. Apparently now on my standard iphone AT&T plan they are treated the same as SMS messages. That intrigues me because it suggests that if I'm writing a message longer than 140/160 etc that it would cheaper to add a photo to it. I am curious about the extent of the perversity of SMS billing and in sticking it to the man.

Secondarily is it currently common for MMS to be billed the same as SMS? (If I felt inclined to include my recipient's financial burden into my calculation.)

Help me pick a dumb smartphone

Aizkolari — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:04:40 -0800

Help me pick out a basic Verizon smartphone for my boss. I have been tasked with picking out and buying a simple smartphone for my boss to replace his cell phone and PDA. I say simple because it only needs to do a few things:

1. It has to sync with our office's contacts, calendar, and tasks, which we have in a public folder in Outlook. He uses Outlook 2007 on his computer, where the syncing will be happening, if that matters.

2. It has to make phone calls and send and receive text messages.

3. It has to have some basic notepad function where he can record random thoughts that pop into his head.

4. It has to be on Verizon's network.

It would be nice if it:

1. Could also sync email. He does not want always-on accessibility for email like you get in a Blackberry, but would be OK if he could sync the device with this inbox when he chose.

2. Had a large-ish screen and typing area, either touchscreen or a little keyboard, since he's old.

He is not at all interested in web browsing or apps; he basically wants a PDA that can make phone calls and that syncs with Office. $300 is his soft price limit.

I have absolutely no experience with these things, so the reviews on cnet and other sites don't mean much to me. Also, most of the previous AskMe's on this topic are aiming at more demanding users and were not that helpful to me.

I will also be sure to make him go to a Verizon store to hold one in his hand before he buys it.

Phone recommendations and any other tips on the buying process are welcome. Thanks hivemind!

My phone is secretly texting people without my input!

uk_giffo — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:51:44 -0800

My mobile phone seems to have sent a text message to my girlfriend without my knowledge. I don't understand how. More details inside. This afternoon, I was walking through a park here in Washington when I got a message from my girlfriend saying "Thanks?". I replied: "What?", wondering what she was referring to. She then sent a message back stating: "You sent me a text 5 mins ago?". I hadn't - my phone had been in my pocket for the previous hour - yet when I checked the previous message it showed that I'd sent one saying "How are you?I love you!Thanks" to her five minutes beforehand. Note the lack of a space between phrases; I've never typed a message like that.

My first thought was that it had been a "pocket text" - that somehow the cellphone had rubbed against something else in my pocket and sent a text to her. But I think the keypad was locked. Then I tried to work out how such phrases could have been entered in a text message and thought it must be some kind of "insert quick phrase" feature on the phone. But when I look closer at that feature and how it works it would have been highly unlikely that the phone could have navigated to it as it's quite convoluted to get to and, besides, the store of saved "quick phrases" is empty (it allows you to add some).

So I am baffled, though quite relieved it wasn't a more inappropriate message to someone else like my boss. Does anyone have any idea at all what might have happened? Is there some way to "spoof" a text message from a phone? Are these phones hackable? Could it have been something to do with Bluetooth (though I have never turned it on to the best of my knowledge)? Could someone have hacked my voicemail account and done something? My Verizon account on the website perhaps - can you send texts from there as if it's coming from the phone?

It's a Samsung U450 and is on Verizon Wireless. Other pertinent details: my girlfriend's name begins with K so she doesn't appear at the top of my contacts list and therefore wouldn't (I'd have thought) been the default recipient of a random pocket text - that'd surely be Adam. She's also on Verizon Wireless here.

I am really puzzled by this, and I understand technology fairly well, so if anyone can offer any insights I'd be very grateful.

Am I smart to buy this dumbphone... or not?

Unicorn on the cob — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:44:42 -0800

I'm thinking about buying the Sonim XP3. Does anyone here own one or know someone that does? Asking primarily because I'll have to order it online; the only store carrying it is on back order and I can't futz with it before buying. As someone who notoriously destroys things quickly and frequently, I can't see any reason not to spend more money on a dumbphone that has an awesome warranty and is virtually indestructible. I already have a Blackberry for Web access, don't IM on the go and abhor video games of all kinds. I'm really just looking for a contract-free Unicorn-proof phone; I'm happy with my tertiary devices, but have gone through a score of cheap, crappy, annoying contract-bound phones through AT&T.

If it matters, my current contract runs out a year from now with AT&T.

Please do not try to convince me to get an iPhone; I've already had one and sold it because I hate the touch interface and already own an iPod and a Blackberry for music/browser stuff, but the GPS feature would be nice to have.

Anyone own one of these things? Personal experiences? Negatives? Positives? Thank you in advance!